(I own nothing…you'll figure out the crossover as the fic progresses. I am not spoiling it any more!)
I can remember it like it was yesterday.
As vividly as being turned by Darla…
As vividly as when my soul was restored….
As vividly as when I first met Buffy, and losing my soul to her…
But this incident was physically longer than any of them. And in spite of all of the evil I did when I had no soul…if I was able to get rid of any one memory…I would get rid of this one.
The year was 1954. Near the End of October. I was in the land of the rising sun, the city of Tokyo. At the time, I didn't socialize much. But I picked things up from unintentional eaves dropping.
This plague within my mind began there innocently enough. Overhearing about the amount of fishing ships disappearing. This was big news; at the time, Japan relied on the fishing industry more than any other for their economy. This was the re-opening of an old wound, for earlier that March, Lucky Dragon #5 had been somewhere near the area these disappearances were occurring. The crew was exposed to massive amounts of radioactive contamination from American Atomic and Hydrogen Bomb Tests. Worse still, some of the contaminated tuna reached the markets. All adding pressure on a Fishing Industry that was already starting to fail due to over fishing.
Some say that's why it came. But I know better. And that knowledge haunts me.
It came out of the black depths and destroyed a small village on nearby Odo Island. They barely received any of this thing's wrath in his nocturnal stroll.
The following morning, scientists got their first good look at the creature that would forever change the course of history. The islanders named it after a creature that was as massive as a whale, but walked upright like a gorilla. Gojira. The American reporter, Steve Martin, could not fully pronounce the name as it was. Hence, America and western world would call the monster Godzilla.
The scientist who discovered the abomination he called a dinosaur, Dr. Yamane, begged the authorities to let him study the creature. They ignored his request, and the American-supplied army of Japan's Self Defense Force fool-hardily saturated the area Godzilla was resting in with Depth Charges. Ignoring one bad idea for a worse one.
The people of Japan though themselves free of the 'menace', though he had yet to show his true menace to the masses. They celebrated its defeat far too soon. For he gave them a sampling that night, appearing in the bay and wreaking an area of the docks and a commuter train. That is when I first spotted him…
It was more massive than anything I have ever scene before or since: a mountain of black flesh, bones, teeth, spines and rage. I stood in morbid fascination as it unleashed a sampling of its fury on the commuter train….
Slamming his foot down in front of the speeding train, the engine exploded in a plume of fire as the other cars pilled up by the beasts foot. The noise and lights from the explosion grabbed its attention more than the actual collision did. As people hurried to flee the wreckage with their broken and tattered bodies, Godzilla reached down like the wrath of God and seized one of the dinning cars in his maw. Angelus would have appreciated the irony, but I was too horrified to even move.
He slowly began to squeeze the boxcar in his jaws. One could tell at the way his jaw barely flexed that he was barely trying, and the steel boxcar was slowly crushed as a teenager would an empty soda can. People had begun to crawl out of the slowly shrinking space within. I could see in its eyes, though they were far away, that he was actually waiting for them to do this. Tilting his head to the right he let the boxcar slide out of his mouth. It tumbled nearly 200 feet to the earth. The screaming from the car ended when the car hit the ground, crushing several other cars upon impact.
Below one of the cars, several people could see me, for I was closer than I wanted to be to the beast. The called out for help…I still can hear there voices…even though Godzilla purposely ended them when he turned back that night. His foot crushed them underneath the boxcar. That was another time I ran. But I didn't make it out of the city. It still had more horror to show me.
I tried to flee, but the evacuation took place in daylight. I thought I made it to an area in the heart of Tokyo that he wouldn't come to.
I was very wrong.
That is where he headed that night, and I got to watch the whole thing…
I watched as the best weapons at mans disposal failed to do more than anger it.
I watched it spit out portions of the atomic flames that aided its birth.
I watched it wantonly destroy the city in an act more hideous than Angelus could have devised.
I watched him set the city ablaze.
I saw him deliberately turn his head to kill fleeing civilians with his atomic fury.
I saw him turn Tokyo into a sea of flames.
Like Steve Martin did that night, and for the first time in my life … I prayed, meaningfully. I don't know what I was praying for, maybe for it to end, but there was still one thing left the beasts wrath would show me.
I heard the screams of a family. I could see them through a window of a burning building. As much as I wanted to help them, the flames were to high for me to get through. I watched there last moments.
Before being burned alive, I saw the mother hold her three young children as close as she could to keep them away from the all-consuming fire. Over the roar of the flame I heard her try and comfort the children. My understanding of Japanese is rather basic, but I understood what she said. "…We'll be joining your father in just a moment, yes. A little longer, a little longer, and we'll be with your daddy…"
There death was slow and painful. I tell myself again and again that I couldn't have done anything…yet their voices still haunt me.
And Godzilla's wrath had only begun. He continued, crushing people underfoot and underneath the rubble he reduced mighty buildings too.
With a swipe of his tail, he halted the attempts of fire fighters and ambulances to aid the dieing city.
I watched him crush the diet building, the symbol of man's society under his feet.
I watched in amazement as he tore down Tokyo tower and killed hundreds of reporters who were on it filming the carnage.
I saw the see of flames spread from his path, radiating outwards and compounding the damage.
All of these acts were done with a calculated malevolence.
And the radiation it brought contaminated all those who did not flee. Many contracted cancer, others radiation poisoning. None were safe.
By 11:05 that evening, Tokyo, a city of 6 million people, had become a second Hiroshima.
The Third Atomic Bombing of Japan
There was a glimmer of hope in this time of darkness. Dr. Serizawa and the Oxygen Destroyer.
Most say that the Oxygen Destroyer killed Godzilla.
And Scientists say Godzilla is a radioactively mutated Dinosaur.
But I know better.
After that night on November 3rd, the survivors called Godzilla an Oni…a Demon.
They were right…but Godzilla was the worst kind of Demon of them all. Men created him.
A Vengeance Demon. Born out of the Fires of the Hydrogen Bomb, and of all the pain, anguish, terror, evil and Death released in the world of men in the Pacific portion of World War II.
His malice a direct extension of the malice from the war, just as his flames were an extension of the bombs that created him.
Formed from the souls of all who died in that bloody conflict.
Seeking only remembrance of that tragedy from the people it should have affected most.
Dr. Serizawa's weapon did not kill Godzilla. Dr. Serizawa's death merely subdued Godzilla.
When Godzilla returned in December of 1998, it again took a noble sacrifice to hold the beast back again. And the visions of his original visit haunted me as well as the visions of my victims. Especially that family…for I had failed them…
Every November 3rd since that day, I dedicate the time his rampage lasted from to the people who died in a private ceremony. This once caused a little strain in my relationship with Buffy when it was beginning, but I have to remember. For if the spirit ever again feels like the people are neglecting the importance of the past…I fear he will return.
- Angel
November 3rd, 1999
(To possibly be continued)