Written in tribute to Momoko Kochi and Raymond Burr
=====Tokyo, 1984=====
"We have assembled a panel of experts and witnesses with knowledge and experience relevant to the 1954 attack," Koji Yaguchi, the aid of Prime Minister Kiyoteru Mitamura, noted dutifully as he accompanied the leader of Japan down a long hall, "We've also tapped relevant veterans from the JSDF such as General Takaaki Aso, who served in the 1954 Tokyo incident as a Private."
The horrors from three decades ago seemed like a short span of time on paper, but in practice, the briefness of time and chaos of the incident was coupled with the lack of good video documentation made archiving havoc. Then there was the limited data on how exactly the world was truly rid of the terrible titan. Officially to many who'd look into that peculiarity of history, the nascent JSDF had felled Godzilla. Only some knew the truth, including someone Prime Minister Mitamura wanted to talk to.
"Has the American documentarian arrived?" Mitamura said plainly, brow furrowed towards the airport.
Yaguchi double-checked his documents, "Yes, the American ambassador had sent for him as a consultant. He was on the ground both during Dr. Yamane's Odo island survey and in Tokyo when the attack happened. His account is one of the most detailed of any eye witness. He should be arriving today. He's visiting another survivor of the incident first."
Across the city, far into Tokyo's outskirts, a lone individual with a suitcase in hand stepped out of his ride before an estate somewhere between a large house and a small mansion. Walking up to the estate, he listened well for the sound of footfalls behind the door after knocking. Wrinkles of age and stress, hairs grayed from seasons, and her attire changed from her youthful garb to that of an older matron; and Emiko Yamane was still recognizable when she answered the door. She was physically dwarfed by her towering company, who was a towering pillar of a man. But even with all the bygone years, she could well recognize his face even with Stephen Martin's new, silvered beard and sullen eyes.
The fact they had the exact same, distant look in their aligned gazes as memories of decades back flashed before their vision was additional recognition. Tokyo in flames, the sea bubbling and frothing as it was torn apart, with the shriek of a dying monstrosity deafening everything; and the lifeline of an old friend cut by their own hand so the titan didn't die alone. Stephen Martin's left eye still had small scars around it from a wound Emiko herself had bandaged up. Emiko's markings were not upon her skin, but just as plainly visible.
Stephen smiled slightly, closing his eyes and nodding his head without a word. Emiko sighed and bowed her head, a gesture he fully returned before she welcomed him inside.
Half an hour later, they both sat across from one another at a simple table. Martin lightly swirling the tea he'd just finished brewing and passed a cup to Yamane.
He chuckled lightly as he shook his head, "I know it's unusual for a guest to cook their host anything, but I never forgot Daisuke's tea recipe."
"It's one of my favorites but Serizawa never showed me the exact recipe and I never could get it right," Emiko conceded with a small shrug, "I heard you have a grandson."
"A blessing to me, torment to his parents I assure," Stephen humored before looking at the walls of the room, at the numerous pictures on the shelves and family shrine, "So, you and Ogata?"
"15 good years of marriage," Emiko nodded with a smile upon her features at long last, "He passed swiftly... At times, he almost remarked he felt haunted. I guess, after having been on the diving survey with Daisuke; he had to feel that way."
She closed her eyes and Stephen frowned, trying to divert the subject and focusing on the pictures of a young teenage girl and youthful boy framed on the shelves, "The children?"
"Oh, my niece and nephew," Emiko grinned with the same fondness in her expression as she gazed at the photographs, remembering how hard it was to get them to stand still for the pictures, "They're by my brother, Shinkichi. The girl is Yukari, and the boy, Kenkichi."
"Ah that's right, your father adopted him when he was orphaned on Odo Island. It was a good decision, family makes us stronger," Martin nodded approvingly, "It was always a move I admired your father for."
"It gave me a family I otherwise wouldn't have," Emiko sighed, looking fondly at the pictures of her niece and nephew. And how her brother wasn't in the same photograph, "... Shinkichi studied Godzilla more than anyone."
Martin's eye fell upon the portrait of Shinkichi just as said man's older sister looked upon it. He could see how it was set with small decorations around it, just like the late Dr. Yamane's was. He could also take a guess what the fact there were two funerary urns no doubt filled with ashes meant.
"So I heard, the great Dr. Shinkichi Yamane used my account for reference a few times," Martin continued before leaning in slightly, "Emiko, what happened to him?.. I know the meaning of having his portrait in a shrine like that."
Emiko's gaze turned downwards towards her tea, solemness clear in her hardening features and distant look, "Shinkichi disappeared suddenly several years ago on an expedition to the north sea. Investigating the sight of a Russian submarine crash... It took weeks to find the ship and his body."
Martin paused for a short time, before reaching down and feeling at something in his pocket, "Emiko, Shinkichi was from Odo Island... Did, he ever tell you about some of the island's beliefs?"
"Rarely," Emiko frowned, "My father and I weren't ever much concerned with culture, admittedly."
"I did some snooping while I was there working for the press... While, admittedly spying on you and Ogata some for Daisuke's benefit," Martin paused and glanced at his company, still a tad sheepish even thirty years after the fact about admitting having gone on peeping to see if Daisuke's fiancé was 'cheating' on him, "No offense."
Emiko's silence implied none such, and her focus on what he was fishing out. Stephen continued, "Their shrine miko, Hina, was gone at the moment, but I was given this by her mentor. It was kept at a stony altar overlooking the sea cliffs. Not far from-"
"-Where we first saw it," Emiko finished his sentence for him, frowning and knowing what was coming. They both vividly could recall that day in the highlands of Odo Island. A day when the living towered over mountains instead of the other way around.
Martin frowned and nodded as he finally retrieved his item from his suit pocket, setting down a very aged dragon statuette on the table. Placing it on its feet, he nudged it closer to Mrs. Yamane and let her accept the gift.
"She made one thing very clear," Martin furrowed his brow as he made a point to recite what had been given to him word by word, "Godzilla was like a hurricane or earthquake. It would storm, it would come, it would destroy, and it may subside. But..."
Emiko grimly finished his sentence, turning the figure over in her hands, "It could never fully die... Not a beast, but a kami."
Stephen slowly lowered his gaze, solemn thoughts pulling down his breath, "... Do you think, a man of science as he became, rhat Shinkichi believed the same things about the creature as his home island? To any extent or another?"
Emiko had long suspected this. It made a lot of sense why he'd suddenly take off to the north sea like that. Like he was searching for something. Not even five years later, and if Shinkichi had suspected the truth, he'd be proven horribly right. Godzilla had indeed returned, and caught everyone off guard. Everyone, except maybe those on Odo Island and the two themselves.
Emiko Yamane turned the dragon figurine over in her hands, noticing both similarities and stark differences to similar statuettes she might see of Ryujin, Seriyu, or the myriad of other dragons and legendary beasts. She closed her eyes and got up from her seat. Stepping away from the table, Yamane walked over to the family shrine and placed the figurine down next to the smiling picture of her departed brother. Martin didn't pry, but he could ascertain Emiko was deep in contemplation or prayer. Perhaps both.
A full minute passed before the blockage in her throat allowed her to speak, her voice echoing off the walls as she kept a hand on the dragon statue.
"His body was untouched when they found it laying on the deck. Eyes open, not a wound on him. They think his heart had given out. Whatever he found out in the north sea, it scared him to his grave," Emiko whispered before closing her eyes and biting back bitter pains.
She could imagine her brother's last moments. Out at sea in the cloak of night or blinding brilliance of the day. He'd probably have had a Geiger counter on him to check the waters. Officially due to a potential nuclear fuel leakage, but unofficially because he feared something else. The sea would part and erupt, a living mountain exploding from the surf before a gawking Dr. Shinkichi Yamane's eyes. The brow that scraped the heavens emerging from the frothing sea in a sight that brought her back to Daisuke's last moments. It had stopped her brother's heart and nearly did her own just imagining it.
A good minute passed before she had collected herself enough to articulate again, turning around, "I think, somehow, I've always known since then what he saw out there on the sea. I've spent years praying I was wrong.. There truly was nothing else on Earth or the heavens that could have scared him that much."
Stephen similarly bowed his head and closed his eyes, taking in a deep exhale and then pouring his host another cup of tea. Emiko silently walked back to her seat and sat back down, accepting his offered cup. Company and comfort were the best he could offer, along with the statue he long felt was rightfully someone else's. Even if the two of them weren't especially close friends, there was a bond there unique to them. That they'd survived when so many others hadn't, be it a blessing by some fortune of being spared a wrathful beast's ire... Or perhaps the curse by an angry kami.
"To the departed," Martin offered as he held up his cup.
"To the departed," Emiko replied in kind with her own.
They drank and mourned, whilst praying the future would be spared what they'd been through. If Ogata once remarked he felt like he was haunted, they could both relate. By Serizawa, or more likely, by that same wrathful aberration had been haunting them for thirty years. Daisuke Serizawa had seemingly dragged it to the grave with him and yet, just like the returning hurricanes every year; Godzilla had returned.
=====Fin=====
I hope you enjoyed this short story. It serves as a prequel of sorts to many of my Amalgam Universe stories, but I like to think I wrote it so anyone with just an interest in the Heisei continuity of Godzilla films could see it as optional canon. I myself always had a soft spot for the Americanization of the original 1954 film. The original is the best, no doubt, but the team behind the 1956 recut did a commendable job keeping as much of the tone and content of the original while making a film more palatable to a broader audience. Burr and company did just as good a job in their acting as the Japanese cast did, and took the source material seriously.
So I like the canonize that the first Godzilla attack still happened in 1954, as per the original film, but Martin and company were present to witness the events. Hence the idea for this short story of Martin being called in as a consultant during the 1984 re-emergence.
Also I just wanted to have fun writing a Godzilla story where Godzilla actually doesn't appear, but the aftermath had an impact all on its own.
Dedicated to my friends. From my sources of inspiration, my friends; and to my source of motivation and beloved, known online as Faith-Wolff.
Hina and Odo Island cast by FallenAngel5414
