The next day

Shock. Absorbance. Acceptance. Recovery. Those were the four words that Hime had repeated to herself several times as she and the others had observed the remains of their shattered, burning home of Sakurashin many times throughout the remainder of the night and early in the morning. Even now she stood on the roof of the main building in the temple complex, looking out over the many devastated sections, all of which were easily distinguishable by the layer of smoke hovering above them. Helicopters flew back and forth across the city, some of them army and dropping supplies to and from the city and assisting in the evacuation of the survivors that were constantly being found under the rubble left by the fight. One or two news helicopters circled the areas where Dagarkra's body lay, the massive faceless hulk having been cornered off by the army and police as they directed civilians and rescue workers around it. The head was still smoking from the atomic breath, despite about six hours having passed sine Godzilla had killed the demonic monster.

Hime sighed heavily, wiping some dust off her yellow t-shirt that she had changed into after they arrived there. Even though they had won, it had been costly. With great victory comes great sacrifice. I always knew Teddy's words meant something here. Sakurashin had been devastated and it was so far estimated that around 1,000 had died, many of them civilians; the primary cause being falling rubble or were caught in the path of the fighting behemoths. Manda's rampage, or more correctly his persistence in trying to get to the city had also left several hundred dead in the villages that were unfortunate enough to be in his path, and among the army when they tried to slow him down. Even though convoys of trucks carrying medical supplies and more rescue workers and volunteers were on their way, and many of the inhabitants having escaped with their lives, it was blatantly obvious Sakurashin would take a long time to recover.

And what's more; it's changed. Hime thought to herself, exhaling a breath through her nose as she sat down on the tiles and placed a hand on her shoulder. And not for the better.

As she sat there, she pulled open part of her t-shirt to look, for about the fiftieth time, at the bandage that was wrapped around her shoulder. A small circle of dry blood was visible in the centre of the bandage, a clear reminder of the injury she had sustained last night, and what it possibly could have become had Gin been aiming more to the left. Thankfully, it was not a very serious injury, and Hime, after having it treated by Juri and another doctor who had escaped from the hospital and the surrounding area shortly before Dagarkra had reached it, had continued with making sure that everyone was safe and out of harm's way. It had only been on the insistence of the others to have a break, and her having to begrudgingly admit the pain in the wound was still strong, that she found herself here.

The place, or at least one of the places where all this mess began. And as for the spear …

She looked back down at the main building from her vantage point atop the small structure to the side of the main building. Though the front of the roof jutted out over the entrance, preventing her from completely seeing into the room, her eyes landed on the place she thought the new glass cabinet the spear was placed in. Ao's actions last night had destroyed her brother's spear but the Dragon Spear Hime's grandmother had bequeathed to her had been damaged too. The jade green crystal was slightly cracked from having been used to summon the creatures; Gin having not noticed this simply because he did not give a shit. They had managed to stop it from falling into the fiery pit the hospital had been turned into during the battle between the monsters. As for Gin's spear, they had taken it and the crystal and locked them away in a box. It was sitting in one of the side rooms in the main building right now but Hime did not care about it at that moment. Despite the power the crystal, and whoever its holder was wielded she just did not care anymore. She'd had enough of summoning things from the Otherworld and bringing monsters to Japan and such. Right now, she just needed to forget about it and focus on rebuilding everything her and her grandmother had worked to create here.

"Hime!"

The mayor looked down to see Akina standing there, looking up at her with a concerned expression. "You okay?"

Am I okay? What does he think?! She thought irritably, but immediately hated herself for thinking that way. No, give him a break! He's just looking out for me, even if it's supposed to be the other way around.

"Hime?" he asked again, his voice noticeably more worried.

"I'm okay," she replied monosyllabically though she did not sound it.

"You're not fooling me, Hime," he said sternly. "C'mon!"

She looked down at him with a raised eyebrow. Akina being assertive? Damn, this has been a big change for us all.

Still, she decided against arguing and jumped down and landed in front of him, her movement graceful as it was effortless for her. She glanced at him and then down at the ground, still evidently down after the events of the previous night. Akina saw this and took a step closer to his mayor; no, his friend.

"Hime, I know you're feeling sad. But be happy that we did it." He told her. "I mean, the city and its people are safe, the Nana-Gou are still standing – or at least five of them are. And we're still alive."

"But we could have stopped it, Akina," she replied almost immediately, still not meeting his gaze. "And look at us," she added, this time showing him her pained expression which was only matched by the feeling of failure and being hopeless that her friend could spot all too well in her monotone voice. "We've been fighting each other, I've put myself and us in danger and I didn't save everyone."

Akina shook his head a little, refusing to let her beat herself up like this. No! No, she could not do this to herself. Hime had done her best, we all did.

"Hime, we were taken by surprise!" Akina said, taking another step towards her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Nobody could have stopped what happened. You shouldn't beat yourself up for something like this."

"Akina, you don't understand. You're not the mayor; you don't have to take responsibility for people dying and failing to save them. But I do!"

Akina sighed and looked at her more seriously. "Hime, we're all part of a team; therefore, we all feel the same as you do, as do many others out there. You're not alone in that. No, listen to me! You did what you could. We all did but it just wasn't enough to save everyone. But we have to accept it, no matter how sad it is, and move on."

She wanted to reply harshly, to snap at him. Hell, she even wanted to push his hand off her shoulder and take a swing at him. But she knew he was right: Hime could not act as if she was the only one suffering here. They were all a team and had tried to stop Dagarkra, Manda and Gin together. It was unfortunate that many civilians, police officers, and army soldiers had perished but they had saved many more.

If only it had been everyone though she still mentally cursed herself.

"Hime," Akina said, his voice softer and more sympathetic. "Look, trust me; we all feel bad, but we have to be strong now. Sakurashin needs us. If we couldn't save everyone last night, then we can now."

She nodded, part of her thinking it was unintentional, but she was glad nonetheless. Akina was right. They had to be strong now: the survivors needed them, and they needed each other. Especially Ao.

"Mayor!" a deep voice barked out from nearby. The two looked to see a tall, burly looking soldier approaching. "We were looking for you. Command needs some confirmation on three targets. Namely, the large grey one called Godzilla or whatever, Manda, and a fugitive we've traced because of the testimonies of the three attackers in the square last night."

Hime stepped forward. "Godzilla's gone. He left last night after the battle. I don't know where he is." She paused and the soldier looked to Akina as if expecting him to give a more positive answer but he too just shrugged nonchalantly. Don't ask me. I don't know.

The soldier pursed his lips together, clearly dissatisfied but said nothing more.

"Very well: And Manda?" he continued.

Akina explained to him what happened to Manda, leaving out most details.

"Okay, so that's one less creature to deal with. Nice work," He commented, ending the sentence with an approving tone. "And the fugitive?"

Hime and Akina looked at one another as if they were afraid to reveal what had happened to him. Even though they really believed he was dead, given how Ao had explained it to them whilst trying not to break down, for some reason they still thought that they had not seen the last of him.

"Okay, there you go. Put him in the ambulance."

Two paramedics wheeled the stretcher through a cleared pathway towards a waiting ambulance. All around them was devastation. Rubble was strewn across the street, several trees lay uprooted and broken in the road, cars were squashed flat, and every so often one could see a white tent set up. It was an indication that they had come across the gory remains of someone who had been unfortunate enough to be crushed under the behemoths during their fight. There had been many people who met that fate, or had come close to it and were now fighting for their lives in the makeshift hospitals at several locations around or outside the city.

As they reached the ambulance, one of the paramedics looked down at the male they and the firefighters had recently come across. Part of his face was scarred, his clothes were mostly blackened and torn, and his arm was in a sling. Bruises and cuts lined his body, dried blood marking some of them. What really stood out were the eyes. They were closed and the face was expressionless, still, calm, serene. If they had not detected a pulse on him, anyone else would have thought he was dead.

"Damn lucky we found him before the fire finished him off," the paramedic commented to his colleague, who nodded.

"Yep. Same with that other guy. Though Ikeda told me he might lose his eye."

The first paramedic shook his head a little, the feeling of someone being blind in one eye completely unsettling to him. Yet, he had to admit it was better them, and not him. In no way did he want to lose an eye, or a foot, or anything for that matter. And he could imagine that the other person, along with everyone else around them, felt the same way.

Snapping himself out of his thoughts, he and his colleague lifted the injured man into the ambulance, climbed in and shut the door. A second later the ambulance sprung to life and drove off, weaving in and out of the various crowds of people as they struggled to come to terms with this new landscape around them. Within a few moments, it had disappeared into the multitude of cars, people and the thin layer of smoke and dust that hung in the air.

Sakurashin had indeed changed, dear readers. And what the future held for it and its people was uncertain at this time.

Author's note

Hey fellow FF readers and writers.

I hope you are all doing well. I'm glad to have finally brought an end to this FF. it took longer than I had originally hoped, and I apologise for it taking so long. Hopefully my Moana/Kong crossover will not go through the same thing.

Anyway, just as a couple of extra things. Firstly, I combined the two epilogue chapters into one because posting a less than 800-word chapter as one of them was pointless, and it fit better here.

Second, and lastly, many of you are probably wondering if there will be a sequel to this. The answer is yes. I do have a sequel planned for this, and hopefully it will be better and not go through the same writing process as the first. However, it will not be on FF for at least a year because of other work I want to publish or finish.

Till then, take care everyone and I hope to see you and your reviews again soon.