The One Who Lost His Way

AN: So this is a bit different from what I normally do, but I watched KoTM again and this thought just wormed its way into my brain. There's a lot of Godzilla fics with Ghidorah as the villain, which is completely understandable given that he is the villain. But what if he wasn't? What if he was a bit more complicated than what we see of him?

This, then, is my attempt at a Ghidorah redemption fic. Obviously, Ghidorah will be the main character in this one (something I've never really seen before, so here's hoping I do a sufficient job), but I'll also have a few scenes with either Mark or Maddie as the main POV, too. And yes, that does mean the titans are sentient/sapient in this version. That seems to be the popular opinion, anyway, but I just wanted to point it out. Also, Ghidorah as a whole is considered 'we/they' because of the three heads and three distinct personalities. When talking about one specific head, it's 'I/me/he/him'. Just wanted to point that out real quick.

Key:

"Titan speak"

"Human speak"

Character's inner thoughts

There's no actual dialogue in this one since it's more of a prologue/summary than anything else, but the following chapters will. I also plan on having a new chapter once every two weeks. Let's see how well that actually happens, huh?

Disclaimer: I do not own Godzilla: King of the Monsters or any of the characters within.

Approximately 25,000 years ago:

This war with no end seemed to finally be coming to an end.

For years, decades even, the two apex predators had exchanged blows, vying for dominance over the other titanic lifeforms native to this planet. The status quo between them had shifted more times than can be counted. One would chase the other across the entire planet, hoping to press the advantage, only for the tides to turn and become the hunted rather than the hunter. Their battles were fierce, nature itself bending and even breaking when confronted with the power they wielded. Nothing would be left behind after each clash, trees uprooted and smashed, mountains smashed and crumbled, and the native people either fled or dead.

But this wasn't simply a clash of physical might. No, this was a clash of ideals: the benevolent watcher against the malevolent ruler. One wished to leave the natives be, to gently guide them and protect them from harm. The other wished to control them, to revel in the fearful worship and to enact cruel vengeance on those who refused to bow. One wanted to be a god. The other wanted to be the god.

This war, as all wars did, had casualties. Not only had an uncountable number of natives been killed, many of the other titanic lifeforms had been killed, as well. Some of those who yet survived were now the last of their kinds. But that wasn't the worst casualty of this war.

The planet itself was dying.

Their meddling had thrown the entire natural order out of balance. The damage done to the vast subterranean labyrinth of tunnels caused horrendous quakes and tsunamis, reshaping the world itself. Volcanoes erupted almost constantly, causing localized extinction events, and the amount of ash blasted up into the atmosphere was cooling the planet at an alarming rate. Even that paled in comparison to the massive storms that swallowed men and gods alike. The sky was their domain, an extension of their will. They cared not for the preservation of the fragile system. Not anymore.

The only thing that mattered to them was victory. And yet...there was no victory here at the end of this unending conflict. They, the Golden Demise, were all but defeated. They knew it. Worse, their opponents knew it.

Grounded and trapped upon the freezing, remote continent at the southernmost point of this planet, they faced not only their saurian nemesis but his two strongest allies, the insect and the fire demon. The fight so far had been brutal, and despite their supernatural regenerative abilities, it had taken a toll on their body. Days of constant flight followed by hours of brutal fighting had driven them to the brink of exhaustion. Their energy reserves were depleted, and with this being the dark season, they couldn't even recharge using the sun. Without enough energy to heal their broken wings, they had no chance of winning, outnumbered as they were.

That didn't mean they would back down without a fight, though. Ichi, the middle head, roared in defiance. Ni, the right head, snarled to show he would also fight. San, the left head, kept his gaze on the two fliers circling above.

Their nemesis roared back, accepting his challenge. The two apex predators charged, Ni and San being caught in the saurian's grasp as Ichi lunged forward in an attempt to strike at his opponent's neck. Before the middle head could make contact, the insect dived down, striking him hard enough for their nemesis to take advantage. Ichi roared in pain and anger when the massive, strong jaws clamped down upon his neck. Broken or not, their wings were really their only other weapons. They tried to batter the saurian off of them to no effect other than to cause themselves more harm than good.

Exhausted as they were, their nemesis was able to push them back, their claws digging massive trenches in the ice as they were pushed further and further backwards. Their legs ached from the strain, and in a last ditch effort, they dug the spikes of their twin tails into the ground on either side as extra anchors. It worked for a moment until the fire demon attacked them from behind, raking his talons down their back. All three heads shrieked in agony as the wounds sapped whatever strength they had left and their legs gave out.

They toppled onto their back, completely at the mercy of their nemesis. The saurian glared down at them, and they just glared back. Their defiance all for show, for they were completely spent. Ichi tried to think of anything and everything. Their wings were in worse shape now and lances of pain shot up their spine with every movement. Their tails were pinned beneath their bulk. Even if they were to somehow stand, they wouldn't stay standing for long. Their entire body was trembling from both exertion and pain. They were completely at their enemy's mercy.

No words were shared between the two as everything that could be said already had been. This wasn't their first battle, but it appeared as if it would be their last. The spines on the saurian's back began glowing blue. Ni and San both closed their eyes and looked away, the former to brace for the coming agony and the latter in fear. Ichi, however, never broke eye contact with their hated foe. If he was to die here, he would not die a coward.

Just before the beam was fired, the insect landed upon their chest. Ichi and his brothers stared at her as she silently pleaded with her king to grant them mercy. The fire demon was doing something behind them, the only clue being the sound of ice melting and water falling. The saurian kept glancing between his queen, them, and the fire demon. While clearly not happy about whatever decision had been made, the saurian seemed to relent.

The insect retreated as the saurian turned around. Right when Ichi was about to make some sort of snide remark, the saurian's tail impacted them, and they went skidding across the ice. A surprised roar left them as they fell into rapidly refreezing water. Horror and the slightest trace of fear were the last emotions Ichi felt before the ice completely encompassed them.

An indeterminate amount of time later:

It was impossible to keep track of time in their icy prison. Most of their new state of existence was spent in deep hibernation, completely unaware of the passing of time or any changes beyond the icy wasteland that was both their prison and their tomb. Occasionally, they did wake up, though even their massive strength wasn't enough to free themselves, especially since they were thrown in here severely weakened. Each time they woke up they did feel marginally better, though. The sun's energy was much reduced in these icy extremes, and it was even more reduced when it finally filtered through the ice into their prison. Their energy reserves were actually recharging, though it'd take a very long time at this rate. Even still, it'd be for nothing while they were trapped down here.

Just as it was impossible to know how long they spent in each period of hibernation—be it a year, ten years, or even a thousand years—it was equally impossible to know how long the spent awake each time. The constant cycle grew disorienting until they gave up trying altogether. And so then there was nothing to do in those moments except think.

At first they stewed in their anger and hatred, plotting their revenge if and when they were freed. As time passed, however, even the passage of time—normally, a trifling thing for an eternal being such as themselves—seemed to drag on and on. A hundred times they awoke to the same stillness, the same deafening silence. And then a hundred times more. And yet a hundred times again.

Eventually, the rage and hatred began to fade and then disappear entirely. Stuck in the ice, unable to move and resigned to their fate, they began to reflect on the past. After all, there wasn't much else to do. And stuck like they were, any and all topics for conversation quickly became exhausted until the brothers were all but sick of each other.

The whole situation was maddening, and perhaps they would have succumbed to that madness in another timeline. Perhaps their eventual release would herald the continuation of their eternal struggle with this planet's now-undisputed ruler. Perhaps they would even win the rematch.

But for what?

What reason did they have to start the conflict anew? To settle a grudge? Eternal they may be, but an eternity was a long time to hold onto such old anger. Ni probably could, but Ichi and San were less aggressive than their brother.

In a contest of strength, they had nothing to prove. They were vastly more powerful than any other lifeform on this planet, including their arch-rival. They were stronger, more durable, more cunning, and had much greater endurance than him, yet...they lost. Why?

Unlike his brothers, Ichi relied more on logic than emotion. With nothing else to focus on, he pondered that question ceaselessly. He no longer took part in conversations, never interacted with them. His entire existence was consumed by his need to know. At first, he tried to analyze their fights with their nemesis. Maybe there was an answer there. Maybe doing something differently would change this outcome.

But no, he couldn't think of anything that would have that big of an effect. Perhaps he was being too shallow? What then was so different between the two beyond physical capabilities that would allow for such an inconsistency?

In a moment of understanding, on the eight hundred and seventy-third cycle after he first posed that question, Ichi realized the answer, and for the first time in their entire existence, he had to admit...that he was wrong. His ideals, the ones he convinced his brothers to fight for, had proven to be their undoing. His desire to conquer and dominate, to be worshipped as a god, had corrupted his purpose and twisted his mind.

There was no other possible explanation. They lost because they were meant to, because their convictions were weaker, and their ideals were wrong. It felt...strange to finally realize that. On one claw he was relieved to finally have an answer to his question. On the other claw, it was also deeply frustrating. Ichi set them on a path of death and destruction because he thought he could gain some form of satisfaction from it. Indeed, it had been satisfying. But what purpose did it really serve? Such satisfaction was utterly fleeting to them. Eventually, the planet and all of its inhabitants would have died. What happened then? What did they gain from all that death?

Nothing.

They gained absolutely nothing. And in the end, they'd lost everything. Friends, followers, even their freedom...gone. Because he was wrong.

It was a few cycles after that revelation when he began to realize they deserved this prison. Not only that, he was thankful to be stuck here. Of course, the alternative would've been death, so he was glad to be alive. Other than that, this prison had given him the opportunity to realize his mistakes.

Ni and San were playing a game of riddles once again in an effort to relieve the boredom. Of course, they'd already heard all of these before, but it was marginally better than the constant silence. Both had long ago given up on trying to get any kind of response from their older brother. They eventually came to accept that Ichi wasn't willing to speak to them for whatever reason. Perhaps they even accepted he would never speak again. But speak he finally did, an action that had both of his brothers shocked into silence.

Do you remember flying through the cosmos? he asked them. The feel of the solar winds and the perpetual chill of the great vacuum. Do you remember the colors of a nebula or the force of an exploding sun? The galaxy was full of wonders, was it not? Neither spoke, still taken aback by the fact he was speaking for the first time in...well, a long while. And the planets we visited, all magnificent in their own right. From the largest gas giants to the asteroids and barren moons. Planets covered in ice or fire or toxic gas. But then there were the planets full of life, the rarest gems in an endless sea of stars. Each form of life we saw was unique and special both in appearance and culturally.

It was San, the youngest, who answered for them both. We remember, Ichi.

Ichi hummed mentally at that. I remember being in awe of such spectacular sights once...so when did we grow tired of them? When did exploring the unknown become so...boring? A moment of silence as the other two pondered that question. When did we stop caring? When did we begin to lose our way?

It was another question he didn't know the answer to, one his brothers now shared. It was around twenty cycles later when San tried to answer that question. Maybe...if everything is special and unique, nothing is.

So boredom turned to frustration, and frustration turned to anger, Ni continued. And we took it out on this planet and its inhabitants. Ichi could feel the disdain from his middle brother. I guess they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. How is allowing ourselves some stress-relief so horrible?

Ichi sent his disappointment through as he answered. Have you forgotten our purpose? He had, at least at one point. As Ni said, their attempted destruction of this planet was born from anger and discontent. In their desperation to try something, anything, different, they broke their one rule.

They were originally a guardian of life. Just as their powers could destroy a planet, so too could they return it to life. Terraforming planets to better suit new or existing life had been their purpose at one time. Such massive tasks took a lot of energy, so they would destroy mineral-rich planets and use the ores to strengthen and grow. Their one rule, however, had been to never destroy a planet capable of supporting life. Not only did they break that rule, they had actively gone against it. Worse yet, this planet wasn't just capable of supporting life, it did.

And so a guardian of life became a destroyer of civilizations.

There had been a lot of self-reflecting and remembering for all three of them after that. As much as he hated to admit it, even Ni realized they had strayed far from their original path. So what do we do when we get out of here? Leave?

Honestly, Ichi had given up hope they ever would get out of here, but that was a thought he kept to himself. Probably for the best.

Thousands of cycles passed, each one diminishing their hope of escape. On the bright side, their energy reserves had finally been fully replenished, yet they had no way of healing their old wounds until they were freed.

But then...vibrations in the ice. Distant explosions. Voices, small and strange followed. And then light. But this wasn't sunlight. Immobile as they were, they couldn't see what was happening around the prison, but they could hear everything. For so long there had been nothing but silence. But now, the humans had discovered their prison.

But they didn't leave. No, they stayed. In fact, more ended up coming until there were probably dozens here. In order to survive in such conditions and to create their own light, they had to have advanced significantly. They had come here to study them. It was a realization that puzzled and flattered them. If they were here, did that mean they no longer remembered his deeds? And if they did, why were they willing to be this close to their ancient foe? The fact they thought they were important enough to spend resources and time studying, however, was flattering.

But then they remembered the last time they'd felt flattered and ruthlessly squashed that emotion into dust.

One particular conversation had piqued their interest. They were trying to figure out how long he'd been here. Twenty-five thousand years? It had felt much, much longer than that. Although, to be fair, they couldn't exactly move at all. Once the humans had a permanent base built around his prison, it became possible to figure out how much time passed between his periods of waking and sleeping.

They also learned a few things during this time. For instance, some humans seemed to be afraid of him, even encased in ice as he was, while others weren't. Some believed he was still aware while others thought that was impossible.

They had traveled all across the galaxy, and they knew that nothing was impossible. They'd seen anything and everything that could and did exist.

Listening to the humans work was...nice actually. They were clearly passionate about their work, and their theories about them were often amusing to hear. More than that, however, it was nice to have someone else around, even if they couldn't exactly communicate with each other.

A little over three years later, however...things changed.

AN: I hope this whole concept is believable. I took a bit of inspiration from both Alduin and Paarthurnax from Skyrim when creating Ghidorah's backstory and his thought process during his self-reflection. I tried to explain everything as well as I could, but since this is a mostly unexplored concept, I would really like to hear some thoughts. I read all reviews, including guest reviews, and try to respond to every one I can.

Until Next Time

AdmiralCole22