Oh hey! I have a million things I want to say, so I will put it in point form at the end of the chapter. Love you, enjoy!

The Hollow Earth

Mi Sun stood next to Amara. They both looked out to the frozen tundra of Antarctica. The rising sun cast a warm glow on the vast expanse of snow. The ocean was so far away.

"What if it's dark down there?"

"It won't be that bad. You read the notes, there's some sort of light source down there and it's going to be your job to find out what that is. I'm interested in what would produce light down there, perhaps a type of crystal or a bioluminescent organism."

Amara buried her chin in her coat. "Yes, I'll bring you back samples."

"And take lots of pictures! Plants, rocks, water, animals, everything. Remember to look at the details and then step back and look at the big picture. Habitats and ecosystems can tell you a lot about a place." Mi Sun paused, looking at her. "You said before that Godzilla thought it was too dangerous for you. He didn't say why, did he?"

"He said there's probably an alpha Titan down there. He thinks Kong's presence may upset it."

"From Ilene's notes, it sounds like Kong's species was the dominant one. With them wiped out, bringing Kong down there may re-establish him as alpha."

That was true. It had been so long since Godzilla had been down there that he didn't remember it anymore. There was lots of evidence of Kong's species being the alpha Titans down there, and with them long gone, a void remained.

And if a different one had been established since, then Kong would just have to defeat it. He wasn't weak by any means. He put up a good fight against Godzilla. What he lacked in raw power he made up for with resourcefulness and agility.

"About Kong. Did you hear anything about his attachment to Jia?"

Mi Sun glanced behind them where the little girl sat with Nathen, then turned back to her with a raised brow. "Only something about a Titan being particularly protective of her. I think I would have been surprised if it wasn't for the person I'm standing next to."

"So you think she's connected to Kong?"

Mi Sun shrugged. "That's for me to not know and you to find out."

Amara made a face at her. Mi Sun laughed.

"Loading up soon!" Mark called from the group behind them.

Any energy Amara had suddenly left her body. She had an overwhelming urge to just sit and never get up again.

"It'll be fine. I made sure they brought Whyley along, just for you." When Amara looked up at her, she continued. "They thought a military escort was a waste of a seat. I practically wrote a paper on the advantage Whyley would bring. No one other than you on the team has even basic survival skills, while Whyley's camped for days next to Titans.

"Thanks, Mi," Amara said as Mi Sun held out her hand. Amara took her mitten in her own and was immediately pulled into a hug.

"I know you doubt yourself a lot, but just know that you're wiser than you think. Trust yourself and your judgment."

Amara's eyes stung while she held Mi Sun close. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too." Mi Sun pulled away. "I'll take care of Godzilla while you're gone."

A watery laugh escaped her throat. "He'll be moodier than ever, I'm sure."

"Time to go!" Ilene called over.

Amara gave Mi Sun one last hug, pushing away the feeling that it may be their last one. She walked over to the HEAVs. She'd spent the last few days learning the ins and outs of the technology and everything they knew about the Hollow Earth so far.

She joined Whyley who was climbing into the one modified to carry gear. He'd said his goodbyes to Mi Sun before.

As she went to follow, Ren pushed past her. "You're going with them," he said with little more than a sideways glance.

Whyley peeked his head out of the HEAV after Ren entered. "Sorry, 'Mara, I'm stuck with the delinquent."

"Oh, no, that's fine." Amara found her voice through the lump in her throat.

He gave her an encouraging smile as she turned away.

She ended up sitting beside Jia who sat in the middle back seat. On her other side, Ilene strapped herself in. Nathen sat in the front, still going through whatever start up sequence she'd been informed of the day before. There was another seat next to him, but it was full of gear and supplies, much like every other square inch of the Hollow Earth Vehicle.

Through the window, Mark stood next to Mi Sun and a few other Monarch techs freshly transferred from Apex Cybernetics.

Nathen gave him a thumbs up. "HEAV One, ready for launch," he said through the headset.

Ren's voice came through the radio. "HEAV Two, ready for launch."

Mark saluted them. A couple of the techs waved.

Amara double checked her harness.

Jia already had her head back against the headrest in the proper accelerating position. Her hand was in Ilene's.

The HEAV slowly lifted off the ground then accelerated forward into the cave. Her stomach formed tight knots. Would they even survive the trip down? And if they did manage to make it, what were the chances they'd make it back out again? All it took was one mechanical error. One miscalculation.

Why couldn't she have gone with Whyley?

As they got closer to the hole, Nathan told them to get into position. Amara and Ilene both mimicked Jia, putting their heads against the headrests.

Jia must really be something, to bring her along like this. Could she really have a connection to Kong like she had with Godzilla?

Where was he right now? Last she knew, he was deep in the ocean, sleeping. Was he awake now? Looking for her?

No, her head didn't hurt that much. He had no idea. He could sleep for weeks at a time as if it were a nap.

She would miss him. Almost three thousand kilometers below the surface. Would he be able to sense her?

They'd been that far apart before, doing their own thing on opposite sides of the planet. On land, she couldn't reach that far, but in the ocean, she could find him no matter where he was.

What would being in the Hollow Earth do to their connection?

She blinked back the tears.

He would be so mad at her.

Nathen's warning sounded in the back of her mind. Then her stomach dropped.

They were falling towards a blinding light. And an instant later, engulfed by it.

Colors flashed through her eyelids. It felt like the worst rollercoaster of her life. Screaming wasn't possible. It was like teetering the line of consciousness and bazaar fever dream.

And then they were freefalling past rock and cloud. Earth above, earth below. Mirrored.

She nearly vomited when gravity inverted, and their momentum was suddenly reversed. They were falling back into the sky. But there was no sky.

The engine came back to life. Nathen was yelling something, but she couldn't make out what it was through the ringing in her ears.

The roller coaster finally ended. Now they hovered above the tree line.

They had made it!

She relaxed her neck, giving it a quick crack before looking out the window at the second HEAV.

Below them was a vast rainforest framed with rocky outcrops and mountain ranges that looked almost like enormous craters. Some formed massive lakes and others lush with life. A huge river snaked under them. The sky was a reflection of the ground. Some places reached towards each other, almost touching through the clouds that hovered between the two worlds.

But strangest of all, was the light. There was no singular point, just a warm glow, like a bright sunrise.

Whyley's voice came through the radio. "Suitable location at o-three-hundred. Base of cliff to rear, river in front, narrow openings on either side."

"Roger," Nathan replied.

The location did look good. Protected by the river on one side and cliffs on the other. Unless something already lived there, it was as good as they would get. Out past it, something blue shone through wispy clouds.

"What's that?" Amara couldn't help but ask as she pointed out to the massive formation.

"A quarry?" Ilene mused. "It's the same color as the floating rocks here.

The clouds parted further. The formation looked like a mass of jagged crystals jutting out of the core side almost like stalactites originating from a single point large enough to be seen for kilometers. It glowed faintly.

Nathen was looking at it closely as well. "We must be in a completely different area. I don't remember seeing that last time."

"We'll have to go there. It could be another significant energy source," Ilene said.

Nathan began to lower the HEAV down to the campsite. "Definitely. We'll just have to find a transfer point to get up there."

They'd talked about transfer points before. Places where the core side and the mantel side touched. The gravity inversion was mild at those points, so it was possible to do by foot. Use of the HEAVs was restricted to emergencies to conserve fuel. They would be doing a lot of hiking.

The HEAV touched down with a barely noticeable lurch. Everyone took a combined breath of relief.

Jia was the first to stand. Nathan lowered the door and she slowly exited, Ilene not far behind.

Not wanting to be alone with Nathan, Amara uttered a quick thank you and stepped out of the HEAV. She was hit by a wall of humidity. Though the climate was a familiar feeling, the smell was not. It was the odd smell of ozone. As she inhaled again, she recognized the scent. Godzilla's breath.

The first time he'd been close enough to smell it, she'd expected it to be foul. But as a creature that didn't consume food, it did not. Rather, it was a strange smell. The same that filled the area after he used his atomic breath. The smell of his unique radiation.

Whyley exited the HEAV next to theirs. She resisted the urge to run over and hug him again. This was a work contract. An unwilling one, but one nonetheless.

Everyone went to work unloading the supplies from the HEAVs and setting up camp. It was evident Ren wasn't an outdoorsy person. His tent was the last to go up as he neither asked for help nor accepted any.

Amara set her tent up next to Whyley's and closest to the river. Already her head was starting to pound. It hadn't hurt this badly since she was still fighting the connection years ago. Godzilla had been right.

They weren't meant to be this far apart.

And now she was down in an unknown world full of who-knew-what without him here to protect her. He had said long ago that if one of them died, so would the other. But would that still be the case if they were too far apart to communicate? Did the connection always exist, or only when they were close enough to feel it?

Was the pain in her head the connection itself, or her mind fighting to reestablish it?

She unrolled her sleeping bag and laid down in it. She had yet to find the pain pills she packed. Hopefully Whyley had some. Or worst case Ilene or Nathan. Or worse yet, Ren. No, the pain wasn't that bad…yet.

Outside, Nathan and Ilene were talking over the sound of the rippling river. They were debating if they should set up their tents together or separately. It was the type of awkward conversation people had when they had crushes on each other but refused to admit it.

She and Tao had plenty of those. The language barrier had made it all the worse. She'd never seen a boy blush so much in her entire life.

Footsteps approached the door of her tent.

"You in there?"

Before his hand reached for the half-zipped door, Amara spoke, "No boys allowed unless they bring pain killers."

"Already, huh?" Whyley said with a chuckle. His footsteps retreated and a couple of minutes later a pill bottle landed next to her face.

She sat up and took the bottle of water he held out to her. "Thanks, Gale."

"Wha! What did I do to deserve that?"

"Called me 'Mara, that's what. And you made me ride with the scientists that hate me."

Whyley sat down on the floor next to her. "I called you that cause you called me Gale first."

"Well, Gale is your name. I'm not sure why you don't like to be called it. I doubt your family calls you Whyley."

"It's a girly name. How does anyone take a guy named Gale seriously?"

"I think this is where I tell you your name doesn't define you, you—"

"Define your name? Uh huh. Just—don't call me that in front of the others, please."

"I'll think about it."

"Thanks, 'Mara."

"Get out!"

Once the camp was mostly set up, Whyley made everyone find branches to prop up a huge net over the entire site. He said the camo netting would keep them from being seen from above by anything. The way Nathen's eyes lit up at the concept, Amara could tell he no longer regretted the military escort. Whyley did know what he was doing.

Now they all sat under the shade of the netting around a fire pit that had yet to be lit. So far, the Hollow Earth proved too hot to need fire.

"We need to start planning expeditions. So once Kong arrives, we can start as soon as possible," Ilene said.

Nathan nodded. "I think we should make that rock formation one of our top priorities. I have no doubt it's a major energy source here." He pulled out his compass and passed it around. "Look where it's pointing."

Sure enough, when Ren passed it to Amara, the needle was pointing straight at it.

"Looks like the nearest transfer zone is there. Maybe three kilometers," Ren said.

Passing the compass to Whyley, she followed Ren's finger to the mirror image of two jagged mountains meeting in the middle of the sky.

"Then over another three or four to reach the formation," Whyley added. "It would take an entire day to get there and back." He looked at Jia. "And that's if we're fast."

Jia signed at Ilene with a questioning face. Ilene signed back. Then Jia's expression lifted as she replied more rapidly.

"What'd she say?" Amara asked.

"She won't slow us down, she can ride on Kong," Whyley said.

Everyone looked at Jia the same way Ilene and Nathan were.

Ren broke the silence. "Has someone dropped this girl when she was a baby? Close to Kong or not, why would she think for a second he would let her ride him? Who says he'll even find us? This place is huge, he could be anywhere."

Ilene glared at him. "Kong has a knack for finding Jia. He's done it many times on Skull Island."

Amara found herself looking at Whyley again, meeting his eyes.

"I'll believe it when I see it," was all Ren replied.

Ilene was eager to move on. "Amara, I was thinking of helping you figure out the light source down here. Besides the rocks, our top priority is finding out as much as we can about the environment. So far, it seems perfectly inhabitable for humans and Titans."

Amara nodded. "I agree. I also want to take as many plant and animal samples as I can. Pictures, notes, and sketches too."

She didn't miss the way Whyley subtly perked up.

"We can help you do that." Ilene gestured to her, Nathan, and Jia. "The more we find out, the better. Who knows how many Titans Monarch will end up sending down here. It could solve a lot of problems."

Amara met her gaze. "But they got out before, who says they won't again?"

"The only known access right now is in Antarctica. Worse case, we destroy it," Nathan said.

"Then Godzilla blows another hole into the planet? He's made it clear that he can't be contained," Ren said.

Of course, the criminal was the one on her side.

"That's why she's here," Nathen said, shrugging toward Amara. "Her job is to get him down here and keep him down here."

"It's my job to see if that's possible."

"Sure, tell Mark no. Then you'll go to jail for deliberately approaching a Titan and then Godzilla gets nuked with one of those new oxygen destroyer bombs."

Amara jumped up. "Godzilla is an essential part of our planet. He's defeated Titans that threatened all of mankind and you think you can talk about him like that? Ghidorah wiped out most of Skull Island by just flying past, and guess who killed him? You think Kong could have taken down Ghidorah? Two MUTOs? Destroyer?"

"Yes, we've established he attacks anything that moves. Let's see the cities he's destroyed, Honolulu, San Fransisco, Boston, Hong Kong, Tokyo—oh and Los Angeles, what Titan was he fighting there again?"

Amara couldn't meet his eyes. Whyley shifted. Los Angeles had been where Jonah had Whyley take her. Godzilla nearly leveled the city just to get to her, only to be brought down by a missile.

"That was because of Destroyer," Whyley said.

"And you know this, how?"

Amara found her voice. "He was with me. We were following Godzilla when he began to act up. We believe it was because he could sense Destroyer, but couldn't figure out what or where it was."

"LA and Russia aren't even remotely close enough to justify that excuse."

"Godzilla has incredible senses when it comes to other Titans. Destroyer was artificially created using part of his DNA and part of Ghidorah's, it would have been incredibly disorientating to him. It could have been a lot worse."

"Worse how?"

"He could have repeated what he did to Ghidorah and devastated half of Japan."

Jia stood and shook her head. Tears were in her eyes as she fled down the riverbank. Ilene chased after her, Nathan following after one last dirty look.

"I hope every conversation won't devolve into mindless fighting about Gojira." Ren got up and went to his tent which sat apart from the rest.

"How dare he talk about Godzilla like that!" Amara said as soon as Ren was out of sight. "He's not some mindless creature of destruction!"

"I know," Whyley breathed. "It's hard for people to see him as otherwise."

"But people within Monarch?"

"Which means your secret's being kept safe. It's a good thing."

"It's just so hard to convince people that he's not the enemy. Even going the territorial animal route barely works. Nope, the second he steps onto land, that's it—death sentence."

"But you've done well keeping him safe so far. Wait here." Whyley sprung up and went to his tent. When he sat back down, he had a magazine in his hands. "A part of me wanted you to sign it," he said with a smile and handed it to her.

She recognized the cover immediately. It was her standing on the beach with Godzilla's dorsal plates jutting out of the ocean in the background. Not a single distinguishing feature to recognize the location.

Inside the Top Secret Life of Godzilla's Guardian, it read.

She'd forced Monarch to let her do that interview. It was her one chance to say anything she could in Godzilla's defense. It was two years after Destroyer, and Godzilla hadn't done a thing since.

She read a lot of hate online afterword…but a lot of good too.

Mi Sun called her the day it was published. Her mom did too.

Her title of Godzilla's Voice was a secret beyond Yonaguni, but Godzilla's Guardian made rounds for years. Godzilla had thought it ironic.

What were people calling her now that they knew she'd been hiding his beneficial radiation from the world?

She handed it back to Whyley. "Mi Sun said it was the greatest thing she'd ever read."

"Yeah, she called me out of the blue and told me about it. The first and only magazine I've ever been forced to buy."

"She brought me a stack of ten to sign so she could give them to a bunch of her scientist friends."

Whyley laughed at that.

Amara sighed and looked up to the sky, only to see trees hanging high above. "This place makes me want to throw up."

Whyley leaned back to look up as well. "I better start sketching out the environment. Maybe some of it will get published and I can be famous too."

"You're officially hired as my illustrator from now on. You can start by drawing every plant you see in great detail."

"I thought that's what the camera was for."

Before she could reply, the ground began to rumble in rhythmic beats.

As Amara and Whyley stood, Ren unzipped his tent and looked around.

Whyley was gone in a flash, he sprinted towards his gear, grabbing a rifle. His posture changed completely when he held the gun in his hands. He ran past her in the direction Jia and the others left.

Amara ran after him, trying to keep stable footing as the pounding grew more intense. She nearly bumped into him when he stopped dead in front of her.

Ahead of them, stood Jia pointing out. Holding her shoulder was Ilene and next to her was Nathan. They all stood frozen.

Trees along the bank of the river bent to the side and snapped at the base.

Just like Ilene predicted, Kong had found Jia.

A/N notes

-Hi sorry it's been a hot minute! I've edited the entirety of Godzilla's voice and this one. Some tiny dialogue changes here and there but mostly spelling fixes

-Finished my other fic, Celestial Being! If you want to know what it'd be like to fall in love with an Autobot, I recommend!

-Minus One was amazing! Saw it twice!

-My ideas for this fic predate the GxK trailer. This is officially canon divergent!

-I will be taking inspo from -1, and many other Godzilla works in the past as I did in GV.

-stats don't work on this site anymore, so I can't see how many people are reading! Please leave a review so I know you're back!

-xoxoxo