A/N: More world building time! I definitely knew I didn't want them to stay just in that dreary cavern all the time. So we'll get a better look at how Kong's been rebuilding here!

TRIGGER WARNING: More abuse talk here!

BONDING

Jacob spent most of his first few days sleeping.

But by the end of the week, Kong was pleasantly surprised to find he'd regained his strength. The boy was able to come out and at least be seen by the remainder of the tribe. Most of them had calmed upon seeing how small and fragile their guest was. With the exception of Lucius and a few others whose glares and mumbles did not go unnoticed.

For his part, the pre-teen seemed to be handling things well. Though he seemed tense enough when exiting the den and seeing the full scope of their home. And indeed, his species home was large, and wondrous. Having amazed Kong when he'd first seen it all those years ago.

Of course, back then they'd only been in the cavern where he held meetings and where he made his throne. Nowadays, they made their actual homes near a series of caves overlooking a lush valley. It was not far from their former home, and their "council house" now - but it allowed the Great Apes far more room to roam and was frankly less depressing.

"WOW," Jake finally managed as he finally found his voice. "I thought Suko said you guys lived in this big cavern?"

Kong snorted. "They used to under the rule of the Skar King. That is where we now go when we discuss matters among the tribe," Kong explained. He motioned toward the distance. "It can be found two miles west of here. Everything from there, to the East where you'll find our perimeter guards is now our home."

Jake nodded his head slightly, it was definitely bigger than he was expecting. But still, as he trudged behind Kong he took it all in. Who would have thought that all of this existed underneath the Earth? A couple of decades ago and he probably would've been called crazy.

Honestly, if nothing else the world made him feel small. Even the smaller monsters seemed to be as big as a fully-grown elephant down here and that made it dangerous. Not that he was surprised, humanity obviously had not made a full-time home down here for a reason.

He glanced over a nearby cliff and out to the water curiously however. After all, at his age he couldn't help but choose curiosity over any fear he might have felt. He was probably one of the few humans, if any, to see this deep in what he guessed they called the Hollow Earth. So he was going to bask in it for however long he was down here.

He sighed a little. "Well this is going to make one hell of a "What I did on my summer vacation" report," He joked. "Not that any teacher in the world would believe me."

Kong tilted his head. "You seem much more lively now that you're out and about."

Jake shrugged. "I mean I was worried the first few days. But like duh," He admitted. "But it's not like I can do much about it right? I figure as long as I'm stuck down here I should stop doing that. Have an adventure."

It was true, he was still sure his social worker was worried sick. But he also couldn't sulk around about his less than preferable predicament. While the talking to Titans thing was weird, he had a chance no one else had to learn things no one else could. He had to admit that was pretty damn cool.

Kong got his attention with a light tap on his shoulder. "Have fun with it, but remember to stay close. This place is beautiful but dangerous," He asserted. "You are young and unarmed. And could not carry our weapons for protection if you wanted to."

True. Jake had already seen the species' weapons. They were about the size of a small building at their smallest and that alone told him he'd be in trouble. Still, he couldn't help but look up in awe as a winged beast flew just by them and take it all in. For a place so dangerous, it felt like a Venus Fly Trap in a way.

He did give a cheeky grin in response though and add. "Well maybe I should make some then before we start that trip," He explained. "When do we leave by the way?"

"You just got on your feet. We need to build up your strength," Kong noted. "Exercise and fresh air should work wonders. But it'll be a few weeks yet due to the extent of your injury."

Jake agreed, he'd seen the gnarly gash on his side early on and it had definitely did a number. It also seemed to suggest that he'd fallen from somewhere which was lovely. So he supposed he should listen to the adult in this situation - like it or not.

Still, Jake was a little nervous about it. He had never been great at socializing, probably because of his early childhood. And now they were talking about giant Apes that could literally kill him with a single step if he angered them enough.

Kong seemed to take notice, because he looked down at him with curious eyes. Had he expected him to just go running off? "You were so eager to get out, don't you want to go play with some your age?" He asked, no doubt there were a few - and Suko who was a bit older. "You've been in the den a long time."

Jake fidgeted and considered how to best respond. "I've never been good at that," Jake explained. "Everyone thinks I'm a little weird. And I guess they were kind of right, look at what I can do."

Kong snorted. "You act like weird is a bad thing," Kong noted. "My friend, Jia said the same thing. But now she thrives, she's even made more friends in her high school."

High School? Was Kong suggesting that he had friends who were close to Jake in age? What was with this guy and kids? "Another kid, huh? What do you just go around collecting us?" That caused a snort from the Titan. "Suko, Jia, now me..."

"Technically, Jia came first," Kong noted. "But I've come to believe because of her that human children share a special connection to us... It's shown before, first in a girl that I've heard of named Madison..."

Jake's brow furrowed, curiosity now filling his head. Kids having connections to Titans? That was a weird notion. Maybe he wasn't so special after all then, he wondered. But could any of them speak to them too? "Do Jia or Maddie talk to Titans too?"

Kong frowned, and looked ahead, definitely calculating his response. "Not like you. Jia is deaf and communicates with sign language," He explained. "I have not met Madison, but as I understand. Her connection to Mothra was not quite as direct."

So the answer still remained, why him? Or was it that he'd simply unlocked a part of his brain that those two hadn't. Jake didn't know, but he wasn't sure why he of all people would be chosen for it. He was a nobody. He didn't have a connection to these Iwi people, or the Monarch group he'd heard mentioned either.

He was some kid from New Mexico that had shown up here one day.

Kong tapped his back with a toe carefully, and nodded. "Come on then, we should at least go for a walk," He encouraged. "You need to get your strength up."

Fine, Jake thought, and began to follow him down the path. He supposed overthinking his part of this wouldn't do him good anyway.

OUTSIDE ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO

Ilene Andrews had had a hell of a week.

It wasn't every day that a new portal to Hollow Earth opened up, but when it did she was the one to call. Or at least she guessed so. This one had been on a mountain range, of all the odd places in the world. But as usual, the government pushback on further exploration was generally firm.

Ever since Skar King had come to the surface and nearly started a second ice age the governments had wanted little to do with Hollow Earth. They allowed Monarch to continue their research in earnest but their trips became sporadic at best. So she was forced to simply read seismic readings and make sure nothing other than Kong escaped again.

This time was different though, because they had what seemed to be a casualty.

Ilene knew the Internet and news teams were eating it up. A new portal pops up and swallows up a kid - a foster kid at that. Taking him to God knew where and to whatever fate was waiting for him. Ilene was almost certain the kid was dead, but found it greatly disrespectful that the government had yet to OK a team to go in for body retrieval.

As usual, they wanted to sweep this under the rug.

She was on her third cup of coffee at the moment. Seated in front of yet another government bureaucrat and on the last of her patience. Thankfully, at their temporary base camp she didn't have to be calm or collected like if they'd been in town. Because she had a lot to say.

"Look, Ilene it's been a week," The suit explained rather roughly. "If Jacob Walker survived the fall, he's definitely dead by now."

Ilene rolled her eyes. "So what? You want to just leave him down there?" She asked. "The news is already calling us negligent. How do you think they'll feel when we tell them we didn't even try?"

The man slid the shades up the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Look, I know you're eager to get back to Mighty Joe Young," That earned him a sharper glare. "But the President is just not going to OK a search party down there. It's time to pack up, and move on."

"You could at least send a drone down there," Ilene pressed. "Make sure -."

"Enough, Ms. Andrews. You and your team have your orders," The suit replied. "Quarantine off the area and head back to Monarch. When it's safe to go down again -."

"According to you assholes, it's never safe."

That got her a glare, but the suit just kept walking. "You'll get to see your monkey again..."

Ilene sighed as she watched him walk away. Great, what good was a Kong expert if she couldn't get down there with her subject? That had been bad enough for her. But now she was being forced to abandon a kid who was only a little younger than Jia?

She tossed her files onto the table in front of her in utter exhaustion.

"Ilene?"

Ilene peered up to find that one of her younger interns had entered her tent. With her best soft smile, she tried to get herself out of her more irate mindset and responded. "What is it Conner? Kind of busy..."

Conner nodded, but handed her a bit of paperwork. "Yeah, I uh... I know. But I thought you'd want to see this."

Ilene picked up the paper and felt her forehead scrunch up in confusion. "Who let the drone down there?"

Conner smirked. "You're not the only one unhappy with how things are going," He explained, pointing it out. "I co-ordinated where Jacob Walker would have probably landed... There's no sign of his body, a struggle, or even blood."

Ilene nodded as she looked at the rather clear picture. Genuinely confused. But agreeing from the co-ordinates scribbled upon it that the calculations were correct. Could the kid have survived a fall like that? Without a hovercraft? That seemed impossible but if he'd fallen prey surely there'd be blood stains at the very least.

She had to admit, a small part of her hoped if he was alive he'd been found by a friendlier Titan. If not Kong. Because the thought of a twelve year old running around unsupervised in danger would scare any mother.

"Should I call the stiff back?"

Ilene shook her head. "No, not until I have more information," She explained. "Like it or not we have to move out. But right now, this stays between us until I figure out how to get a team down there."

The intern nodded, ducking his way out of the tent as Ilene sighed quietly. She hoped by the time they figured this all out it wouldn't already be too late.

Kong let Jake wash off in the lake, keeping a watchful eye out for signs of danger.

While he'd given the child his privacy, he had noticed one thing as he'd taken his shirt off to go for his swim. Scars. Long, and old, but still perfectly visible. They lined his back and some of his shoulder blades, and made Kong's eyes soften just the smallest bit.

Why did a child have such hideous scars?

So when he'd come back, Kong had almost wasted no time in asking. Was it direct? Yes. Perhaps a little bit rude? He didn't know. But he couldn't help it with the spark of anger in his chest. "Who gave you those scars?"

Jake stopped pulling on his shirt for a moment. Hesitating before continuing and looking up at the Titan. He didn't look happy that Kong had brought it up, but did have an answer. "I told you I live in a group home," He muttered. "Who do you think?"

"What is a group home?"

Jake's nose scrunched up. "It's a place where kids like me live when your parents suck," He admitted, perhaps a little bitterly. "Or they die... Or they just plain don't know how to be a parent."

Kong's eyes softened more. Did he just imply that his own parents had given him those scars? What kind of monsters? While Kong had his rough days with Suko and they didn't even speak about their first meeting... The thought of actually doing permanent damage to one's own child made him shudder.

Hell, the way he had practically battered Suko in their first meeting still haunted him. Even though it had absolutely been in self-defense.

The boy must have noticed his silence and anger, because he answered again. "It's ok. I haven't lived with them since I was seven," He explained. "My dad should be out of jail by now. Mom got out last year. But they can't see me, that's what the court says."

Good. That was all that Kong could think as he tried to calm himself. "Does this social services take care of you?"

Jake chuckled. "I guess. They mostly find people to take care of me," he explained as he took a seat upon the grassy knoll. "I bounce around a lot. At least once a year... I was supposed to be adopted twice but something always happens."

"I'm sorry."

The pre-teen gave a small smile, though Kong could see the sadness in his eyes. "It's OK, I'm used to it. I like to think it's like my social worker said and what doesn't kill me makes me stronger," He admitted. "Though we're gonna have a hell of a time explaining to people their new kid talks to giants."

Kong gave a snort-laugh at that, though that was true. How would the world react to someone like Jake? As he understood it they didn't really enjoy things they didn't understand. But hopefully, as a child of the species, they wouldn't gawk too harshly at him.

"We should continue our walk. Serpents tend to lurk in these waters," Jake took a side-step away from the water at that. "Come on, there are still several hours until nightfall. We have much ground to cover to build your strength."

As Jake continued on, Kong again looked at his now covered back and couldn't help but frown. He would never understand human parenting, he told himself. And now he had another reason why.