The One Who Lost His Way

AN: Apologies that this chapter is so short. I was struggling with writer's block and lack of motivation, but I figured something was better than nothing. It's just that I've got a whole lot of ideas on what could happen next, but I'm not quite sure which to follow yet. Ideas are welcome, of course. I'll even give shoutouts for them. As it is, this chapter picks right where the last one left off, though it's in Ghidorah's POV this time.

I don't think I've ever mentioned it on this story yet, but I'm currently writing my own, original book, and I wanted to give a quick update on it. I started the second draft about a month/month-and-a-half ago, and I finished chapter four yesterday. So far, I'm doing one chapter a week, so hopefully that pattern keeps up.

And lastly, I'm going to do a bit of self-advertising again. Haven't done it in a while, so for anyone that doesn't know or simply forgot, I have a few gigs on Fiverr. The website itself is free to browse, so if you're interested in checking it out just to see what it is, there's no fee to do so. If you've got an idea for an original story you'd like to see done, come check me out. My name on there is the same as on here (admiralcole22). Commissions on Fiverr are a great way to show some extra support, and of course, you get your own story out of the deal, too.

Alright, ad read over now.

Key:

"Titan speak"

"Human speak"

Character's inner thoughts

"Telepathic communication"

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

It'd been a long time since Ichi felt so self-conscious about their size. The humans were just tiny compared to them. Maddie herself was probably smaller than one of his teeth. Ichi had to make sure they didn't move too fast for fear of spooking them, and they needed to be painfully aware of where they moved. One mindless shift in the wrong direction could hurt or even kill the fragile beings. And all the while, he not only had to focus on his own motions but San's, as well.

The youngest was back to lying upon the ground, eyes closed with a smile, as Maddie did what she could to scratch underneath his jaw. She was so small that Ichi would think it hard to feel, but curiously, he could feel waves of contentment from San.

Admittedly, he was a bit jealous. If it truly did feel that good, he wanted a turn, too, but he restrained himself from taking San's place. Pushing him away might mean hitting Maddie, and he wasn't about to be reduced to silly squabbling over...pets.

For the past few minutes, nobody had really spoken. Maddie was having fun petting San, a clear look of wonder in her expression. San was having fun letting Maddie pet him. Ni was pointedly looking away from these 'degrading antics' as he called them. Mark was watching his daughter interact with them with a mix of emotions ranging from worry and regret to pride and amazement. Since nothing had gone wrong, he was still allowing it, but Ichi knew that as soon as he was given reason, he would pull Maddie away.

And Ichi had just been watching the whole thing silently like he usually did.

"By the way..." At the sound of her voice, Ichi's gaze was instantly on Maddie. Just when she'd stopped scratching San, the youngest whined as if utterly heartbroken that she'd stopped. Maddie giggled. "My arm's getting tired, big guy. Sorry." San's huff threw a bunch of sand and rocks up, which Mark had to turn away and shield his eyes from.

Ichi shot a stern telepathic warning to the youngest, making San still and glance at Ichi, especially when his older brother growled at him. He raised his head after a moment, careful not to hit Maddie, and turned to the dust-covered human sitting on the hill. "Sorry, Mark..."

"It's fine," he said, a bit thinly, as he wiped off his jacket. "Just...be careful. We're a lot smaller than you."

San nodded, and he was just about to lower his head for Maddie when Ichi gently bumped him away. "You had your turn." San grumbled at that but reluctantly obeyed his oldest brother. Maddie giggled at him as he rested his chin upon the ground next to her. It wasn't a very comfortable beach, and looking out of the corner of his eye, he could barely see her where she was currently standing.

When she walked closer to him, he lost sight of her. That's when he expected to feel her hands upon his face, but he didn't. He had only a second to be confused before he noticed San's utter bewilderment and Mark's horror as he abruptly stood. "Maddie! What—"

"He's not going to hurt me, dad!" Mark watched the scene, hands clasped atop his head in clear indecision. Of course, Ichi didn't know what was happening, and San was cautioning him to stay still, so he couldn't raise back up or shift his position to see what she was doing. Even Ni seemed flabbergasted.

And that's when he felt it. A light thump upon the top of his head. A few footsteps followed until she came into his field of view. She dropped off of his brow and onto his snout, walking about halfway down before turning around and sitting down to face him. His eyes were locked upon her small form. "Hi!" Her smile was wide as she waved at him.

His only response was to blink in utter surprise.

She just sat there beaming at him, completely unafraid, and enjoying herself immensely. She had absolutely no fear of them despite what they were. Size didn't matter. Appearance didn't matter. They'd saved her and her father's life, and now here she was climbing up his horns onto his face like it was nothing. And that meant only one thing...

She trusted them.

As her smile slowly began to fall as the silence stretched on, his gaze grew warm once he reached that conclusion. A spark of fondness lit in his heart. San was the one to voice what they all were thinking. "Wow..."

"This is alright, right?" she asked, suddenly a bit more concerned that maybe she had been a bit too rash.

"Yes," he answered, barely stopping himself from nodding for fear of knocking her off. As it was, she still had to hold on a bit when his snout moved while he spoke. "You have earned enough of my respect."

Maddie furrowed her brow at that. As did Mark when Ichi glanced at him. He was also on his feet as he approached them with a thoughtful expression "That was singular that time, not plural. My respect, not our respect."

"Yeah..." Maddie nodded when she heard that. "Are you one dragon with three heads or three dragons with one body? I haven't really been able to tell yet."

"We haven't, either," Mark commented, no doubt meaning Monarch.

"The latter," Ichi replied. "Though we often pretend to be the former."

"Why?" That simple question made Ichi pause. Why did they pretend to be one dragon? To be completely truthful, he wasn't really sure. It was just something they had always done from what he could remember.

"I am not sure," he admitted. "We do not like others knowing our personal names. They are the only things we have to call our own, so we agreed long ago to have a common name for all of us. With one name, it was simply easier to act as one dragon." Or...something like that, at least.

"So...your personal names..." Ni snarled softly, making the two humans glance at him warily, especially now that they knew each of them had separate personalities. Even San appeared uncomfortable at Maddie's unasked question. "Is telling someone them, like, intimate or something?"

"Madison!" Mark seemed utterly horrified by her asking that question.

But Maddie just shrugged at him. "What? It's a genuine question. They're a completely new species, and I'm interested in how they think."

"It is not a matter of intimacy," Ichi assured her. And he was just about to say it wasn't even something the rest of their species had in common, but that might've been giving too much away. He wasn't sure if the humans knew they were not of this planet or not, but he wasn't going to say anything in case they didn't. "It is more a matter of..." He trailed off, trying to figure out what to say. It wasn't trust. Not really. He couldn't pinpoint what one thing it could be, so he simply finished with, "...past experience."

Neither human was satisfied with the vague half-answer, but there were no more questions about it. At that point, the sound of a distant yet approaching helicopter had all eyes turning in the direction of the city. Sure enough, one was heading their way. "News chopper," Mark grumbled. "Figured they'd come around eventually." He stepped forward, almost within reaching distant of his snout and waved to Maddie. "Alright, Maddie, come on. We should head out before anyone sees us."

"Aww..." Ichi was likewise annoyed that they had to leave so soon, but Maddie complied with her father's wish and carefully slid down his snout to let Mark catch her.

Mark led her back up to the hill as Ichi raised himself back up. Before he could even unfurl their wings, Mark spoke up again. "Hey, listen...our ship, the big one, is out of commission for a while. If you want to talk some more, Isla de Mara's probably the best place for it." Ichi stared at the man for clarification. "The island where Rodan came out of."

Ichi nodded. "We will wait for you there." And with that, he spread their wings and took off just as the helicopter entered the island's airspace.

AN: Yeah, it's really short, but I hoped everyone enjoyed it, regardless. Next chapter will be back to normal length once I figure out where to go from here. Might even make the next one extra long in compensation.

Until Next Time

AdmiralCole22!