The One Who Lost His Way

AN: I know I'm a day late, but I had a really bad day last Tuesday that sucked all of my motivation out for a couple of days after. Because of that, this chapter doesn't quite go as far as I wanted it to. There's no conversation between Stenz and Ghidorah quite yet, unfortunately, but that means it's guaranteed to be next chapter. And there's some clues in this chapter about something that'll happen very soon, which I am quite looking forward to writing.

And since nobody commented about it, for anyone that read the author's note at the end of last chapter but couldn't find the reference I was talking about, Mark's argument to Stenz was the the exact same one Nick Tatopoulos used to convince Major Hicks to let Godzilla live in the animated series made after the 1998 movie: "Don't you want just one mutation (titan) on our side?"

I just really liked that series. I liked the movie, too, despite how many people say it's terrible. Granted, it's a terrible Godzilla movie, but if they called it something else, I think it would've been a whole lot more popular. That's just my belief, though. It's a good movie, just a bad Godzilla movie.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

Key:

"Titan speak"

"Human speak"

Character's inner thoughts

"Telepathic communication"

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

On approach to Isla de Mara, Mexico:

Once again, she was on an osprey. By her count, she'd spent more time in the air on various aircraft than on the ground ever since joining up with Monarch. At least on the Argo, there were things to do and enough space to at least walk around. On an osprey, she didn't even have that luxury. Really, the only things to do were sleep, talk with her dad, or listen to other conversations. And when there were no conversations, the constant noise of the engine and the noticeable vibration of the craft were pretty much her entire world.

It sucked.

At least the destination would be worth it. It had been really disappointing to have their previous meeting with Ghidorah cut short, so it was really cool that she'd have a chance to talk with them again so soon.

The whole reason she'd gone along with her mom's insane plan in the first place was because she found the titans so interesting. She'd been won over by the promise of coexistence with them, but after being stuck with Jonah's group for weeks, she now understood that they didn't have the titans' well-being in mind. Their goals were more malicious than that, something her mom apparently couldn't see herself.

After thinking more about it—and she'd had plenty of time for just that here lately—she'd come to realize that letting a dozen and a half titans roam the globe freely was just asking for trouble. How she was ever so naïve to think coexistence was that easy, she had no idea. If it was that easy, Monarch wouldn't have been on the verge of collapse and the titans' very existence wouldn't have been a matter of international debate.

Those little problems had worked in convincing her that her mom's plan was better. Now, she knew better. Technically, despite their methods, Jonah's group did do some good. Without them, Ghidorah would still be stuck as an ice cube. And if that was the case...Monarch wouldn't have been shown the path to true coexistence.

And to think her dad had been the one to push for this. After Andrew...he hadn't been in the best mindset. He'd made it clear, many times, that he hated Godzilla—and all titans—for what happened to her brother. That one argument tore her parents apart. There were other things to add to that, obviously, but it was a real sticking point. One they couldn't really move past.

With her dad turning to alcohol and quitting his job at Monarch, it was easy for the courts to give custody to her mom, who still had her job. At the time, she hadn't been that upset. As much as she hated to say it, her dad's behavior had been scary. It'd been uncomfortable to be around him back then, so she'd been completely fine with going with her mom.

She couldn't really pinpoint when that had all started going wrong, though. It was never one big thing that convinced her that her mom had gone a bit...out there. Rather, it was a bunch of little things that began adding up, and she hadn't seen what it was adding up to until it was already too late to stop.

She really wished she'd seen and changed things before they went this far. Even if it meant Ghidorah and the rest of the titans never got to taste freedom, maybe her family would still be whole. As it was, all she could do was hope her mom wasn't past the point of redemption. Maybe—hopefully—she'd see what Jonah really was given time and realize she was on the wrong side.

Maddie sighed and rubbed her eyes. That line of thought had definitely taken a turn. What started off as her thinking about Ghidorah and why she was so excited to meet up with him again turned into lamenting her broken family and regretting the part she'd played in her mom's insanity.

"Hey..." A hand on her shoulder had her looking over at her dad, who was watching her with clear concern. "You okay?"

"Yeah..." she nodded. From his expression, he was clearly skeptical. "Just thinking."

"About?" he pressed quietly. She glanced around at the other passengers, Stenz and the handful of guards he'd brought for whatever reason—regulation, probably, since they couldn't exactly do much except annoy a titan. They were all quiet, patiently waiting to arrive at their destination. None of them appeared to be actively eavesdropping, but it was sort of impossible for them not to hear at least bits of any conversation. They were all stuck in the same small space together, after all. "Maddie—" Whatever else he was about to say was cut off when his phone rang.

He sighed in annoyance, his gaze lingering on her for a bit longer. "You should see who that is," she told him.

Only then did he grab his phone, glance at the caller ID, and answer it with a brusque, "Yeah?" Since he wasn't on speaker phone, Maddie—and therefore, everyone else—could only hear one side of the conversation. "Yeah, we're almost there. Probably..."

He trailed off for a moment and glanced at Stenz. "We're about twenty minutes away," the old man answered.

Her dad repeated the ETA to whoever was calling. There was another short pause as the caller spoke, and her dad furrowed his brows in clear confusion. "And why can't you tell me right now?" A short pause, and Maddie didn't need to hear the answer to know the answer. "Alright, I'll call you back shortly."

As soon as he hung up, the admiral asked the question that was on all of their minds. "Problem, Doctor?"

For someone who'd basically been told whatever needed to be said needed to be kept out of the military's knowledge, her dad had a remarkably straight face and even tone when he answered. "Just some private matters best saved for solid ground. It won't take long for me to take care of." Whether or not that was true was up for debate, but both she—and Stenz, apparently—was leaning towards the latter option.

The admiral didn't press the issue, however. And, fortunately for her, he seemed too distracted by what little he'd been told—if he'd been told anything yet—to continue trying to press her for answers.

The ride quickly went back to the normal 'silence' she was used to on these things.

Meanwhile, on Isla de Mara:

It was surprisingly quiet on this island when there were no humans about. Well, less humans. There were still a few watching them, as always, but their observation post had been set up in the ruins of the town. There were a few Monarch scientists there, but most seemed to be regular people had either not gotten out or had stubbornly stayed when their neighbors fled. Occasionally, a scientist or two would come partway up the mountain or down the beach to observe them more closely since they made a conscious effort to stay as far away from the town as possible. The northwest beaches were particularly nice, they found.

Still, even with the occasional observer, it was quiet without the myriad flying machines observing them from, well...not far enough. They kept their distance, to be sure, but the humans seemed to underestimate just how loud those things were—and how good their hearing was. Luckily for them, they were quite a tolerant being. Provided the humans didn't break into the personal space or attempt to attack them, they were perfectly content with letting them conduct their watch.

Without the constant noise of the human aircraft, this really was a nice little island. It was quiet and comfortable. The sunny beaches brought in the cool ocean air and were a perfect place to relax. The lava flows and volcano cauldron were a great source of heat and radiation should they require more energy than what the sun could provide.

Best of all, it was small and isolated enough that only a select few titans could even make it to the island. One had to either fly or swim to get here, which meant the vast majority of the titans would be able to bother them here. So even with the two others here, it wasn't so bad. Especially since one of them was currently as far out of the way as could possibly be.

Apparently, their threat had worked quite well. Rodan had been flying around his island—patrolling his territory, no doubt—but had immediately hid within the volcano as soon as he saw them on the horizon. He'd been in there for the past few hours now, the coward that he was. Ichi, and especially Ni, felt their blood boil when they remembered how such a useless titan had been partially responsible for them being frozen in the ice for twenty-five thousand years.

He ran away from the fight with the tree titan. He hid in his volcano from them. The only time he had fought another titan was when he had the clear advantage of aerial superiority. And against a stronger opponent, he hid behind his allies, namely Godzilla, and struck when said opponent was distracted.

All three of the knew that fights weren't always honorable. Sometimes, dirty tactics were required to win. That was all perfectly acceptable in their minds. But using that as an excuse for one's cowardice and weakness was another matter entirely.

That was not acceptable.

So, all three of them—even San—were perfectly content with letting Rodan hide away in his little hole. And the longer he stayed there, the better. He could rot in there for eternity for all they cared.

The other titan currently on this island was exponentially more fascinating, anyway. A not insignificant portion of that fascination stemmed from the fact that she actually was here and not where they expected her to be. "Shouldn't you be with Godzilla?" Though he sounded accusatory, Ichi could tell his more aggressive brother was as curious as he himself was.

"He wanted me to keep an eye on you three." Yes, that sounded like something he would ask of her, Ichi thought. What surprised him was how readily she admitted it. She'd literally only just landed. He would've thought it'd take a bit more dancing around the subject for her to actually say it.

"And why would you just admit to that so easily?" Ichi wondered. Surprisingly, he didn't feel as suspicious of her as he thought he might. This was Godzilla's primary ally, after all. Though, he would admit that she was far more reasonable than the overgrown lizard.

"Because I do not agree with his assessment of you," she explained matter-of-factly.

"You and Godzilla disagreeing on something?" Ni snickered. "That's a first."

"Not really. We disagree on many things, but we usually come to a compromise. On this issue, however, he is being quite...stubborn." To, Ichi, that didn't really come as a surprise. And neither did the next thing she said. "He fears you."

"As you have said before." Ichi snorted, showing his annoyance at having to repeat himself. "Our response would be the same as previously: We follow him willingly but will not bow should he challenge us."

"But you have Tiamat's support. And, if what he said is true, you also have the queen's." Just as they studied her, she studied them. "His greatest rival now has the potential to call upon his species' natural enemy and the single titan that can overpower even him in the water. The threat you pose is growing, even if unintentionally. I no longer believe it is a matter of if he will challenge you, but when."

Ni growled, San looked out to sea worriedly, and Ichi shook his head in frustration. He hadn't wanted a confrontation with Godzilla, but the fool seemed adamant about having one, anyway. "I suppose you have some advice, else you would not be telling us as much."

"You have two options," she confirmed. "Either submit to his rule and acknowledge him as King—"

Ni's furious hiss was not entirely unfounded. Even Ichi found himself curling his lip in distaste. "Never!"

Mothra nodded sadly upon hearing that. "As I expected...Then, you must fight him. And you must become King."

The thought—the temptation—had been there for a while, always in the back of their minds. After the encounter with the 'queen', as Mothra called it, the possibility seemed more plausible than ever. Still, even with their superior power, such a battle would not be easy...or quick. They had history and hundreds of skirmishes between them to prove it. And with humanity as widespread across the planet as they were in this day and age, it would prove catastrophic for them, as well.

Ichi snorted at the thought, more than a little uncomfortable at being this planet's apocalypse...again. It wasn't that he was particularly fond of this planet or its inhabitants—this planet was just one of a great many they'd been to and its people similar to many others they'd met—but he did care about their fate. He would not simply doom them to disaster in order to claim control over this world's titans.

Before their imprisonment—and the time spent ruminating on the meaning of their existence—they would not have thought twice before letting humanity die. He would not have thought twice. Destruction of life was the twisted purpose they had chosen for themselves in their madness born of isolation and resentment. Clear-headed as they now were, he could not, in good conscience, allow themselves to take a single step down that dark path. They'd been that way before, and he did not want to be that way ever again.

For a brief moment, Ichi considered bowing. When they first woke in that frozen wasteland, they had bowed, only to realize that it was the humans broadcasting a fake signal from their clever device. Then, faced with the real Godzilla, they did not bow again. Their pride and status prevented it.

Godzilla may be the protector of this planet, but they were a protector of life itself across the entire universe. There were less than a hundred such beings that could claim as much, and Godzilla was not one of them. Put simply, they were the superior lifeform. Bowing to Godzilla would be to forsake their duty. For millions of years, during their rampage, they did forsake it...

No longer.

This wasn't a matter of pride...well, not only a matter of pride for them, like it was to Godzilla. This was a matter of celestial balance. None of their kind had ever been permanently killed or forced to submit or serve by lesser beings. They would not be the first.

Godzilla wanted to protect his planet, and Ichi held no ill will for him because of that. But he needed to learn that their were forces beyond him and this planet at work, as well, and they just so happened to be one of them.

After several minutes of silence, all three sets of eyes staring at Ichi, awaiting his decision, he finally spoke. "We are willing to be considered as an equal. His purpose and ours are not so different. We will respect his rule and swear to not intervene. In return, we demand an equal respect and an acknowledgement that we reside here of our own accord outside of his rule." In order to make things crystal clear, he repeated that in simpler terms. "He does not rule us, and we do not interfere with his rule."

Mothra was silent as she digested his terms. What she thought of them, none of them could tell, for her expression and tone were remarkably level. "And should he refuse these terms?"

At this, all three of them growled, a sign that they were of a united mind. "Then we shall prove his fears well-founded. We will take his rule from him and destroy him for good. And it will be done only because he forced us to." Ichi let out a dismissive snort. "But should he leave us be, he will have nothing to fear from us."

"I...will let him know." She didn't sound too confident that Godzilla would actually agree, but if he didn't, more the fool was he. They have given him every assurance possible that they mean not to challenge him or make trouble. If he can not accept a 'titan' existing on this planet freely and not under his rule, then any confrontation afterwards would be the result of his pettiness.

Avoiding a fight was still in their—and humanity's—best interest, but if Godzilla wanted to be a stubborn imbecile, there wasn't much they could do. They'd only go so far in trying to appease him, and that line they had clearly marked would not be crossed.

Ghidorah does not bow. Neither will Godzilla. So if they cannot be equal allies, then the only other option...was to be enemies once again.

As she turned and took flight heading north, the displaced air sending a miniature sandstorm into their legs, the sound of her wingbeats was quickly replaced with faint and steady thump of a human aircraft. In the same direction Mothra had gone, a steadily growing dot headed the opposite direction.

"It appears Mark and Maddie have kept their word," Ichi observed. Ni didn't seem to care, but San was clearly excited enough for the both of them. Ichi, however, couldn't help but send a suspicious glare up to the top of the volcano. There was still no sign of Rodan, but he wondered if the new visitors might attract his attention.

If he came out of that volcano just to attack their two human friends, the punishment will be severe, indeed. So for his sake, he better stay put.

AN: So we've got potential conflict brewing between Ghidorah and Godzilla, despite the former's attempt to avoid it, and we've got Ghidorah feeling some rising contempt for Rodan. Then, we've got Mothra, who's stuck in the middle trying to play mediator.

Not exactly good news, is it?

The other question is who called Mark and what they wanted to tell him. Is it really private affairs? Serizawa wanting to discuss Mark taking over Monarch, maybe? Or is it something else? Something that someone found out about a certain titan, perhaps? *wink*

Until Next Time

AdmiralCole22