The One Who Lost His Way

AN: I got a request from someone asking to see the conversation between Mark and Chen about Ghidorah, so I put it in a flashback. If anyone else has requests or suggestions, I'll do what I can to include them.

Key:

"Titan speak"

"Human speak"

Character's inner thoughts

"Telepathic communication"

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

Several minutes before...

Mark stepped off the osprey, and as he'd told Stenz before landing, he went to the side, away from the others, and redialed Dr. Chen's number. The first ring hadn't even finished before she picked up. "Alright, I'm here. What's so important?"

"You're certain no one can listen in?" He looked around for a moment as he debated her question. Stenz was introducing himself to the outpost staff, one of which pointed to a pair of old vehicles, a Jeep and an old Ford pickup. Stenz nodded, and then they began to load into the vehicles as Maddie sat down on the tailgate of the truck away from everyone else. "Mark?"

"As certain as I can be," he responded. "But we're talking over cell phones, so this isn't exactly a secure line."

That seemed to make her pause in thought, and she was silent for several minutes. However, at long last, "It's secure enough for the moment. The military isn't tapped into our call. Rick just checked for me."

"Alright..." Mark trailed, just now becoming aware of how seriously she was taking this. "What's so important you don't want them knowing about?"

She hesitated for a split second before answering. "Ghidorah. I'm not so sure we should trust them."

Well, that was a turnaround. "You've never had a problem with them before. You agreed with the plan to communicate with them in hopes of finding a path towards coexistence just like everyone else. What changed?" Whatever stories she found regarding the dragon must've been bad for her to go back on that so soon.

"I started digging up whatever I could about Ghidorah." As he predicted. "And I'll start by saying what I didn't find is almost as interesting as what I did find."

"The hell's that supposed to mean?" For once in his life, he would like to meet a scientist that spoke plainly without prompting. Then again, if Rick was any example of that, maybe he should be careful what he wished for.

"The name 'Ghidorah' is never mentioned in any of the myths or legends I've seen. Instead, the ancient peoples used phrases like 'The Golden Demise', 'The One Who is Many', 'Death Song of Three Storms', and the most worrying, 'The Devil with Three Heads'." He had no immediate response to that. He glanced at Maddie, still sitting on the tailgate, and then at the distant form of Ghidorah, who was watching them all mill about. All of those 'nicknames' were spot on in describing the golden, three-headed dragon, but he had to think about this rationally. "It's almost like people were afraid to even mention its name."

Chen's comment brought him out of his thoughts, and he presented his doubts to her. "Humans have a penchant for giving scary-looking things scary names. I mean, the T. Rex translates to 'Tyrant Lizard King'. You're sure that's not all it is?"

"I wouldn't be so worried if it was that simple," she snapped, and he acquiesced that point.

"We found evidence that Godzilla and Ghidorah are ancient rivals. Cave paintings show the two clashing in titanic battles. Others depict Godzilla, or at least a member of his species, as a benevolent protector of humanity while Ghidorah is often shown as a destroyer of civilizations." That was also concerning, but again, he had to think this through logically. So far, he'd seen nothing 'devilish' from the dragon in the many times he's interacted with humans, including himself and Maddie.

"If he's supposed to be some malevolent being, explain his behavior since waking up. He let Maddie climb onto one of his faces for Christ's sake! And another of his heads was acting like a puppy dog when she scratched under his jaw!" That was still something he could hardly believe even after seeing it, but it'd happened. No 'destroyer of civilizations' would act like that. Of that, he was certain.

He heard Ilene mutter something under her breath, but he couldn't make out exactly what she was saying. "Alright, Mark...you've got me on that one. Maybe Ghidorah is different now. But consider this: He was frozen in ice for over twenty-five millennia. Inmates who spend a long time in solitary confinement sometimes come out different, but many of those end up relapsing to old habits given time and opportunity. What if he ends up worse than Godzilla in the future?"

"As a counterpoint to your argument, Chen, a lot of those prisoners relapse because no one gives them the chance to be anything other than the criminal they were. They get defined by their past and end up giving up trying to change the world's perception of them." Chen groaned in exasperation, but he wasn't done yet. "I will admit that it is possible Ghidorah was more violent in the past. And yes, it is possible that they revert in the future, but it's less likely than if we treat it as a certainty that they will."

Another bunch of muttering. "I never thought it would be this difficult to make the man known for hating titans to distrust a titan." Mark huffed at that. "Which is why I saved the most damning evidence for last."

Since the other two hadn't been much of anything—to be fair, the second one was worth considering, and he would ask Ghidorah about it if he got the chance—he didn't expect much of this last piece of evidence. "And what might that be?"

"I found this right before I called you." Mark's phone beeped, and he brought it down to look at it. Upon seeing Chen had sent him a picture, he opened it up. It was a cave painting that depicted Ghidorah falling from the sky. Stars were painted above the dragon, and the planet was below.

After looking at it for a minute, he raised the phone back up to his ear. "Alright...what's it supposed to mean?"

Chen went right into it. "That painting tells a story of an ancient god that fell from the stars—a hydra—whose storms swallowed both men and other gods, alike."

"Fell from the stars?" he parroted, highly confused. "You mean, from space?"

"Yes." The resolute and unyielding belief she held in these stories took him by surprise, but that's all they were. At least, until something or someone proved him wrong.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Alright, I get that a lot of ancient myths are actually based on titans, but sometimes stories are just that: stories. Not everything is true, and many stories have embellishments to make them more interesting. Take the Trojan War, for instance."

Chen scoffed. "You really don't trust me, do you? What did that dragon do to get so firmly on your good side?"

Mark's expression hardened, though he realized the good doctor couldn't see him. "He saved my daughter's life. Something like that tends to stick with a man." He sighed, but then a roar from Ghidorah had him snapping his gaze in their direction. Since they weren't moving, he could only assume they were getting impatient, especially since it was the right head who'd apparently roared. "Look, I'll ask them if you're so worried. Right now, I've gotta go."

"No, wait—" He hung up before she could continue and jogged over to the truck, ushering Maddie inside. He felt his phone vibrating in his pocket and took it out, only to put it on silent when he saw Chen was trying to call him back.

They'd both get their answers soon enough. No point in wasting his breath until then.

Present time:

"We need to talk..." With that ominous proclamation out there, Mark watched the three heads for their reactions. The middle and right ones kept a neutral expression. Only the left head seemed slightly nervous.

It was the middle head, as usual, who responded. "I imagine you have learned something...concerning about us that you wish to discuss."

"Dad?" Mark looked over to Maddie and motioned for her to join him. She did, albeit hesitantly, throwing a worried glance over her shoulder at the massive dragon. All three heads were watching them both intently, and Mark suddenly wished he'd had some considerable backup.

Not that that would've made a difference.

Despite his earlier confidence on the phone with Chen, he was a bit less so now that he was face-to-face with the largest being on the planet. "That's right."

The middle head studied both humans for several seconds. Maddie had come to stand next to him, and he had his arm around her shoulder. Upon seeing that the close scrutiny was apparently making them uncomfortable, the middle head chittered something to the other two, who promptly looked in opposite directions. The right head watched the volcano's cone while the left head gazed out to sea.

Just as Ghidorah studied them, Mark studied the massive titan, looking for anything that might suggest non-Terran origins. That was a bit difficult considering the nature of many of the titans. Godzilla was basically a walking, organic nuclear reactor. Amhuluk was a telepathic tree creature. Rodan was a living organism made at least partially out of dried magma that could somehow fly.

Dragons had existed in mythology for a long time. Hydras, too. The most popular probably being the one Hercules fought in Greek legend. Sure, the fact they had multiple heads was a bit 'alien', but there were genetic mutations amongst creatures on Earth that sometimes manifested. One of those was having multiple heads. Ghidorah was bio-electric, but again, Godzilla was bio-nuclear, so that wasn't much of anything. And physiologically speaking, Mark couldn't see anything out of the ordinary that didn't look right.

For being an alien—according to Chen, at least—Ghidorah seemed rather normal...as normal as a massive, golden, three-headed dragon could.

But that's not what he started with. Instead, he decided to go with the other piece of information Chen had given him. "Your ancient rivalry with Godzilla was more than just a fight for dominance, wasn't it?"

He noticed the right and left heads glance in his direction briefly, the latter clearly more worried than the former. A quick glance down at Maddie showed she was concerned about what was happening, but she was also curious enough to be quiet and let him handle it.

The middle head hummed in thought, a surprisingly human behavior. "If you wish to know if we are different now compared to then, the answer is 'yes'." The middle head both lowered further to the ground and backed away to show he meant no harm. "The previous ice age the world experienced was not accidental. Our purpose before being trapped in the ice was quite...different."

"How different?" The middle head looked to Maddie at hearing her question, and his carefully guarded expression softened considerably. The fact that Ghidorah seemed so fond of his daughter so soon after meeting her boggled his mind, but the proof was clear before him. Differences in facial structure aside, it was similar to how he himself looked at Maddie, his daughter.

It was a bit concerning, to say the least.

"We were destroyers." The middle head's gaze snapped to the right head, and the former growled in warning. The right head didn't seem to care. "Our purpose was to destroy life, not protect it."

"If not for Godzilla, Earth would be a lifeless husk." The middle head turned to growl at the left head this time, and this time, it shrunk back.

"Why would you try to destroy the planet your live on?" The clear confusion in Maddie's voice and expression had the three heads looking at each other, as if debating whether or not to answer that question.

Mark answered it for them. "Because they're not from this planet."

Maddie pulled away from him, and he looked to see her staring at him as if he'd gone insane. He shrugged and pointed to the dragon before them, all three of whom were tense. Upon seeing that, her jaw dropped. "You guys are aliens?"

The middle head glanced between the other two and chittered something at them. Then, both of them said something back. There was silence for almost a minute, and Mark took the time to think of their reactions. The fact they weren't getting violent—or even angry—told him a lot. "When did you find out?" the middle head asked quietly.

Mark crossed his arms. Apparently, his little ploy had worked. "Just now. Until you confirmed it, I wasn't sure." Silence fell upon them yet again until Mark asked the question that needed to be asked. "What are you?"

None of the heads spoke for a long while. They were probably trying to figure out what to say. At long last, it was the left head that answered. "Guardians...stewards...protectors... We were the good guys once."

"What happened?" Maddie asked, and Mark decided that he'd let her take the lead on this. After all, Ghidorah was more likely to answer her than him.

The right head snorted. "What didn't happen?"

"There were many reasons that contributed to our fall into madness," the middle began quietly, his gaze on nothing in particular as he doubtless delved into memories. "Civilizations we tried to guide would often destroy themselves when we left; war would erupt in the power vacuum we left behind. Others would seek to exterminate or control us. And if that was not bad enough, the isolation..."

He trailed off, and the left head picked up. "There's only so much the three of us can talk about before running out of things to say, and then we just get sick of each other."

"We started to believe that if the species we came across were so determined to destroy themselves, we should give them what they asked for," the middle one continued. "Looking back...we are not proud of what we became."

He could see the truth of that in the middle and left heads, but he'd noticed that the right head was much more aggressive than the other two. Still, when Mark glanced at that one, even he seemed a bit regretful. And it was genuine from what he could tell. He was no expert at figuring out Ghidorah's emotions through facial and bodily cues, but from what he saw, this was no act.

"I can give you the benefit of the doubt for now," Mark began, which made all three heads look at him, stunned. "You saved my life. You saved Maddie's life. And you clearly have some level of affection for my daughter, so I'll say this. Do what you've been doing. Keep showing me and the rest of the world that you're on our side. We'll keep your origins under wraps, and eventually, when the truth does inevitably come out, you'll already have earned the trust of the entire world, and it won't matter."

The middle head still seemed stunned, even when the other two started to recover. That was noticeable since the middle seemed to be the most level-headed and composed of the three. For him to be taken so off guard must be abnormal. "You would do that for us?"

It was a genuine question, almost pleading, in a way. It was as if the middle head was daring to hope Mark was being truthful after a lifetime of disappointments and lies. The right head, however, bared his teeth at Mark before glaring at the middle. "And what makes you think he's telling the truth after the thousands who have lied to us?"

"I do not remember most of them, and neither do you," the middle head shot back. Then, his gaze slowly drifted to Maddie. "And I trust him because she will not allow him to break his word." He looked to his daughter to see Maddie smirking up at him. He sighed while fighting off a smile.

The right head seemed to think about that for a moment before relenting with a small nod. The left head almost seemed to be vibrating with excitement for some reason, and that's when he blurted out. "Can we tell them our names, big brother? Please? I'm tired of being just 'the left head'."

The middle head seemed to think about that before turning to the right, who huffed but didn't argue. "Very well. Since you are trusting us with keeping your world safe, we will trust you with our names. I am Ichi." He looked to the right head. "This is Ni."

"And I'm San!" the newly named left head beamed. "It's nice to finally introduce myself!"

Mark furrowed his brow, thinking those names sounded familiar. He'd definitely heard them before. It was right there on the tip of his tongue when Maddie spoke up. "Wait a minute... Ichi, Ni, and San?" She pointed to the heads in turn as they watched her curiously, no doubt wondering why their names were sparking such odd behavior in the two humans. "That's Japanese."

Of course!

"Ichi, Ni, San...One two, three." Mark shook his head in surprise. "Huh...apt, I suppose."

"What is this 'Japanese'?" Ichi asked.

"And why are you saying our names are numbers?" That was San, and the thought of being a number seemed to be quite distasteful for him. Ni was curling his lip, clearly sharing San's sentiment.

"There's a lot of different languages on Earth," Maddie began to explain. "The one we're speaking right now is called 'English'. Japanese is another, and in that language, the words 'ichi', ni', and 'san' translate to 'one', 'two', and 'three'."

"Did you ever tell your names to ancient humans?" Mark wondered.

The three heads all looked between each other. "They made a language with our names as numbers," Ichi realized. "I am not sure whether to feel flattered or insulted."

"Insulted, for sure," Ni growled. Out of all of them, he was the most upset by this new revelation by a large margin.

"Ichi..." All eyes turned to San, who looked downright heartbroken. "I don't want to be number three." The poor, pathetic way he said that even made Mark feel a bit bad for the guy.

Ichi sighed in pseudo-annoyance. "You are not 'number three', San. Your name is your name. They stole it and used it for something it is not."

"I still don't like it..." he mumbled.

"Well...if it's your name that's the problem, can't you change it?" All three heads looked at her as if she had somehow sprouted two extra heads.

"You can do that?" Even Ni seemed taken aback by the thought.

"Humans do it all the time," Mark supplied.

Ghidorah's entire body shivered in disgust. "If a name is so transitory, how does anyone know who they are?" Ichi shook his head empathically. "There will be no name changing!" Ni seemed somewhat mollified by the declaration, though San seemed troubled still.

"What about nicknames, then?" Again, all three looked to Maddie, though this time they seemed more confused than anything. "A nickname is something you go by that isn't your real name while still keeping your original name. And usually, only a select group ever call a person by their nickname."

"A-name-that's-not-a-name?" Ni's face scrunched up in disgust again.

San, however, looked intrigued. "Can I have a nickname, Ichi?"

Ichi sighed heavily but nodded, and the left head looked to Maddie hopefully, clearly wanting her to pick it out. "Hmm..." Maddie thought for a moment before smiling. "You kind of remind me of a friend I had in kindergarten, so how about 'Kevin'?"

The though of a dragon named Kevin was enough to make Mark chuckle, but San seemed to like it. He smiled as much as a dragon could smile. "I love it! Hello, Ichi! Hello, Ni! Hello, Mark! Hello, Maddie! I'm Kevin!"

AN: Alternate title for this chapter: 'A Kevin is Born'.

So now Mark and Maddie know the truth about Ghidorah's origins, but they're deciding to trust the extraterrestrial titan for now. And that trust was repaid by Ghidorah giving them their personal names.

I do feel like the whole 'Oh, they're aliens' part seemed a bit weak, but there wasn't much of a reaction from anyone in the movie, either. You guys let me know, though.

Until Next Time

AdmiralCole22