Within Arendelle's Castle
Quiet. That was the only way to really describe the atmosphere within the castle of the Arendelle royal family. Most of the servants had retired for the night, as had the guards who had been patrolling outside during the day, and those soldiers who were on the night watch stood along the walls or throughout the courtyard, quietly conversing with each other over the day's events. Even within the stables, the horses and the reindeer companion with them were soundly asleep, waiting for the sun to rise to call in a new day, to begin again the daily routines of cleaning, dusting, preparing food, deliveries and other tasks normal within the castle.
In a large room in the east wing portion of the castle overlooking the bay area, the door opened, and a woman stepped in, closing it quietly behind her. She wore a blue gown of sparking ice that draped behind her, her snow-white hair wrapped in a French braid over her shoulder. Walking over to a nearby wardrobe, she took out a purple night dress, and walked over to a nearby bed and, with a wave of her hand, the gown disappeared, leaving her only in her undergarments.
As she went to put on the nightgown, she stopped and looked down at her belly, taking in the large jagged black section of skin around and above her bellybutton, stopping just below her chest. In the centre, though only visible if she looked closely, there was a visible scar, a tiny wound that was a chilling reminder of a tragedy of her recent past. Her hand drifted towards the wound, but jerked back upon touching it, pain flaring across her torso. She winced and let out a small gasp, waiting for it to go away, mind thinking back to that night.
Smoke, dust, the smell of fire, burning wood, distant roars. All of that was around her. Her eyes darted from place to place, trying to see where she was, where that devil was. Two voices called out to her from nearby. The sky was filled with burning embers from the fires of the nearby buildings, filling the dark night with a glow akin to a rising sun.
"Moll, Lora!" she cried out as she turned to see them running towards her down the cobbled street, one that had once been the home of many people, the scene of countless daily activities and conversations, now turned into nothing but a warzone.
Something big landed nearby, knocking her off her feet as a wave of dust showered the street. Several buildings collapsed, rubble strewn everywhere. As she looked up, her heart stopped, breath caught in her throat.
A pair of blood red eyes stared down at her, evil, cunning, hungry for the same thing that they represented. She got up, hands ready to defend herself, swirls of ice and snow forming at her fingertips, though she felt like running, face full of fear.
Something sharp slammed into her stomach and she let out a screech of pain. It withdrew. Her hands fell to the spot and felt something warm begin to coat them. She tried to speak, but it came out as a strangled gasp. Someone called her name from nearby within the dust cloud, but she had not the strength to answer. Her legs grew weak. Blackness faded in and she collapsed in a heap on the ground. A few cries of her name came, blocked out by the sound of loud screeches and roars unknown to the world before that night.
The last thing she remembered was her name being cried out, the face of her crying sister above her.
The wound was something of a constant reminder, not only of the events of that night, but of how fragile life was, how quick it could be taken by someone, or, in that case, something. She had only just narrowly avoided death, avoided leaving her sister alone, her kingdom without a ruler and … and …
She sighed sadly. And him.
Knock! Knock! The noise startled her, making her a small layer of frost shoot out from her feet across the floor, forming a small circle around them. She composed herself and looked up at it.
"Who is it?" she asked.
"Elsa, it's me!"
Speak of the devil, or 'angel', as mother would say. "Come in!"
The door opened and a younger woman in a lime green nightdress with copper hair wrapped in two braids over her shoulders stepped into the room, her teal eyes widening in sudden surprise as she saw her sister almost completely naked.
"Oh!" She spun round, slamming her hands over her eyes, face flushing red with embarrassment. "I'm so sorry!"
"No, it's okay!" Elsa replied, her face also bright red. Should have thought that one through properly. "One sec."
She put on the purple nightdress, wincing again as she ran the fabric over her belly wound. When she was done, Anna turned round and, tittering off her embarrassment, walked over to her sister and gave her a hug.
"You okay? I heard you had a rough day," she asked.
"Not too bad," Elsa replied, though her tone of voice betrayed how she really felt, and her younger sister picked up on it quickly.
She withdrew and gave her sister the look; a raised eyebrow, a slight tilt of the head and a stare akin to a parent when they want to get the truth out of the child when they have done something wrong.
"Really, Elsa?" she said. "C'mon, I don't buy it."
Elsa sighed. "Am I that easy?"
"Yes, you are. Now, c'mon, tell me what's wrong,"
"Really, Anna. It's nothing serious. Just stuff from today, the council and everything,"
"Are you sure?" Anna pressed.
"Definitely,"
The Arendelle queen sat down on the bed, though the move made her wince again as her belly brushed up the inside of her nightdress.
"Still hurt?" Anna asked.
Elsa nodded with a small grunt, resting her hand on the spot where the wound was. Even though she had been saved from death, the scar would remain with her for the rest of her life, a small price to pay for the fact she was brought back from the dead by …
Her gaze turned from her sister to the window across from them, looking out at the night sky where the moon shone brightly. Thousands of tiny specks of light glowed against the bright backdrop, as if they were pinpricks of light coming through an immense black wall that blocked the world from eternal sunlight, small glimmers of hope that it would come through to them again tomorrow.
Anna saw her sister's expression shift to slight melancholy, having a pretty good idea of what she was thinking.
"Is it him?" she asked.
Elsa did not reply, but instead carried on looking out in the window, her sea blue eyes waiting for an oddity to reveal itself in the bay, or for her to pick up a series of loud booms from somewhere outside. He was somewhere out there, though that somewhere could be anywhere, and the world is a very big place. If only she had the power to see across the world, looking in every nook and cranny, across every island, every city, every forest, every mountain, every square inch of land and ocean, to find him, just to see if he was okay.
Would he be thinking the same for her?
"I hope he's okay," Anna spoke up, resting her hand on Elsa's, enclosing her fingers around those of her elder sibling, giving the hand a light squeeze as she looked out into the night sky with her sister. "Do you think we'll see him again?"
Another silence fell between them, broken by the distant thuds of someone walking somewhere within the castle nearby, possibly a night servant, or a guard doing a patrol.
"I don't know," Elsa replied quietly, her voice sad, eyes trailing to the floor as the Ice Queen tried to compose herself. "Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised Godzilla doesn't remember us,"
The sadness from Elsa was palpable. Anna hated seeing her like this under any circumstance, whether it be from her queenly duties, or fear of her powers, or something like this. Every time her elder sibling thought about him, it made her very sad, knowing that in all likelihood they would never see the gigantic creature again, nor hear his roar somewhere in the distance. A large and intimidating, yet wonderful creature of nature bound to a hidden existence away from probably the only humans who saw him as something more than simply a monster.
Well, at least that could be said for the royal family, though for Arendelle it was more of a mixed bag, and that was putting it at best.
"I'm sure he does, Elsa," Anna reassured her, pulling her sister close and placing her other arm around her shoulder. "He could never forget you,"
Elsa gave a small smile in return. "Or you, or Olaf and Kristoff and Sven," she said, prompting a giggle from her copper haired sister.
Knock! Knock!
"Hey ladies, you free from sisterly bonding, or playing dress up?" A male voice spoke up, followed by a giggle from what sounded like a child.
Anna rolled her eyes. "Those boys." She commented, making Elsa giggle.
"Some things never change,"
With a titter and nod, Anna looked over. "You have been granted access to the queen's room," she said in a voice to try sound as regal as possible, making Elsa giggle again.
The door opened and a tall, burly man with blonde hair and dress in a nightgown that covered his white pajama trousers and t-shirt entered, followed closely by a snowman that bounced past him and over to the girls, embracing Anna with a hug. The young man, Kristoff, walked over and greeted Elsa and gave Anna a kiss on the cheek.
"How's everything going?" he asked them.
Elsa shrugged lightly. "Not too bad," she answered, though the look on her face told him otherwise.
"Council?"
She nodded. "Yeah, but it's fine. It's what being a queen is all about,"
Olaf giggled from below. "Yeah, politics is so fun," he said, raising the eyebrows of the others.
"Are you serious?" Anna asked him, and the snowman giggled. "Wow," she said, chuckling with the others. "Olaf being sarcastic! I never would've thought it."
"I learned from Kristoff," he said innocently, pointing at the young ice harvester next to them.
"Hey!" he held up his hands in innocence. "I'm not teaching him, he just picks it up," he explained.
Elsa rolled her eyes. "I'm sure, Kristoff," she said and gave a big yawn. "Oh, I'm so sorry! It's been a long day!"
"It's okay, we'll let you go to sleep," Anna said and, after giving her sister a final hug, ushered the others out; Olaf bounding along beside them about how he wanted to read them a bedtime story, something he had taken to doing a lot more recently as he had been learning how to read, thanks to Anna, Kristoff, with some help from Kai and Gerda.
As they left, Anna stood in the doorway and looked back at her sister with a concerned expression, seeing her resume staring out of the window, the world around her non-existent, herself lost in a void of unknowing and melancholy.
"Elsa?" Anna spoke up, startling her elder sibling and she turned to look at her. "Don't worry, everything will be fine. And, wherever he is, I'm sure he's thinking of you."
Elsa looked down for a moment, uncertain, deep in thought. Really?
"And I'm sure he misses you, as we do him," she added.
Elsa gave a light nod, a small smile creeping onto her lips. Yeah, you're right, Anna.
"Thanks, Anna," she said.
The Arendelle princess smiled. "You'll always have us here. I promise." She said. "Goodnight. Love you,"
Elsa smiled, those words, though said aplenty, melted her heart each time. "I love you too."
Anna returned the smile, bade her farewell once more, and left the room, closing the door behind her.
Elsa turned back to the window and walked over to it, resting her hand on the glass, staring out over the bay and towards the entrance that led to the open sea beyond, out into the world that was, more so than ever now, unknown and worrying for her and her people. Her eyes traced the surrounding landscape, seeing signs of new vegetation begin to properly take root on the hillsides around the city, and the new jagged shapes of the mountains and the newly paved roads that led out of the kingdom and to the surrounding villages and towns. Whilst the natural beauty of the area was undeniable, it all held a dark past, a chilling reminder of the calamities that had befallen Arendelle twice in the past.
The first had been between four beasts of once mythological beginnings, but had been shown to be as real as anything, caught in a death battle that left three dead, one injured and exhausted, and Arendelle in ruins, including the very castle they were standing in now. Though the city had rebuilt, and the castle remade in its mostly former glory – Elsa's ice helping out in strengthening some of the inner foundations and walls – life had never really returned to normal for its citizens. The fear in the air that the possibility the surviving creature, Godzilla, or worse more like it, could return was ever present.
And everyone was right to be on edge, for less than a year later, trouble had found its way to Arendelle again in the form of outside threats to the kingdom, led by none other than Belvera, a sister of the two twins, Moll and Lora, all three of them being the last remnants of a once ancient civilisation. Belvera had sent a horrific creature to lay waste to the city in the hopes of delivering a message, and it was only by the sudden, unexpected arrival of Godzilla that the creature was injured and fled, though this led Elsa and her family and the two aforementioned twins, and with them Godzilla, to the Southern Isles, where they came face-to-face with Belvera and Hans, Anna's former partner from said kingdom. However, that night, Belvera had awakened an ancient enemy, more demonic and evil than the first, and it laid waste to the capitol of the Southern Isles, only being stopped by the combined efforts of Elsa, her family, Hans, and Godzilla, who had come no doubt to face off against this threat and protect Elsa.
It had come at a dear cost, however. Godzilla had almost lost his life, and Elsa too had come close to being lost forever. Though victory was obtained and both of Belvera's creatures were dead, it left a harsh scar on the Southern Isles (and the aforementioned wound on Elsa's own body) and made Arendelle, and in particular its queen, the target of many a ridicule and intense dislike. Sensing what was happening, Godzilla had tearfully left, hoping to save Arendelle and its people, and the one who he had come to admire so much, safe from further harm.
Elsa hated thinking of that night when he had left. When she had returned, she had sobbed herself to sleep, wishing persistently that there was some sort of resolution, some other kind of outcome that would not only mean Godzilla would not have to hide away, but that the world would see him as more than the purported gigantic destructive beast he was meant to be. The following days and weeks were not much better, with the queen feeling depressed over everything that had happened, and constantly wondering where he was now, where the creature, whose beauty she had seen and cherished behind all the scales and teeth and raw power, was living, and if he was safe.
She sighed, thinking back to when she had first embraced him after the battle with the Kraken long before.
Elsa walked up and stopped by the edge of the cliff. Godzilla leaned in a little more, his warm breath showering her body, basking her in a great warm feeling, feeling calm and safe in his presence.
"Godzilla," she remembered saying, looking up into his fiery gold eyes, seeing the calmness within them. He seemed captivated by her. "Thank you for protecting us. You really saved us, and you have our thanks."
Godzilla just replied with a low, soft noise and she remembered doing something that even now was still incredible.
She opened her arms and … rested her body against his nose, feeling the warmth of his body radiate through her. The sudden coldness that stretched across his face was … comforting. His body, aged by battle and hot to the brim by his heart's core and the adrenaline pumping around his body, suddenly felt so refreshed and cool, and not cool in the simple sense of a low temperature, but in the feeling that he was really calm and, strangely, enjoyed the presence of this amazing human.
Elsa had realised then that she was like him. Though he knew nothing of her and her sister's past, and she knew nothing of his own history, nor of the raw power he possessed, she had come to see him not as a giant terrifying monster that aggressively attacked everything in sight, but as something more.
He was a simple creature who could see that even humans, creatures who were nothing but ants to him in size and meaning, would be able to respect him, and realise he was just another creature that lived on this world, one that was able to know between right and wrong, and, by choice, come to its defence. He had done that with her and her family and Arendelle. Moreover, he was more of a kind of guardian, a force of nature restoring balance. He probably even thought the same of her with regards to the humans.
Elsa stepped back from him, looking up at his fiery gold eyes once again, a bright smile on her face.
"Thank you again, Godzilla," she said to him, knowing that he would be able to understand him. "We never would have done it without you. We owe you our lives."
She watched as he looked down at Arendelle and the back at her and her family. Though speech was impossible from his part in the normal sense, she knew what he was telling her, and she promised to stand by it.
'Protect them all. Whatever it takes'
'Whatever it takes'
In that moment, she had felt she had truly connected with him, that she had come to see him as what she saw, not as a monster, but as a loving animal. He was different and had the potential to be dangerous, yes, but he was not a monster. Not when he had saved Arendelle twice. Even Varan, another enormous creature like Godzilla, had come to their aid, and the same with Mothra. Why could people not see that while there were definite monsters out there, other creatures like them could be just as protective of them like he had done for her home?
Elsa sighed heavily, turning and walking back to the bed and sitting down on it once more (more gently this time so as not to aggravate the wound on her stomach). As she looked up at the window once more, she thought again of him, where he was, how he was feeling, and if he was safe. All of those she had no answer to, and it hurt her, but she had to accept it.
Wherever you are, Godzilla, I hope you're okay.
With that, she got into bed and turned away from the window and closed her eyes, hoping sleep would take her from here quickly. Her world had changed, and as she drifted off, she wondered if it would do so again, and if he would be a part of it once more.