Later that night
BOOOMMM!
A crack of thunder made Elsa shoot up from her sleep, chest heaving, eyes wide and frantically running over her surroundings. For a brief moment, she was asking herself: Where am I? How did I get here?! What's going on?! She felt the floor vibrate a little as if a train was running far underground beneath them. A second passed, remembering the last few days, that helping to ease her frantic awakening. Another moment went by and she looked around, her eyes gradually becoming accustomed to the darkness. Large forms nearby rose and fell in unison with a soft purring noise that Elsa could only describe as 'soft giant snoring'. Next to her, Anna lay, nuzzled up against Kristoff, all three of them resting against Sven. Moll and Lora were somewhere nearby with Olaf, largely because the snowman wanted to spend time with taking care of the new-born Mothra. Everything was as it was when she had fallen asleep earlier – however many hours exactly though she had no idea.
The Arendelle queen looked over at the entrance to the immense cave chamber as another white flash lit up the entrance, followed almost simultaneously by another loud boom that rolled through their current shelter, the vibrations running right through her once again, though this time it felt … different. Elsa could not explain how or even why it was she felt this way, but it just felt somewhat different, as if some form of energy was raging inside her, waiting to get out, eager to unleash itself on the world.
I can feel it, but I don't know if it's a good idea She mentally told herself.
Quietly, she got to her feet and, melting away her shoes so they would not create any loud noise, crept over to the entrance, pausing a few times as the two large moth titans stirred and shifted in their sleep. Thankfully, they did not wake up, the sound of the torrential downpour outside partially masking her movements, and the queen was able to reach the entrance, her ears immediately being swamped by the noise of rain against rock, accentuated by a light wind and some distant rumbles of thunder. The queen grimaced, hating this sort of stormy weather ever since she was younger. It would always keep her awake and often scared her younger sister out of her notoriously deep sleeps, prompting Elsa to comfort her, internally cursing the storm for frightening her baby sister. She would always whisper to Anna that it would soon pass and both girls would end up falling sleep together. Those memories made Elsa smile a little, though she reminded herself that such events, whilst beautiful and helpful, were in the past and were not going to do much for now.
Another flash from somewhere in the clouds above lit up the world for a millisecond, followed by a rumble of thunder rolled that out across the island. Elsa withdrew a little back into the cave, watching the weather front roll overhead, pondering, wondering when they were going to get some answers. Yes, they had made a new discovery with Mothra and her baby and the tiny unhatched egg, yet their main reason for coming here had yielded no results. Who and where was this 'father' the twins had told them about? Were they going to need to travel more to find him? And what would he want them to do? What sort of answers would he give them?
And the one that Elsa could not seem to forget, one that always lurked in her mind: where is Godzilla?
She looked up at the blackness surrounding their cave as if trying to see through the darkness of the storm, the split-second visibility of the silhouettes of the jungle provided by the lightning doing little to help. He was out there somewhere, but where? They had come to this part of the world, that was where the girls said he was after all, but where was he? Was he still some journey away? Was he somewhere else in the world, further away from here? Part of her even wondered if he was still even alive.
Of course he has to be, Moll and Lora wouldn't just make a mistake like that! Even Mothra said he was still alive according to what they told us!
But what if they made a mistake?
That really struck a thought with her and made her heart rate increase a little, eyes saddening. They may have been Titans, but they were still capable of making mistakes – Godzilla, the Kraken, Varan, Megaguirus all being an example of it. Mothra would be no different, so there was the argument that he may not even be alive anymore. If that was the case, then … Well, Elsa tried not to delve too deeply into it, such a revelation if it were to be true was too much her.
The queen's blue eyes looked up at her surroundings again, hoping that somehow she could find him, even if just a glimpse.
I hope you're okay She mouthed silently, though even speaking would have been difficult for anyone to hear given the weather raging around her.
She went to turn but stopped as if frozen in time for the briefest of seconds, then her head snapped round to look back at the forest, the wind rushing in her ears, rain splashing the ground at her feet.
She heard it. There was something out there, some sort of … moan. Not a human moan, but deeper, more bass to it, as if it were an opera singer. She listened as best she could. Another moan rolled out, seeming impossibly loud, but she heard nothing come from behind. No movement, no Anna or Kristoff or Olaf or Mothra come to investigate the source of the noise. What was this?
Elsa stepped out into the rain, producing a flexible ice blanket over her to keep her from getting soaked. As she moved towards the trees, the queen paused and looked back once again. Was this a good idea? Should she just leave in the night to find out what this noise was? What if they came looking for her? Anna would be worried sick!
Yet, this moan still felt like something that was calling directly to her, or at least it was something she could hear. Whatever it was, it sounded important. She had to find out what it was. Maybe it would help them on their search, maybe even giving her an idea as to where this 'father' was, or even where Godzilla himself might be.
I just hope they don't wake up, or Anna'll kill me!
With that, she continued on into the jungle, listening out for whatever would be calling for her again.
Another BOOOMM filled the air as the storm rolled away into the distance. Still the rain fell hard against the ground, muddying the jungle surface and flooding some of the lower areas of the island. The air was still warm despite the torrential downpour and the wind had dropped considerably. Tomorrow would be interesting to see the after-effects of this storm.
For Elsa, she was glad it was lessening. Even though she had only been travelling for the better part of some thirty or so minutes, her dress was drenched, her hair was wet and the ice she had tried to cover herself with had largely been washed away, even with the constant renewing of it. What was worse, enormous puddles filled with mud had sprung up everywhere as if nature's attempt to force her back to the cave, yet she pressed on. She had gotten mud over herself a few times and had cursed out loudly, though glad that no one had been around to hear her.
Despite this she carried on, ignoring the raging voice inside that protested even coming out here in the first place. What was even out here anyway? What if it was all in her head? Surely the others would have heard such a moan – it had been a good while since she had last heard it, and it was not because of the storm blocking out the noise. What if it was to lead her out here to nothing? Not only would she be wet and covered in mud, but she would have wasted her time.
Just as she thought of this, the queen emerged into a large clearing, but there was something odd about it. Even in the darkness, she could see the silhouettes of many large trees felled, some mixed among others in the jungle. Elsa stared in wonder, slightly apprehensive about exactly what could have caused this. The storm? Absolutely not! Not a storm like this would ever do this much damage, it would have to be god-like to be able to do this. And there were no huge waves of the sort Akiro had told her about when he was in Arendelle. The only other cause …
No doubt a Titan Elsa thought. But what kind?
Part of her hoped it was Mothra, or even Godzilla, if he was here. If the latter was true, then that had to mean he was close, right? Maybe he was here recently, it was certainly possible! Yet, part of her wondered what if this was not him. What other Titans were there in this place? There had to be more, given all the ones they had come across in the last few years so that too was certainly possible, and if it were the case, then she would have to be careful. If this one turned out to be hostile, well … put simply, there was no telling what could happen to them.
The queen created a large ice snowflake that emitted a blue aura akin to the moonlight on a clear night. At around 20 feet, it was big enough to light up the whole area, and she made it hover into the air some fifty feet above her, expanding its reach to the surrounding jungle. Elsa gazed at the amount of cleared trees, and then went wide-eyed at the large footprints driven into the ground. Cautiously, she approached one of them, seeing that it was huge, at least thirty feet long and almost the same in width. The queen looked to her right and saw another large footprint in the ground, and then another, and then another, all leading off towards a large shape some way ahead of her. A flash of lightning illuminated it just enough for a moment for the queen to see it was another large mountain, quite similar to the one where Mothra had nested, only much larger and slightly taller, yet also without any sort of plant life across its surface. Curious, Elsa rushed towards it, having to skirt around the enormous footprints that dotted the path there.
When she arrived, the queen saw the footprints stopped abruptly. Pausing, she glanced at her surroundings again, quickly spotting a huge hole in the trees wide enough for a ship to pass through with some room to spare.
What the …? What did that?
She went to investigate, but another flash of lightning made her jump and the rain began to harden again. She groaned in irritation. Rain, rain, go away! Even though she was normally resistant to any sort of rain-related illnesses, she could only imagine how a cold here would play out. Anna would have a field day being my 'nurse' again.
The queen observed her surroundings once more and saw a large opening in the side of the mountain and rushed over, exhaling in relief as she went from cold, wet storm to a warm, dry interior. Her hair was soaked and her clothes were wet, and they stuck to her even as she tried to drain the moisture out of her clothes. Yep, a cold is now really possible.
As she dried herself, Elsa dissipated her larger snowflake outside and created a smaller, hand-sized one and had it hover over her. She was inside a large cave, about thirty feet high and just under half that in width, the ground and walls uneven with. Before her was a large tunnel that, from what she could see in the light provided by her snowflake, gradually grew in size the further it went into the mountain. Elsa stared into the darkness with a mix of curiosity and apprehension. Part of her wanted to see what was down there, to uncover whatever kind of secret was here. Another wanted to leave, to go back to the others. She even unconsciously withdrew a step, but stopped.
What if the source of the moan is down there?
It was possible. Plus, the huge footprints and the trail of destroyed jungle led to this mountain, so what if the creature that made it was down here too?
But is that good, or bad? She found herself mentally asking again.
Building up her courage, Elsa walked into the tunnel, increasing the luminosity of her snowflake, revealing the widening passage and the growing size of the tunnel. As she went, she saw the outline of a large entrance into something before her. She picked up the pace, running towards it, heart racing in anticipation. Was it another chamber? Or a second nest? Maybe it was where this 'father' the girls warned her about was. If so, then what would it, or he, look like? No doubt enormous, but would it be some kind of beast like Godzilla? Or a flying creature like Mothra? Or a sea creature like the Kraken? Or something else entirely?
When she reached it, Elsa froze, eyes widening, a gasp caught in her throat.
She was in another chamber, this one easily double the size of the one Mothra and the others were in, both in height and width. Opposite her was a large opening out to sea, the waves crashing against the interior reaching her ears now that the sound of the storm, though still present but faint, was not completely conquering her hearing senses. A large shape blocked out most of the rest of the view of the chamber, but Elsa's eyes were drawn to something else.
Directly before her was a ship, a big one. She knew it because of the broken central mast, the ripped sails blowing lightly in the little wind that came in through the sea entrance, the cracked wooden exterior, the smashed windows, the fact that the whole thing was torn in two with large claw-like marks across the hull. The rudder was gone, a huge hole in place of it, looking like it had been ripped clean off. A large rock was situated between the two, with a few discarded broken cannons lying scattered around. The bow of the ship looked like it had been bitten off, as Elsa could see jagged marks across the now empty space of the ship. In its prime it must have been a good two hundred or so feet long, a hulking vessel capable of withstanding bombardment, assault, and all other kinds of horrific things. A literal behemoth of not only war, but simple human engineering.
Yet, it had not stood a chance with whatever had attacked it. As Elsa observed it, gradually lightening the chamber more with her snowflake, getting it to float to the top and increase in size as she had done before, morbid spine-chilling thoughts and memories raced through her head. She remembered how her and Anna and Kristoff and others had been attacked on the Avenger near St Angel in Norway years ago by the Kraken. The screams of the sailors and soldiers, the cries of the wounded, the sight of men being crushed, eaten and ripped apart as if they were paper, the crunching of wood, the cries of the horses being torn apart, Anna almost being taken herself by one of the beast's tentacles.
All of it made Elsa shudder and she could only wonder what sort of horror had befallen the crew of this ship when they had been attacked by … whatever it was. Looking carefully, she could even see traces of dried maroon red on some of the wood, making her sick to her stomach. They had suffered like she had, though she had escaped and lived to tell the tale. They had not.
"What did this?" she muttered to herself.
THUD! Elsa yelped loudly as the entire chamber seemed to shake. The wooden vessel creaked loudly and she backed away, fearing it was going to fall on top of her. A huge form rose up from the floor and Elsa found herself falling over, scrambling panic-stricken to get away. She watched as part of it rose up, a pair of blue eyes opening, glowing a fiery blue, head pointed at the snowflake, then as if sensing her, turned and looked down directly at her.
Oh fuck!
The creature growled, baring its teeth, and advanced towards her, its huge form scraping against the wall and the ceiling. Elsa got up and retreated, though she quickly found herself moving away from the entrance and towards the side of the chamber; Elsa seeing that it was not even standing, it was laying down as if she had woken it from its slumber. Huge spikes reached up and tore rock from the roof as the thing moved closer, eyes narrowed, a low, deep growl like the voice of god himself echoing from its throat.
Elsa gulped, arms bending, ice swirling round her fingertips, eyes never leaving that of the creature.
Then, it paused and the glare that had dominated her face, changed to one of curiosity, then they widened, she could see, no feel a sense of surprise inside it. Somewhere inside her, she felt it too, a sort of … well, to put it bluntly, familiarity with this thing.
What! What is it?!
The creature withdrew a few tens of metres, eyes now turning away, a look of sadness palpable. Cautiously, she stepped forward and increased the luminosity of her snowflake above her.
She gasped, mouth falling open, heart almost stopping mid-beat, unbelieving of the sight before her.
"G-Godzilla!"
Author's Note: Happy New Year to you, my fellow FF readers and writers. Let's hope 2021 is a better year for us all.