Elsa could barely speak, though she internally jumped for joy, a burst of ecstasy, a feeling of untold happiness, relief, all of it swept through her. She wanted to run up to the gigantic creature before her and hug him, hug him as much as her miniscule form could. She felt her eyes moisten with happy tears, a lump forming in her throat, heart beat like a fast drum.
She took a step forward, raising the snowflake to the ceiling of the enormous chamber, its blue glow encasing their entire surrounding, revealing the creature's form more, though its head was hidden largely beneath a muscular, yet scarred arm, dipped low so as to avoid being seen.
"G-Godzilla?!" She asked, voice a whisper, barely audible to a normal human. "I-Is it really you?!" she added, voice slightly louder.
Why ask something like that?! Of course it's him!
It had to be, there were no other creatures of his type anywhere else, at least not that she knew of. Yet, she was certain that this was the one she had come to know over the years, the one who had saved her and her people twice. It had to be him.
She took another step forward, struggling to find her voice to speak again. "Godzilla!" she repeated.
The behemoth's head rose and looked back at her, its crystal blue eyes meeting hers. Her face fell.
Sadness. She could see it clearly it was so palpable. Why?
Many questions raced through her mind. What was wrong with him? Why is he sad? I thought he would be happy to see me! Why is he like this?! Is he hurt?! Can I do anything for him?!"W-w-what is it?" Elsa stammered, moving closer to him.
A low moan came from his huge form, head dipping low once again, a breath of warm air rushing across the ground, probably his equivalent of a human sigh.
"Godzilla!" Elsa spoke up, more urgent and demanding, laced with fear. "Tell me! What is it?!"
He looked back in her direction, yet could not bring himself to meet her gaze.
"You shouldn't be here,"
Elsa gasped. His mouth did not move, yet she knew the voice was there, in her mind, clear as if someone were standing before and talking to her. It was deep and powerful, yet soft, but sounded frustrated, regretful even as if horrified that she had seen him like this, which was not far wrong.
She struggled to speak, only a few sounds coming out as if she were learning to talk for the first time. "Is that you?!"
Slowly, he nodded, still avoiding her gaze.
Wow! Elsa thought. When we last met, it really was true then. I thought I was going crazy, but now …
She looked back up at the gigantic beast. "How is it possible?" she inquired.
He shifted, moving his bulk closer to the back of the chamber and the larger entrance to the sea, the sound of the storm and small tidal waves crashing hard against the rocky mountainside outside.
"We are one," it came again. "But you have to go,"
The Arendelle queen was taken aback. What?! Why? What's wrong with him? I came here and I've found him. I know he left to keep me safe, but I had to find him. Now he tells me I have to leave!
"Why?" she breathed, aghast.
The voice did not come again, but she saw the eyes momentarily glance at the huge ship, a fact that Elsa took quick note of. She too looked back at the ruined wooden vessel, now able to see that it was more of an Oriental type. It was huge no doubt, probably one of the finest things from wherever in this part of the world it had come from. But now here it was, and right next to …
No! He-he couldn't … H-he can't have!
She looked back at him, expression pleading for a negative answer, yet she was afraid to ask.
"D-did you …?" she asked, but trailed off, too afraid to speak those words.
He did not respond, but averted his gaze more, another low moan reverberating inside the chamber.
She shook her head in disbelief. "No!" she pinched the brim of her nose, rubbing her head with the other hand, unable to grasp the severity of this sudden revelation.
"No! No, you … you couldn't have! Not like that"
Godzilla was no doubt a formidable creature, and certainly not one to back down from a fight, and she had seen him claim human loves in the past, yet they had been almost completely by accident. Humans had never really been a target for attack by him, had they? Why would he go after a simple ship when they had never threatened him above being a minor annoyance?
The dream …
She looked back at him, this time meeting his gaze – ashamed, depressed, not able to verbally admit, yet the lack of words was more than enough.
"No!" Elsa exclaimed, her voice stern, committed. "Godzilla, what happened? Tell me!"
He could not bring himself to look at her, and began to withdraw backwards towards the entrance as she took another few steps towards her, as if he was afraid to hurt her.
"Godzilla!" Elsa cried. "What happened?"
Again, he did not look at her. "I'm sorry," the voice said.
The Queen stopped, face full of disbelief, anger, despair. What! Why couldn't he tell me?
She sighed, clasping a hand in front of her mouth for a moment, then let it fall by her side.
"Okay, fine," she sighed in defeat. She knew she was not going to get anywhere with him on this, but she would need to find out about it somehow. But what about the dream?
"What are you doing here?" the voice, Godzilla's voice, asked her, it now becoming a little firmer too.
"Godzilla," she said, her voice calmer, yet fraught with nervousness and anxiety over how he was going to respond. "I came here because I was looking for you." That's obvious, I'm sure he knows that part. "Because I ... I …" she trailed off, not wanting to say it, fearing that it was going to hurt him. "Because I … I had a dream that you … you destroyed Arendelle and …" her voice cracked a bit, unable to say those three dreaded words.
A noise before her made her look and see his eyes close, a regretful expression, jaw widening as, she could speculate, he clenched his teeth. Though he had yet to hear what she wanted to say, he had a good idea of what it was.
Elsa bit her lip, holding back a sob. No, she could not do it. She could not say it. Part of her wanted so badly to erase it, forget it, wish it never happened. There was no way Godzilla could do something like this! He was a creature of his own power, but he would never go out of his way to level an entire city or country and kill many innocents, not least Arendelle and its monarch.
But what about the Southern Isles?
That question echoed unwavering in her mind. Then he had deliberately attacked the castle there, killing Hans in cold blood as revenge for going after them with Battra and Megaguirus with Belvera's help. He had shown he could be an aggressive creature if he wanted. It made all sorts of terrifying scenarios run through her head. What if Godzilla had decided to attack humans before? The ship was already evidence, but were there more? What if he did become like the Kraken, or Ebirah, or Battra? Or any other gigantic Titan for that matter that wanted to deal harm to people?
What if he becomes too dangerous? What if …?
She tried to force the question out of her mind, to not ponder, to forget it. But it would be at the back of her mind, nagging her, always a little voice, a reminder of what could happen, and what that would lead if it did.
"You have to go, Elsa." He spoke up again. "I don't wish to hurt you, and neither you me."
She snapped her head to look back at him, staring flabbergasted into his eyes. "What! Godzilla how can you say that?!" she cried. "I … I know you wouldn't hurt me! W-why would you?!"
A pause as she tried to maintain her composure, stop herself from freezing the chamber. She took a deep breath and looked back at him.
"Look, what you've done is …" she paused trying to think of the proper adjectives to describe these actions. " … is really bad." Great simple words. "But it's not you! Let me help you, we can show everyone you're not the monster they fear you are!"
The gigantic beast just exhaled, eyes lowering once again, a slight shake of the head. She doesn't understand.
He looked back at her. "Don't give me hope, Elsa," the voice said in her head, nodding towards the ship as if to accentuate the complete pointless of her words.
Elsa went to speak, but Godzilla turned, his dorsal fins scraping against the ceiling of the chamber, shattering the snowflake and plunging them into almost pitch-black darkness. The sudden change in the amount of light made it nearly impossible to see Godzilla, save for the vague outline of his body moving until his upper body was now facing the entrance, his long tail tucked around and under his torso. To Elsa, who looked on with a lost, devastated expression akin to a friend having learned their family or best companions had cut all ties with them, it was a tear right at the heart.
She shook her head a little, denial setting in. "Godzilla, no!" she said weakly, hot tears stinging her eyes.
He looked back at her, sad, hopeless, at a loss, no words of reassurance within him. "What you seek cannot be, Elsa." Straight at the heart, direct and brutal. "Go home. Forget me, no matter what,"
That did it. Chocking back a sob, she turned and ran from the chamber, relying on memory and feeling as she traversed back through the tunnels. Anyone observing neutrally would think she would be worried about falling or running into a wall, but she did not care. Her heart felt like it was breaking in two, mind overwhelmed with sorrow, dejected, unable to fully accept the weight of what had just happened.
She emerged into the outside, rain lashing across her, drops mixing with her tears that ran down her face, her sobs barely audible over the noise of the wind and the deep rumble of thunder that rolled across the island. The queen stumbled and then fell against a nearby tree, sobbing. She looked up to the sky, catching glimpse of a bolt of lightning forking across the sky, illuminating the world for a millisecond.
Why! Why was he doing this?! She had come here for answers, but all she had seen was a destroyed boat and Godzilla – the one she had come to admire so much, the one she always believed in – was telling her to leave and go home! How could he say that? How could he just turn his back on her like that?!
But what about the ships, and if there are more? The rational part of her mind asked.
That part was something serious to think of. A ship had been bad enough, but she recalled how when she had pressed him if he had attacked anywhere else and what his reaction had been. Either he had not heard her, or did not want to reveal the answer. Either way, she knew people had died, and this time intentionally because of Godzilla.
Her teeth gritted together, hands clenching into fists, chest heaving, anger coursing through her veins as if replacing the blood within her. She felt the ground around her turn to ice, a colder air expand from her form, turning any rain falling near her into sleet. Ice laced up the tree and several more.
No! No! He c-can't! He can't send me away! I ran away before, but this time I'm staying.
If she decided to leave, then it would all be for nothing. Not only would time have been wasted, but how would she face the people of Arendelle and the rest of the world? Questions would be asked, people would protest, problems would only increase. And if they knew Godzilla was still out here, well … it was no question of what was going to happen next.
And then there was herself. How could she live with such a decision? How could she not only fail her people and open the doors for them to tear her limb-from-limb (she hoped on that metaphorically) and plunge her world into chaos, but also live with it herself? She would forever hate herself; whenever she looked into the mirror or wore her crown or thought of him or heard her name, she would curse it, want to discard it. That was not who she was! Before yes, but not now! She was not about to make that mistake again!
Elsa let out a cry of anger, her hands crackling loudly with some kind of energy, but she paid it little heed. The storm raged more violently overhead, lightning lashing out in all directions.
Anger blazed in her eyes, covering all sense of reality. No! No! This could not happen, it couldn't! It wasn't going to!
Something surged within her and the next thing she knew, the world seemed to light up like the sun at the break of dawn, a supernova lighting up the cosmos from its near unchallenged darkness. Next, a thunderous BOOM! CRACK drowned out all sound across the island, filling the air like a powerful bomb. The entire island seemed to shake and the sound of the storm in all its ferocity was made impotent when compared to whatever this was.
Then it was over. So quick, so sudden, but now ended. The storm returned to dominating all sound and scenery over the island and a sense of normalcy given the situation returned.
From near the mountain, Elsa, slowly, tentatively, lowered her arm from in front of her face and took in her surroundings as best she could.
What she saw left her … well, for lack of a better word, utterly speechless.
All the trees within about fifty feet of her were either completely vaporised, their remains lying in a heap of smoking ruins on the ground, or, if they were lucky enough to still be standing, were smouldering husks, completely devoid of any branches, greenery, even the bark looked as if it were charred jet black. The ground too, before a churned mess of mud, now looked charred and rocky as if they had just gone through a sort of volcanic eruption or immense fire of some kind. The ice that had covered much of the surrounding area just moment earlier was either shattered, melted, or lay cracked and broken.
Elsa stared dumbfounded at it all, then down at her hands, feeling something electric, something hot racing through them to her fingertips.
What the hell?
Indeed, what had she done? Another look at her surroundings told her she had done something incredibly powerful, and destructive.
Whatever it was, it only just deepened the mystery of this journey a lot more.