The Golden War was a dark time for the many kingdoms, scrambling for the little power they could get their claws on as many allied with the Golden Princes and aided them in their mission to usurp Gojira, chief of the Allidon, Head Commander of the five armies, and King of the Monsters. The Golden Princes did not succeed in their mission, and in the years since then Gojira has since bonded with his queen, Mothra, and blended their family, which now consists of his two sons — Junior and Minilla — and her only son, Leo.
Despite the vision of a now happy and thriving family and kingdom, the Golden War has left many unhealed wounds in its wake, threatening to rot and rid the king of his newfound solace. Gojira and his family fought hard for their position and their people, but as the dark shadows surrounding their home threaten to overtake the light they so vehemently defend, they must stand tall with their weapons in hand, and prove to world why they should be considered gods among kaiju.
Chapter One: The Bonding, The Egg
For the people of the Eastern Island, a rainy day was a sign of good luck. Not a storm, or harsh shower, but a day of cool and gentle rainfall with a sweet breeze passing through when the skies called for it. The people of the Eastern Island believed it was Gojira's doing, and that he used the rain to clean the earth of bad spirits and cruel will, paving the way for a new start when the rain came to an end. For it to rain on a momentous occasion was viewed as Gojira's way of blessing the people with good luck and fortune, so it came with great joy when the blue sky of today, dotted with thick and slightly darkened clouds, filled the island with scattered rainfall.
It was a day of celebration and unbridled joy, the second bonding ceremony of the week, a day in which those lucky enough to arrive on time – if not a tad earlier – would get a first hand look at the king and queen. Being of two different species, the two had compromised in their bonding, deciding to celebrate both of their customs individually. The queen's ceremony had been one cloaked in a veil of opulence and regalia, befitting a lady of such high standing. The eyes of the winged divinity watched as the two exchanged neckwear signifying their union to the world, gorgeous golden pieces decorated with shimmering jewels; fuschia for the king, cobalt for the queen. However, the king wasn't too fond of this ceremony, he felt it too grand, that it was too focused on pleasing the people, and he viewed it as vapid pageantry. He never did tell the queen this in fear of upsetting her, but he knew his cultural custom would be more satisfying, at least for him.
Though he did worry for her, as he was guided to the shaman by his younger brother with nothing on but a shoddily sewn cloak to cover his large and scarred body, the people of his hometown watching in wonder, he asked himself if she would truly be able to handle what his people's bonding entailed. She swore she could take it, that her love for him is what motivated her, and that marking herself for him would be an honour; but this didn't change the fact that she was a frail woman, and in spite of her strength, her body was delicate. He knew there was no turning back once he began walking up the small wooden stairs to the platform in the town center that the ceremony would be held on, so he took in a deep breath, praying Gojira would bless him that day, as he did with the rain.
When the king and his brother finally made it, standing in front of the shaman, the younger stepped back, allowing his older brother some space. The king fiddled with the string holding the cloak together, a nervous tick, and tried not to look at the crowd. This was the worst part of being a ruler, everything you did had to be witnessed by the world; their bonding was intimate, something reserved for them and the handful of friends and family they invited, but the king and queen had to be public. He ran his sizable, heavily clawed hand through his tangled and thick locks of hair, grunting when the scales on his wrists occasionally pulled at his scalp; the rain made it easier for him to run his fingers through, yet another nervous tick.
He wanted to get it over with, be done with it and go home to be with his love and children, so he couldn't contain his grin when the queen finally made her way to the platform.
The current state of her was almost a mockery of the queen's divine appearance, yet her beauty still prevailed. Her face was free from makeup, which he believed made her blue eyes shine like the chandeliers that dotted their palace. Her eyes were beautiful, a solid iridescence, lacking a sclera, pupils and iris, they were bug-like in their protrusion, surrounded by long and fluffy uncurled white eyelashes. Her lips lacked their usual shape, her makeup making them rounder and larger, with a sharp cupid's bow; they were instead now their natural thin oval shape, rounded at the top and bottom, with the corners curving down in a subtle natural pout. Her eyebrows had not been painted over and drawn to be thin, with her thick and unruly white eyebrows finally seeing the light of day. Without the excessive blush and white highlight, he could finally see the natural blemishes of her dark brown skin, black spots dotted all over like stars, dark circles surrounding her eyes, her dimples that came out when she smiled and her few forehead wrinkles. Like the king she wore very little, only a cloak tied at the hip with a string to cover her modesty, her shoulders free for the world to see. Her second set of arms were hidden under the cloak, which amused the king. They probably hadn't expected him to bond with a woman who had four, did they?
He knew the queen felt humiliated, such a bare appearance was not to be seen by the public in her culture, and she may have felt it ruined her flawless image. In spite of this, as he watched her be led up onto the platform by his mother, who murmured words of comfort and encouragement to her, he believed this was the most radiant she had ever looked. The way she shone as she stood in front of him, the rain having flattened her cloak and hair, sticking both to her body, he wondered what good deed he had done to deserve this view.
When she made it to the last stair, his mother – who was considerably taller than the queen, placed her right arm around her shoulders, using her left arm to loosen the back of her cloak, allowing her wings to comfortably flutter underneath the fabric. The older woman then swiped her own shaggy grey hair out of her face, the rain having made it stick to her forehead, before she then continued her encouraging words to the soon-to-be bonded. The queen shivered, the little goosebumps on her body standing at attention due to the rain; her people did not value rain the way the king's did, to them it was but a necessary nuisance that made their wings wet and unusable and got them sick from time to time.
It wasn't long until the two locked eyes, and for a moment they were the only two people roaming this vast world. He reached out his hands, gently taking her much smaller ones into his and using his thumbs to caress them. How such a fierce woman had such small, dainty, silk-like hands was beyond him, she was known for her secrets and abnormalities after all. The shaman soon lifted his wooden staff, slamming it into the platform three times and creating a booming noise that echoed through the island. With that, the crowd silenced their mutterings, and the two platformed royals turned to face him.
The shaman was an older man of the king's people, the alidon. He had scales of deep grey covering many parts of his body and a long lizard's tail, like the king his arms were scaled from the shoulder down to reach large reptilian fingers with black talons, though his were a lot more blunt. His aged and wrinkled face was balding at the head, with only a few strands of grey hair flowing at the back and a long waterful of silver falling from his chin. He wore a cloak similar to what the bonded-to-be wore, but his was embroidered with symbols of the stars and sea and their deities, and he wore a cotton shirt and hidden shorts underneath. Despite his age, the man was no wilting elder, with his tall height and considerably large body indicating a life of combat and a legacy of battle, as expected from the alidon.
The queen could not understand most of what the shaman proceeded to say, and the king was so eager for this to end that he all but zoned out until he finally said the important part, the part that signified the deed:
"Ma'ari! Under the eye of Gojirin, with the blessing of Gojira, and – for our queen – the light of Gigamosu, it is time for the marking! It will be done a little differently this time due to certain limitations, the queen will be marked first."
Once the shaman had spoken, the king's mother ran her hand through the queen's damp white hair and moved it from her left shoulder, leaving it free, slick with rainwater. She visibly stiffened, the older woman had given her a tonic infused remedy to help numb the pain, but she couldn't help the fear. Noticing this, the older woman patted her on the back with a small smile, "it will be fine, my son will not hurt you, he loves you, it is simply tradition."
"I am aware of that Najan, I simply fear his nozuki teeth." she coyly responded, a small chuckle escaping the older woman before she placed a kiss on the queen's cheek and stepped back to allow for the deed to be completed.
The king wrapped an arm around the queen's petite waist, pulling her forward until their bodies collided. The queen tried to relax, loosening her body and tilting her head to the right, giving the king enough room. He stared at the sleek brown of her neck, the rain almost making it look glossy. He wanted to hesitate, but he knew he must be quick, the faster he was the less painful it was. Not only that, but her species was not made to indulge the rain like his people were, her soft shivers making it clear she wanted to go inside as soon as possible. The king opened his mouth, allowing his sharp teeth and immense canines to be exposed to the world, and with a swift clench of his jaw, bit sharply into his lover's shoulder.
The queen bit back a pained grunt, the feeling of her flesh being impaled by his knife-like teeth was far from pleasant, even with the remedy, it only got more painful when she felt searing hot sparks where his jaw was clenched; this time she couldn't hold it in, and a warbled wail overtook the crowd, who stared in horror and whimsy. Her eyes had welled up at the initial bite, but as the sparks attacked her wounded neck, her face was suddenly flooded with an onslaught of tears. The king then finally pulled back, his stomach tightening in knots when he saw the flood of blood pouring down the left side of her body. The queen almost collapsed, but luckily his mother – Najan – was able to catch her in time, pulling up her cloak and tightly holding the wound with it.
"She is of the moth people, they have weaker bodies so the poor thing is probably in shock, I will take her inside for treatment and rest," seeing his horrified expression, Najire then said, "she will be fine Goji dear, complete the ceremony without her, and then come and check on her when you're done."
She then lifted the woman up, careful not to crush her delicate wings, before quickly ushering herself off the platform. The king stared at the duo with worry in his crimson eyes as the shaman placed his staff down and leaned to his left to pick up a small case. The king's brother hit him on the shoulder, snapping him out of his gaze as the shaman slowly and carefully opened the black case. When it was opened, a serrated knife was sitting inside. The queen's small teeth could never pierce the hardened leather that was alidon skin, let alone leave a scar, so they had to use other methods to mark the king.
His brother helped pull down the left side of his cloak, unable to contain a small laugh when the king's eyes cautiously fluttered to the knife, "even with Tachi's faded mark still resting on your neck, and years of battle experience, you find yourself scared of a little knife?"
"Be quiet Saiga," the king spat, "I doubt you will ever feel the 'pleasures' of being marked, so you wouldn't understand."
Stepping back after ushering the king's unruly locks away from his shoulders, his younger brother – Saiga – playfully clutched at his chest with an exaggerated exhale of pain, "ouch my dear brother, what pain, I'll tell mother you're bullying me."
"Oh hush you dramatic bast–" he hadn't the chance to finish his insult, as his blood stained teeth clenched and the scarlet that coloured his jaw and chest was smeared, a barely constrained hiss slid its way through his teeth as the knife was stabbed into his shoulder and dragged to the side into a line. The jagged nature of the knife was supposed to aid in scarring, leaving a thick and unsightly mark if Gojira willed it; it may not have been a bite mark, but it was the best they could do. Had the queen not collapsed, it would have been she who stabbed the knife into him.
Although it hurt, the rain drops ironically making the sting worse, the king kept his composure and stood tall as the bloody knife was pulled out of him. The shaman placed it down, and both he and Saiga immediately went ahead in cleaning the wound and wrapping it with the stray cloth that the shaman had on standby. Once the crowd saw the bloodied knife, indicating that both the king and the queen had been marked, the island was overtaken by the sound of applause and cheers, all finding it in them to rejoice the official bonding of the king and queen, the two who led them through the Golden War, the rulers of all monsters.
With an exhale, the king could only smile. It was all over now, no more bonding ceremonies, no more public displays of courtship, he and his queen were bonded in both the eyes of their gods and the eyes of their people. It was then when the rain had come to an almost sudden stop only leaving the breeze to pass through the celebrations; the king looked up at the sky, and though no sounds came out, his lips spoke praises and thanks to Gojira. Now that they were bonded the rain had stopped, meaning that from this point forward the two were to begin their new journey, side by side, together, and – if the gods willed it – forever.
That was over ten thousand years ago, yet whenever Gojira's claws traced the arch-shaped scar left with his right hand, signifying his undying loyalty to his queen, the memories poured back to him as though it had all happened just yesteryear. In the years since their official bonding, life had been smooth sailing for the most part, with the couple focusing on their family and their duties as leaders. The children had grown significantly, going from small and stubby creatures with unwavering curiosity, to mature – albeit hormonal and temperamental – young adults. The king had become accustomed to his new routine, which often involved him watching over the three boys and helping the older two train, something that was made easy by the location of their palace.
Being of two different species and having two different kingdoms to rule over created a problem, both leaders needed to be in close proximity to their own people, but the Eastern Island and the Divine Kingdom were separated by a boundless sea, and having one permanently relocate to either land was not ideal. Not wanting the couple to live two separate lives from each other, the queen's little attendants had proposed that a palace be built on the mostly barren Infant Island, which was once home to the divine moth people before the mass exodus millenia ago. With this island being situated almost exactly in the middle of both the Divine Kingdom and the Eastern Island, it meant travel between the two would take much less time, and they would still be close to their people.
It didn't take much convincing for Gojira to agree to the decision; Infant Island was absolutely beautiful, a tropical utopia filled with abundant forests, grasslands, a vast beach and all the diverse fauna one could ever want. It was perfect for raising a family of energetic boys, and he wondered why the divine moths of old chose to abandon the place. The alidon and divine moths teamed up to build the large palace that the royal family now called home, and since their relocation, many people from their respective homelands had also decided to begin a new life on the island. Within the ten thousand years they had settled, Infant Island had gone from an empty island with potential to a bustling ecosystem with people from all over the world settling there, both for the environment and to feel closer to the king of kings and the queen of queens.
One of the best parts about making Infant Island their official home was the weather, it was absolutely perfect. The island moved with the seasons as did everywhere else, but Infant Island was almost always a hot island with a cool breeze that passed through, the sun blazing and the trees providing perfect shade. Today was one of those perfect days, and Gojira would have switched his brain off and just lounged about, if only his sons weren't taking their sparring session a little too far. The king lifted his head, scratching his bearded face and allowing his bushy eyebrows to pinch with annoyance, "watch it Junior, be careful." he grunted, and though he didn't raise his voice, the heaviness of his words was enough to reach his son.
The boy was holding his stepbrother from behind, grabbing hold of his top set of arms as the two wrestled on the ground, before he then used his knees to pin down his second left arm. The smaller moth boy didn't stand a chance against him strength wise, and was left at his mercy as Junior's heel dug into his back. Luckily, Gojira's warning was enough to get Junior to let go of him, but not before stubbornly huffing and rolling his red eyes, which seemed to glimmer against their yellow sclera.
"My bad, I thought we were training," he shrugged, watching as the moth boy – Leo – stood up from the ground with an annoyed grunt, muttering curses as he frantically tried to clean off the dirt from his clothing.
Junior could only roll his eyes again, he couldn't begin to fathom why Leo was so mad, nobody forced him to wear his fancy clothes to a sparring session. The moth boy wore a dark green shirt with four long sleeves that was boxy at the shoulders and had an erect collar, decorated with golden embroidery at said collar and down the center of the shirt, the buttons being six stars that dangled from the middle of his shirt. The wrists also had the same golden embroidery wrapped around like jewellery, but were now stained brown with dirt. He knew Leo wore a pair of cream coloured shorts underneath, but he wrapped a long cloth around his legs that was a mix of brown and gold, with the golden zig-zag pattern creating brown diamonds on the cloth, and giving the overall look a skirt-like feel.
Even in his barefoot, roughed up state as he grumbled in rage and fluttered his wings in aggravation, Leo still looked very grand. This was something Junior didn't get about his stepmother's people, they were so opulent yet breezy with their fashion at all times, and he often found himself feeling underdressed when he was around this side of his family. This was a given, considering the barefoot alidon current only wore a long pair of crudely sewn pants, with nothing on his top half. In comparison to Leo, he may as well have been naked.
"Training doesn't mean trying to break my arms and nearly tearing my wings off, you brute!" he snapped back, turning to glare at the lizard boy. Leo's eyes were rather hard to read, being a solid green with no pupils, most wouldn't be able to tell he was even glaring; however, years of growing up with him made this very obvious to Junior, the subtle furrowing of his eyebrows, the creasing around the bottom of his eyes, the clenched pout his lips were in. Leo was glaring, Leo was furious.
Despite this, Junior couldn't bring himself to care, "not my fault you ain't as strong as me, you need to toughen up Leo, if you can't handle me then you're completely screwed in an actual battle."
"Oh shut up," Leo then spoke, his tone drenched in venom, "you always do this, act like a rabid animal and then try to lecture me about strength!"
"Maybe because you always lose and cry about it!"
"I said shut up!"
"And what will ya do if I don't?"
"Aye!" The two boys immediately stopped their bickering, turning their heads reluctantly to face their father, who had his head resting on his fist and an expression of boredom and annoyance, "stop that damn fighting and save it for the spars."
Gojira could only squint his eyes in disapproval when Junior groaned 'fiiiine' and Leo mumbled about how it was Junior that had started it. Watching as his son playfully flicked Leo on the shoulder – who shook him off with a cut of his eyes – he found a small bit of amusement in how alike to him the now fourteen-thousand-year-old was. He heard it a lot, how Junior was a carbon copy of Gojira when he was his age, his own mother joking that she felt she had been thrown back in time whenever she saw him.
The boy was tall for his age, his head reaching Gojira's chest, which allowed him to tower over the moth prince. Years of training closely with his father had built him a lean, yet toned physique that was only going to get bulkier as he grew older; arms and legs covered in scales that lead down to large hands and feet with claws and talons just as sharp and piercing as his father's. His back was covered in the same deep grey scales as his father's, which again led to a long and thick reptilian tail. Like his father, his face and neck were also partially scaled, and all over his chest and under his jaw sat scars from years worth of rough combat; his nose wasn't petite, being large and slightly hooked, tilted just barely to the left in asymmetry. His eyes were also a carbon copy of his father's, yellow scleras with red eyes in the middle, complemented by two thick and dark arched eyebrows. The only thing that really separated Junior from a young Gojira was his hair, while his father had always worn his black hair shaggy and long, Junior kept his short, cutting it off completely whenever it grew too long for his liking.
His appearance provided an amusing contrast between him and his stepbrother. Not too dissimilar to Junior, Leo also bore a striking resemblance to his mother, though there were more than enough differences to render them not identical. Discounting his gender, Leo had moss green eyes as opposed to Mothra's sky blue, that were tilted downwards to the center, which gave him an almost feline look to his features. With deep brown skin like his mother's, his hair was also white just like hers, growing just long enough to go past his shoulders and left loose in soft waves, instead of thick, rounded eyebrows like his mother's, his were thin and long, naturally pinched in an almost straight line. Long and fluffy white antennae stuck out from above his eyebrows, though they were currently drooping due to his foul mood. Leo's features were soft and rather feminine, like most males of his people, which led Junior to often tease him for looking like a girl; he had a small button nose that poked upwards just a little and rounded lips that were slightly fuller than his mother's. His face was slim and long, with high cheekbones and slim cheeks, which his hair framed nicely. He was smaller than his alidon brother, the top of his head just barely reaching Junior's shoulders, and he was much slimmer and less muscled. Leo's wings were a jaw-dropping crescendo of green, black and orange, it was no wonder those were his favourite colours.
One was a paradigm of growing strength and the other was a vision of elegance, this made seeing them fight quite entertaining, though Mothra often scolded him for viewing it that way.
Being reminded of his beautiful bondmate, Gojira sighed as he wondered if she was doing alright. Mothra had been forming another egg, something she did regularly, though she couldn't remember beginning the process with this one. Believing it had become an unconscious schedule with her, she had accepted it wholeheartedly and gone through with it. What made Gojira worry was the fact that this egg was being particularly strange. Usually, Mothra would become 'pregnant' with an unfertilised egg that she'd grow inside her for about three to four months, she would then go and find a safe space to lay the egg and move on. These eggs existed solely for the purpose of rebirthing herself in the event of her death, something only she as the queen of the divine moths could do. Laying therefore wasn't much of a hassle for her, unfertilized divine moth eggs were soft and malleable, and he grimaced when he remembered her describing the feeling as being 'no different from taking a large poop.'
This time however, things weren't going quite right. The first indicator that something was wrong was the sheer size of her; Mothra always developed a belly when making an egg, but it never got as large as hers had gotten this time, which was only compounded by the fact that what was usually a three to four month process was now on it's sixth month. Her stomach was also very stiff and solid, which was strange since her belly usually stayed soft and squishy when making an egg. Whenever it was time to lay, Mothra would self-induce labour, but she couldn't this time, her body wouldn't let her force the egg out. She was also having symptoms that indicated a fertilised egg, constant sickness and pains, weakness, being so heavy she could no longer fly, a weak bladder… she never went through this when forming a rebirth egg.
It was clear to everyone that somehow, Mothra was forming a fertilised egg, but the question as to how was on everyone's mind. Divine moth females could fertilise their own eggs asexually when desperate, but it required pieces of their unused eggs and a split of their DNA in order to produce children that weren't direct clones of the mother. It was a strenuous process that most could only do once in their lifetime, second attempts usually rendering them barren. Mothra had already done this in order to have Leo, and she was adamant in not wanting to do it again, the queen also claimed to not remember even starting an egg, let alone forming a fertilised one. Many wondered if it was Gojira's, but he immediately wrote it off, alidon eggs were far too large, and mixed breeds shouldn't be possible, if Mothra was having his egg she would mostly likely die, and no amount of rebirthing would take away the trauma of such a gruesome laying process.
The most commonly accepted theory was that she had somehow fertilised her own egg again, perhaps without realising it, and had ended up pregnant as a result. It was an outcome no one wanted, a barren queen would be unable to lay eggs to rebirth in, and the likelihood that a second asexual child would survive and be healthy was incredibly low. Mothra vehemently denied this, she wasn't reckless enough to risk her ability to lay eggs and asexual reproduction was a very intentional process that the divine moth woman had to be very aware of in order to do it, so at this point it was a tense waiting game.
She hadn't felt like going out with the boys, choosing to stay within her chambers and rest. Their youngest child, Gojira's son Minilla, had decided to stay with his stepmother instead of playing rough with Junior and Leo. The thought made him smile, Minilla was so fond of the queen, considering he had no memories of his mother, she had raised him and was all he knew. They got along well, and considering the tender boy's personality, it didn't surprise nor offend Gojira to know he preferred her company. Though he didn't like how this egg kept his queen away from him, she felt too weak and ill to leave the palace most days, was almost always asleep, was too big to effectively cuddle with, and almost always wanted to be left alone. He just hoped she'd hurry up and lay the egg already, so they could deal with the consequences of it later.
He watched as the two boys prepared for another round, with Junior getting into his usual battle stance and Leo's wing fluttering as they began to gently glow. As if Gojira of the Earth had his internal prayers heard and answered, before the two could begin their next round, a young boy came running towards the king with a distressed look on his face. The boy was an alidon, with scaling all over his body just like Gojira and Junior; the boy however had dark blue scales as opposed to the king's deep grey, his talons and claws were very blunt and unsharpened, and his eyes were a light blue instead of a deep red. The boy also had thick cerulean eyebrows, in which the hair between them just barely made a unibrow, that matched his identically coloured hair, a mop of wild shoulder-length locks that were tied back into a messy ponytail. He was quite a way shorter than Junior, just barely reaching Leo in height, and didn't share the battle hardened body he had, instead having a bigger, chubbier build.
Gojira sat up straight with a raised eyebrow when the boy finally reached them, his hands falling on his knees as he tried to catch his breath, "Minilla? What's wrong?" he asked, knowing it must be urgent.
Leo and Junior stopped their battle preparation, walking towards the two with equally curious expressions, "it's mama, her egg!" Minilla managed to yelp through heaving breaths, never having been as athletic as his brothers, "she's trying to lay it but it's all going wrong! M… Moll and Lora told me to come and get you, they… they said it's a laying emergency!"
Upon hearing this, Leo was the first one to turn around and bolt towards the palace, not hesitating to go and see his mother the second Minilla had finished talking. Gojira then stood up, taking his first few steps before turning to face both of his sons, "what the fuck are you waiting for, come on!" he barked, before he too then ran towards the palace. Junior and Minilla both jumped, but were quick to follow behind their father.
They weren't too far from the palace, having travelled into the surrounding forest closeby to train by the riverbank, so returning by running only took about a minute or two. However, in Gojira's mind the journey may as well have taken a lifetime – the mere implication that Mothra was having a laying emergency made his heart stop in his chest, and he was sure with each step he took towards the palace, he was doing it all on a singular breath, holding it until his body forced him to take another one. For Mothra, laying eggs was as simple as breathing or eating, so why was it going so wrong this time?
When the four arrived at the palace, nobody dared get in their way, guards made sure to stand aside and the many servants and attendants moved when they saw them coming; those without the wherewithal to move were shoved by force. There wasn't enough time to be polite; from what Minilla managed to say as they ran, Mothra had entered a sudden labour and was currently in their wash chamber, submerged in a warm bath as the shobijin – her fairy attendants – attempted to aid her in laying. He had followed them, but wasn't allowed inside, so he stayed by the door just in case, it was then that Lora had flown out, urging him to go and get his father, as the egg wasn't coming out.
Eventually, they managed to make it to the wash chamber, with Gojira all but busting down the door and rushing inside. Sitting upright in the large pool-like bath was Mothra, drenched in sweat and bathwater, her face contorted in an agony he had never seen before. She was completely nude, save for her golden bonding necklace that she kept on at all times. Her wings vibrated intensely in the water, something they did when she was stressed, and his heart sank when he saw the sheer amount of red mixed with the water. Her top set of arms gripped the edge of the bath, while the bottom set held both the top and bottom of her stomach, as though she were attempting to push the egg out that way. The way her hair stuck to her body, and the bareness of her form reminded him so much of their alidon bonding ceremony, except instead of a fond memory, this was fearsome, dangerous.
The king ran up to her, nearly slipping on the wet floor and not caring if the bathwater drenched his clothing. He wrapped his arms around her, and the queen turned to face him, somehow managing a small smile even in the throes of her labour, "what's going on?" he asked, just barely keeping his voice low so as to not stress her out even more, "why isn't the egg coming out?"
"It's…" the woman hissed, a choked sob forcing its way out of her. She had to wait a few seconds, taking in a breath before she could continue, "it's too big, the girls are saying it's too big."
Gojira's eyes shot to the shobijin that brought over a small glass with some sort of remedy, who managed to coax the queen into taking a few sips, "what the hell do you mean it's too big? She's laid big eggs before!"
The shobijin in question, Moll, jumped a little, her fairy wings going off balance, "um, the egg, it's… it's not like a divine moth one, my king," she then spoke, "it's really solid, like a rock, and with each push it's tearing the queen apart… we're trying to fix it! Really! But it seems the only solution is to get it out as soon as possible."
"It's not made for her body," Lora then interjected, rubbing a soothing cream on Mothra's shoulders, "she's managed to get a little bit out, and I managed to check it, it's solid like rock! And rough, it isn't smooth like a divine moth egg at all."
Seeing as Lora looked like she had just come out of the sea, he took her word for it and grumbled, it was times like this when he wished they weren't as small as they were. He placed an arm into the bath and helped hold Mothra upwards, the woman hissing out a small 'thank you', "how do we know this thing is even an egg? What if this is some other medical issue?"
"No, it's an egg," the queen strained, "I know it's an egg, holy hells, it hurts so much," she then whimpered, "I need it out, it needs to get out!"
"I know, sssh, it'll be out soon, you just keep pushing, do you need me to help put pressure on it?"
Mothra nodded, and placed a hand on top of his when he held her stomach, "be careful, we can't damage it."
"Based on how the girls described it, I don't even think that's possible," he retorted, glad that his comment was able to get a small giggle out of the suffering queen.
For an uncomfortably long time, The three kids were made to watch as Mothra wailed in agony, trying her hardest to force the egg out while Gojira pushed the top of her stomach as aid. Moll and Lora kept administering remedies to try and numb the pain and further dilate the queen, but nothing seemed to be fully working, at this point, she just had to keep pushing and hope she got the egg out before she bled out; she hoped that wouldn't happen, it didn't matter if she could come back, she didn't want to die like this, not in front of her children.
Gojira tried to keep his composure, with Mothra as pained as she was, it would only make the situation worse if he panicked too. He simply focused on applying pressure to her stomach and comforting her as best as he could. He wanted to order the children to get out, but at this point he doubted they would agree too, especially not Leo, who looked on in complete terror at the state of his mother. He then took a hand and placed it in the water, tracing his fingers around the little bit of egg that had managed to poke out of her. The girls were right, it was like solid rock.
By a miracle, Mothra managed to push a huge bit of the egg out, making it about halfway through. The rough edges of the egg seemed to tear at something, which caused her to suddenly scream, her grip on the bath and her stomach tightening and her tear flooded eyes shutting. Gojira then turned to face the boys, "don't just stand there, go and get some help, go!"
Being snapped out of their daze, the three boys turned around and made a mad dash out of the wash chamber. Gojira then looked at Mothra, taking his hand off her stomach and placing it on her cheek, "you're almost done, there's just a little more stuck, you just keep trying."
"I don't think I'll make it Goji," she sobbed, "I don't want to die like this, I don't think I can do this."
"You can, and you will," he said firmly, but with a tenderness in his tone he reserved for her, "once it's out they'll give you all the post-laying remedies you'll need, it'll be okay."
More sobs escaped from the moth queen as she tried to push the large egg out of her. The shobijin kept administering aid creams and comforting massages, while her bondmate kept whispering to her words of encouragement and motivation; she clenched her teeth, her brows pinching as she forced yet another particularly large push, it was then when it happened. Feeling like a scratchy, uncomfortable pop, the rest of the egg was finally forced out of her, as well as the cushiony, plush organ it was resting on and all the fluids that had been trapped inside her as a result. Mothra threw her head back in both agony and relief, her rounded stomach finally squishing down like a balloon with escaping air, though she was still dizzy, delirious and in immense pain due to internal injury and blood loss.
Gojira held onto the heavy egg as it fell out of her, and with good timing, the boys reentered the wash chamber with a group of adults, four divine moth women, and two alidon, one male and one female, "they said they know about egg laying, they said they could help- is everything okay?" he asked with morbid curiosity, watching as his mother's head fell lazily to the side, her eyes closed.
Moll brought up another cup to Mothra's mouth, but Lora had to open it by force to allow the queen to drink, "this should help blood clotting," she said quietly, fluttering to the side as the four moth women approached the queen and helped pull her out of the bath. The bath had aided in washing her lower half, with Gojira assuming it would have looked a lot more gruesome without it, and yet she was still drenched in blood. His relief faded when he saw her unconscious state, but as he saw the women diligently clean her wound and wrap cloth around her pelvis, he believed she would be alright.
The king then gestured for the two alidon to come forth, as they walked towards him, he lifted the once obscured egg out of the water, only for the three to stare in disbelief at it. The oval shaped egg was jagged and rough all over, so big that Gojira needed to use two hands to hold it up. It was no wonder Mothra's stomach was so stiff and struggled to lay it, the egg was not only uncomfortably ridged, but it was large enough to take up her entire abdomen. The egg was a lovely gradient, being yellow at the top before becoming a sweet peach-pink at the bottom.
That wasn't what left the three shocked though.
"This shouldn't be possible," the younger alidon man said, "she should be dead, this should have killed her…"
"Nevermind that, this goes against the fucking natural order!" the woman snapped, running a hand through her long and messy hair.
By this point, the two older boys began approaching, with Minilla staying cautiously behind. Seeing the light bickering and the bewildered expressions on their faces, Junior let Leo go to his mother's side while he approached his father. Admiring the impressive egg, instead of asking how Mothra could have possibly pushed that out, he instead asked, "what's the matter? You guys look spooked."
Walking over to trace a finger down the side of the egg, Junior's head then perked up when his father finally gathered the will to speak, "this egg… your mother shouldn't have laid it, this shouldn't be possible."
"Why? Is it deformed, it looks deformed, I know her's don't usually look like that."
"Goodness, of course you don't know, I don't think you've ever seen one in person," Gojira exhaled heavily, "Junior, this is an alidon egg, your divine moth mother has somehow managed to lay a healthy, fertilised alidon egg."
Gojira: The god of earth, as worshipped by the Allidon species. Often titled "Gojira of the Earth", King Gojira was named after him.
Gojirin: The goddess of bonding and harvest, as worshipped by the Allidon species.
Gigamosu: Sometimes named Gigamoth, she is a goddess worshipped by the Divine Moth species, and is believed to be the cause of royal bloodline's rebirth ability.
Chūi shite kudasai: 'Pay attention' in Japanese.
Nozuki: Another name for warbats, Baraka is also a commonly used warbat name.
Bonding: The act of promising oneself to an exclusive relationship. Many cultures have their own unique bonding ceremonies, and with a majority of them a ceremony has to be had for the bonding to be seen as legitimate or legal. Consider it this universe's equivalent to marriage.
Fun fact(s): This was originally going to be two separate chapters, named 'The Bonding' and 'The Egg' respectively, but neither was long enough to justify its own chapter so I decided to write them as one chapter instead. Also Leo's clothing is inspired by traditional Indonesian fashion! This is due to Mothra/Mosura's historical link to Indonesia throughout the franchise.
(Posting my ao3 fic here! To avoid being flagged for spam I'll move one chapter a day, so if you want to read the next four chapters, you can check them out at /works/58301395 !)