Disclaimer: I do not own any aspects of the Godzilla franchise.
Notes: Hi, all! First off, just for everyone who doesn't already know, this story is part of an ongoing series of MonsterVerse AU fics titled A Song of Gods and Monsters. So, if you haven't already, I would definitely recommend going back and reading the previous story, Through the Eyes of Titans, as otherwise you'll probably be confused while you're reading this one. XD In any case, I've been working on this fic for the past few months, and I'm very excited to finally get it underway!
As I did with the last story in this series, I'm also going to be including some background music that I listened to while writing certain scenes, as I feel like it really helped to capture the feeling that I was going for as I was writing for various different scenes & characters. For this chapter, I've come up with a few.
– The music for the opening flashback is "Ice Caves" from the Our Planet soundtrack.
– Godzilla's themes for this story, particularly for any action scenes involving him, are "Nuclear Submarine Attack" from the Godzilla: Tokyo SOS soundtrack and "Godzilla Theme" from the Godzilla vs. Kong soundtrack.
– Mothra's themes for this story are "Imago Mothra" from the Godzilla: Tokyo SOS soundtrack and "Mothra's Song" from the Godzilla: KOTM soundtrack.
– Madison Russell's theme for this story would be "Tanner's Theme" from the Dragon's World: A Fantasy Made Real soundtrack, as it's a fun, energetic track and I feel like it works pretty well for my take on her character.
As I did with my previous story in this series, I've also made a music playlist on YouTube in case you guys would like to listen along, so all of these songs are listed there and I'll continue to update it as we get into later chapters. The link for that playlist is listed on my profile.
Also, in the vein of music-related stuff for these fics, I recently found a video that I think works perfectly as a "theme song" for this series as a whole! It's a fantastic MonsterVerse music video by Arbitrary on YouTube, set to the opening theme music from the Godzilla Singular Point Netflix series. I think it works really well for this AU as well as for the canon MonsterVerse, so I figured I'd recommend it to anybody who might be interested in checking it out. The link to that song is also on my profile.
Now, without further ado, let's get into this story!
In the Hearts of Titans
Chapter 1: The New World
Thousands of years ago…
The sky was heavily overcast (as it usually was, these days), with a dense curtain of clouds blotting out the sun. A cold wind was billowing from the north, carrying flurries of snow along with it, and the whole world was cast in an eerie, dreamlike stillness. The only sound that punctuated the silence was the echoing, rhythmic flapping of a pair of massive wings, as an enormous shadow passed over the dark gray sea below.
The Queen shivered, flapping her wings a little more forcefully to help keep them warm as she soared through the winter sky. She wasn't used to this type of weather; her species had evolved when the world was far warmer than it was now, and she still preferred to live in warmer climates. However, thanks to her unique abilities, she had been able to take some measures to help herself deal with the dropping global temperatures as the planet had continued to cool down, modifying her own DNA slightly in some of her unborn reincarnations to give herself some additional protection against the cold. The soft fur on her body and wings was significantly longer and shaggier on this body than it was normally, providing her with some much-needed insulation, but she could still feel the biting cold as she flew over the vast expanses of ice and snow that now dominated the northern and southern hemispheres of the planet.
Finally, her destination came into view through the clouds that hung low over the ocean: a series of small, rocky islands, covered in snow and surrounded by dense forests of kelp in the shallow water. Gliding slowly down towards one of the bigger islands, she picked out a wide, sandy beach in a suitably-large bay and made her final descent, her wings flaring out just before she landed to bleed off her excess momentum. Despite her relatively smaller size compared to most other Kaiju, the ground still trembled when she touched down, folding back her wings and glancing around at her surroundings. She shivered again as the cold started to sink in now that she was stationary, and began occasionally fluttering her wings and sending brief pulses of energy through them to keep them warm.
It was very unusual for her that, at this point in her current body's life, the Queen actually felt old. That was an odd feeling for her, since her cycle of rebirth meant that each of her bodies was usually just as young and vibrant as the one before it. But ever since the last great conflicts among the world's Kaiju had come to an end, with the Golden One sealed away beneath the ice of the southern continent and the Jinshin-Mushi swarms wiped out by the grand alliance that she and her King had rallied together, she hadn't gotten into any serious battles, and her current body had lasted much longer than most of her previous lives had. As a result, this body had lived long enough for her to visibly age, growing older and more worn across many thousands of years, until it was finally starting to wear out.
The Queen let out a soft chuckle as she looked down at herself, taking in the changes that time had inflicted upon her. Her wings were frayed and tattered in some places, although they still glowed as brightly as ever. Her fur, which was usually pure-white, was now a pale shade of gray. And she could feel the weariness throughout her body, the aches and pains that signaled the beginning of a slow decline into old age.
She had no intention of letting her body wear out completely, of course. Ordinarily, she would have transferred her essence into a new egg by now: that was something that she could do in an emergency, triggering an egg to grow and hatch immediately by pouring all of her energy and her spirit out of an old or dying body and into an unborn larva. But she didn't need to worry about that, as this body was to be her last for the moment.
When the ice had begun to expand, most of the world's Kaiju had embarked on what became known as the Great Migration, using the many secret cave entrances around the world to travel down into the vast caverns of the Underworld, where the temperature was now much warmer than that of the surface. Some Kaiju had chosen to remain on the surface at first, mostly the mammalian ones that had evolved more recently and were better-equipped to handle the cooling climates, but as the world continued to grow colder, even they had eventually chosen to migrate down to the Underworld or to find a safe place to go into hibernation. The Queen hadn't really wanted to move down to the Underworld unless there was no other option, so she had continued to oversee the surface world alongside her King during this time. Even though she knew it was the right choice under the circumstances, she hadn't been able to help feeling sad as the background chorus of distant, echoing calls that had echoed across the world for as long as she could remember slowly dwindled and faded away, until finally the familiar chorus fell silent.
Only then, once everyone else had either left the surface or gone into hibernation, had she and her King decided to do the same, so they could sleep through this new, cold age until the world grew warmer again and they would be more comfortable. He, of course, was perfectly capable of doing that, but her species wasn't designed for long periods of hibernation, at least not in their adult bodies. Her eggs, however, were perfectly suited for long-term hibernation, so she had come up with a plan. Over the past few years, she had laid more eggs than she ever had before, a full dozen in all, and had tucked each of them away in various different hiding places around the world, where they should hopefully be concealed from any predators that might eat them and safe from the relentless onslaught of the ever-spreading ice. It was a risky strategy since her eggs would be left vulnerable, as no one would be around to guard her nests, but it was the best option that she had.
And now, finally, the time had come. After checking on her eggs one last time to make sure they were all safe, she had traveled here, to a remote island not too far from one of the entrances to her King's underwater tunnels, so they could see each other one more time before their respective hibernations began.
As she took stock of her surroundings, the Queen smiled when she noticed that the kelp forests around this island, like most kelp forests in this part of the world, were inhabited by pods of large, slow-moving marine mammals: sea cows, each growing well over twenty feet in length, that were munching placidly on the abundant seaweed. They didn't seem too bothered by the Queen's presence, perhaps instinctively sensing that she didn't pose a threat to them, as her preferred diet was comprised almost entirely of plant matter. While she certainly didn't mind dining on kelp and other oceanic plants, the peaceful sea cows had nothing to fear from her, and on some level they seemed to recognize that.
The sea cows did, however, react in fear when a deep, rumbling call echoed across the bay, followed by a flare of blue light out in the deeper water beyond the kelp forest. Three rows of bony plates broke the surface, and the Queen smiled as her King rose slowly out of the ocean, straightening up to his full height and towering over the bay. The pods of sea cows were quick to get out of his way as he waded through the shallows and up onto the shore, his clawed feet digging into the damp sand as his tail flicked back and forth behind him.
For his part, the King looked the same as he always did, not showing any apparent signs of age, but the cooling of the planet was clearly affecting him too. He seemed less energetic than usual, a side effect of his reptilian nature, and he shivered as he shook off the leftover seawater, his plates humming and pulsing with blue light as he drew on his inner fire to warm himself. But his smile had just as much warmth as it always did when his eyes fell on the Queen, and a low purr resonated in his chest, like the purring of a cat mixed with the bellowing of an alligator, as he lowered himself to all fours and rubbed his cheek against hers. The Queen returned his smile, resting her forehead against his as her wings and his plates pulsed in unison.
"How are you feeling?" the King questioned, a note of protective concern in his eyes as he looked her over. "The cold isn't too much for you yet, is it?"
"No, fortunately." The Queen shook her head, tucking her limbs underneath her and nestling against the King's flank as he sank fully to the ground. "But…" She sighed, letting out a weary chuckle. "This body's definitely wearing a bit thin. We were right to do this now: I don't think putting it off much longer would have been wise."
"Agreed." The King nodded soberly, his eyes narrowing as his lips curled in a frown. "I still don't like it, though."
"Neither do I, my love," the Queen assured him, "but I think it's our best choice. We decided not to go down to the Underworld, and the world up here is too cold and empty for us right now. But things will warm up again eventually, and then we can wake up and start again." She leaned forward and nuzzled his cheek, her mandibles brushing lightly against his scales in her equivalent of a kiss. "It's going to be fine, Goji. I promise, it will."
"I know, Mosura." The King chuckled softly, resting his head against hers. "And don't worry: if I happen to wake up at some point sooner than I intended, I'll check on your nests to make sure they're safe before I go back to sleep."
"And as soon as one of my eggs eventually hatches, I'll contact you and let you know that I'm back," the Queen replied cheerfully. After a moment, though, her smile became smaller and more wistful as a fresh shower of snow began to drift down from the heavens. She snuggled closer to her King, and he gently wrapped one arm around her to hold her close and to provide her with some extra warmth.
In the days to come, the Royal Couple would go their separate ways. The King would descend into his underwater tunnels once more and return to his chosen hibernation place, the flooded Underworld cavern where an ancient human city had once resided and where his longtime companion's bones now lay enshrined. He would drift off to sleep there, basking in the warmth and energy of the volcanic vents as he slipped into the deep, peaceful trance of hibernation.
The Queen, meanwhile, would ascend to the highest place on Earth, the great mountain range known to humans as the Himalayas, where she would enter a hidden tunnel that led into a network of caves within the mountains. One of the human temples dedicated to her was located there, hidden in a massive cavern deep beneath the surface, and she had chosen that temple to serve as her current body's final resting place. She would lie upon the great stone slab that traditionally served as an altar for her eggs in these temples, and her current body's life would peacefully ebb away as her mind and her spiritual essence would flow out into the many eggs that she had left hidden around the world, waiting across the millennia until one of them would finally be triggered by its genetic timer and she would be reborn once more.
For now, however, the King and the Queen just lay there on the snowy beach, leaning against each other to share warmth and to comfort each other as they watched the snow continue to fall. An older age was ending, and a new chapter in the endless tale of life on Earth was about to begin… but despite their impending hibernation, their story was far from over.
Present day
Indonesia
Three days after the Battle of Boston
The King cruised leisurely through the warm, tropical waters, basking in the sunlight and savoring the warmth that soaked into his body. Having had a couple of days to rest and recover after his final battle with the Golden One, he was now fully recovered: all of his leftover aches and pains from that battle were gone, and he felt much better.
A splashing sound off to his left drew his attention, and he grinned despite himself as the Queen surfaced a short distance away. Although they were still on the way to their destination, she'd wanted to get some exercise so her new body's muscles could warm up properly, so they'd slowed down a bit so she could swim alongside him. Her larval form couldn't move as far or as fast as he could in water, of course, but she was still an excellent swimmer in this state (unlike in her adult form, where her wings made swimming much more difficult).
The Queen noticed him watching her, and she let out a trilling giggle as she twirled gracefully through the water. In her larval state, her many pairs of short, clawed limbs moved in a rippling, wavelike fashion from front to back, like a caterpillar or a millipede, which worked surprisingly well for swimming. Diving under the surface and propelling herself towards him, she popped back up next to him and playfully bumped her head against his cheek. "Hi," she greeted him with a cheery smile.
The King let out an amused snort, rolling over in the water as he continued to propel himself forward with rhythmic sweeps of his tail. "Hello," he chuckled, shifting back into a horizontal position and sinking below the surface for a minute so the Queen could swim over his back and nestle down between two rows of plates. Once she was securely in place again, he rose back to the surface again, giving her access to the air.
A soft laugh drew both of their attention to the King's right, where Scylla was swimming alongside them. In these shallower waters, she was alternating between swimming and scuttling along the ocean floor with her long, crablike legs, allowing her to save on energy. "You know, I'd forgotten how adorable you two can be sometimes," she teased, her tentacles flicking about and arranging themselves into her species' equivalent of a playful grin. "I'm glad to see some things never change."
The King rolled his eyes and deliberately lifted his tail out of the water before slapping it back down on the surface, dousing Scylla with an explosion of seawater and ignoring the laughter that rang out from both her and the Queen. By and large, he got along with his Queen's friends fairly well, although they'd all been quite protective of her when he'd first been introduced to them (which was fair, considering his power and the fact that his species were apex predators who rarely picked mates outside of their own kind), but Scylla still found it amusing when he let his usual stoic attitude drop and became more affectionate with the Queen, and she never missed an opportunity to poke fun at him for that.
"So, are we close yet?" Scylla spoke up again, her legs tucked back and trailing behind her as she propelled herself along using concentrated jets of water from the hyponome tucked beneath her coiled shell. "I haven't been to this place in a long time, so I forget where it is."
"It shouldn't be far now," the Queen replied, lifting the front half of her body up so she could peer out towards the horizon. "I'm used to navigating these islands from the air, but I think we're getting close."
"We are," the King confirmed, nodding as he compared their surroundings to his mental map of the world's oceans. They were making their way northwest, skirting along the eastern edge of the vast archipelago that covered this part of the world. Thousands of islands dotted the warm, shallow waters here, which made finding one specific island much more difficult, but he and his Queen had visited this particular island many times before, so finding it was fairly easy for him by now.
Sure enough, after another hour or so of swimming, their destination came into view: a large, mountainous island, one of the most remote in this region. Extensive coral reefs grew all around it, stretching out into the ocean for several miles and preventing most potential colonists from gaining access to the island's shores. Any Kaiju who wasn't familiar with this island and did not possess the ability to fly would have to cross several miles of jagged reefs to reach its shores, either smashing their way through or clambering awkwardly over the top.
Fortunately, the King and the Queen had been coming to this island for many thousands of years, and the King already knew how to deal with that natural barrier. In addition to the protective reefs, a series of ever-shifting currents and violent whirlpools also swirled around the island, adding to its natural defenses. However, the whirlpools only existed because the huge reefs were underlaid by a network of underwater tunnels, carved through the rock by volcanic activity or by the pounding waves. Most of those passages were far too small for a Kaiju to pass through, but one in particular – a massive tunnel that started beyond the edge of the reefs and passed all the way under them, to emerge in a large bay next to the island – was ideal for their purposes.
"Follow me through the tunnel," the King instructed Scylla as they approached the hole in the seafloor. "Ready, Mosura?" He glanced over his shoulder to make sure his Queen was still securely nestled down between his plates; the currents swirling through the tunnel were exceptionally violent, strong enough that even a small Kaiju like the Queen's larval form would have trouble passing through it, so it was safer for her to stay on his back.
The Queen nodded, her eyes sparkling in the sunlight as she took a deep breath and held it. "Ready!"
Nodding, the King plunged beneath the surface and dove down into the tunnel, easily powering his way through the churning currents. Propelling himself into the darkness, he glided swiftly through the passageway beneath the reef, ignoring the smaller fish and crustaceans that scattered in front of him. The Queen's claws were hooked firmly onto his plates to keep herself in place, while Scylla trailed close behind them.
After a minute or two of rushing through the darkness, the King's keen vision picked up the sunlight filtering into the tunnel from the far end. His teeth flashed in a grin as he accelerated through the remainder of the tunnel, his tail whipping back and forth until they finally burst out of the tunnel and emerged on the other side, at the bottom of another deep hole in the ocean floor. Accelerating towards the surface and rising several hundred feet in a matter of seconds, he breached the surface like a whale, laughing as he heard the exhilarated, trilling squeal that the Queen let out before they crashed back down into the water. Scylla broke the surface a moment later, chuckling in amusement as she saw them happily rolling around in the water.
Having made it safely through the tunnel, the three Kaiju now found themselves in a large, sunlit bay, safely inside the nearly-impenetrable network of reefs and currents that kept this island cut off from the outside world. The Queen slipped off of the King's back into the water, choosing to swim by herself since he couldn't swim through the shallower water around the rest of the island. The only portion of the water around this island that was over a hundred feet deep was the deep hole in the seafloor that led down into the entrance tunnel, which meant that he and Scylla would have to walk the rest of the way.
The King looked around, savoring the peaceful atmosphere of the island, as they began moving along the inner edge of the reef, heading towards their final destination: the temple that had been built on this island by the Queen's human worshippers back before the Cold Times, which would be a perfect place for her to feed and grow until she was ready to cocoon and transform into her adult form. It had been a long time since he'd been here, but he was happy to see that, unlike many other parts of the world where the humans had ransacked the natural world to build their elaborate cities, this island was still pristine and unspoiled. There was still a tribe of humans living here, descendants of those ancient worshippers, but he wasn't worried about them causing any trouble.
"So, are you planning to cocoon quickly?" he spoke up after a couple of minutes, letting the tip of his tail brush gently over the Queen's back as she swam alongside him. "Or are you going to stay in this form for a while this time?"
"I think I'll stay like this for a bit, at least long enough for this body to grow a bit more naturally," the Queen replied, twisting in the water as she flexed out all of her limbs. "I had to rush my last transformation so I'd be done in time to help you, but since we don't have any threats to worry about this time around, I can afford to take my time with this one." She smiled brightly as she looked up at him. "But once we've had a few more days to get some rest, there is something that I need to do. My Singers, and the human girl that I connected with at my temple in the eastern forest… I want to see them all again, to make sure they're all safe after everything that happened. So, once we've had some time to rest and relax, I think I'll contact them and summon them here."
"Here?" The King raised one eyebrow ridge, unable to help feeling a little doubtful. "Are you sure, Mosura? I trust your Singers, but… I don't know if bringing these new humans to this island would be a good idea." The events of the past few days, in which his Queen's Singers and their allies had saved his life and helped him in his battle against the Golden One, had shown him that at least some of the humans in this new age could be trusted, but there was no denying that humans as a whole had inflicted a lot of damage on the world while he and the other Kaiju had been asleep, and he didn't want anything like that to happen here.
"Don't worry about that," the Queen assured him. "I'm going to invite my Singers and the girl here, but I'll make it clear that this island is under our protection, so I'm sure that they'll take precautions to make sure that no humans who might do harm to this place will be allowed to come here. And if anyone does try to harm this island or its inhabitants…" Her eyes flashed, their blue glow becoming more forceful for a moment. "Then we will show them the error of their ways, just as we have in the past."
The King nodded in satisfaction, a faint smile appearing on his face. "Fair enough."
Monarch Outpost 54, aka "Castle Bravo"
Atlantic Ocean, near Bermuda
Two weeks after the Battle of Boston
Madison Russell was dreaming.
She was underwater, tumbling down a long, dark tunnel, rock walls rushing past on all sides as the roar of a powerful ocean current thundered in her ears. After what seemed like an eternity, her lungs were burning and her vision was starting to blur, until finally a brilliant flash of blue light cut through the darkness as she burst up to the surface, panting and gasping for air as she tried to catch her breath.
When the light faded and her vision returned, she found herself floating in a wide, gentle river, beneath a cloudless night sky that was filled with more stars than she'd ever seen before. The river was flowing along the bottom of a valley, with large mountain ridges rising up on either side, covered by dense tropical jungle. On both banks of the river, a city of ancient stone buildings rose up out of the undergrowth, partially overgrown by plants and twisting vines.
Far ahead, up the river, she could hear the distant rumbling of a waterfall, and she could see a faint blue light radiating from around a bend in the valley, beyond the city. She instinctively began swimming in that direction: normally she wasn't a particularly fast swimmer, but right now it felt like it was as easy as breathing, even against the current. She practically flew through the water, losing track of everything else around her as time and distance seemed to melt away, until the water finally grew shallow beneath her and she crawled out onto land. When she looked up to take stock of her surroundings, however, her breath caught in her throat and her eyes widened in shock and amazement.
She was no longer in the ancient city: instead, she appeared to have swum around a bend in the river and reached the end of the valley. She'd come ashore on a large island in the middle of the river, with water flowing all around it. This was clearly the source of the noise that she'd heard, as beyond the island was a semicircle of vertical cliffs with several waterfalls pouring off them, forming a cauldron of mist and steam in the warm tropical air. The water crashed down on the far side of the island, before flowing around on either side of it and reforming into the river that flowed off down the valley.
Madison wasn't focused on that, however, because she was more concerned with the fact that she was standing at the bottom of an enormous stone structure. It bore a vague resemblance to the pyramid in China where she had watched Mothra hatch, but this appeared to be just the lowest level of a pyramid, without the rest: each of its sides had been chiseled into a series of stone steps that led up to a huge, flat, square base, easily as wide across as a football stadium.
But it was hard to focus on anything else, when her attention was thoroughly captured by what was curled up on the great stone slab: a giant, caterpillar-like creature, its entire body glowing with a pulsing blue light.
"Mothra," Madison breathed, her hands trembling as she felt a surge of warmth running through her body. She instinctively rushed forward, running up the steps and onto the slab, until she skidded to a halt in front of the larval Titan. As she stood there, panting and shivering, Mothra shifted her position and rose up in front of her, lifting the front half of her body off the ground like a cobra and swaying gently back and forth as her glowing blue eyes gazed down at the young human girl.
Welcome, dear child, Mothra's voice echoed through her mind, just as it had before. I'm glad you're safe. Just like her previous dream in the aftermath of the battle in Boston, the Titan's mental voice was just as vibrant and clear as it had been that day in China, when she had witnessed Mothra's hatching.
"I…" Madison felt a rush of conflicting emotions as she gazed up at the immense caterpillar, seeing the kindness and wisdom in those huge, multifaceted eyes. On the one hand, she certainly didn't mind having dreams of Mothra, but this was the third strange dream that she'd had over the past few weeks – one when she'd been knocked out during the battle in Boston, once in the battle's aftermath, and now – and the inquisitive part of her mind, the part that had been dwelling on Mothra ever since the Titan had spoken to her at the temple in China, was overcome by a rush of curiosity. "I know I'm probably just imagining this, but just to make sure… this isn't actually real, right?"
To her surprise, Mothra let out a low chittering noise that Madison's mind interpreted as soft laughter, before she shook her head. No, little one, she replied warmly. I can understand why you might not believe this is real… but I promise you, it is. I didn't have enough strength to explain everything the last time I spoke to you in your dreams, but I do now. She leaned down closer to Madison, her eyes glowing a little brighter. This is real, young one. We are in your mind, but you're not imagining this.
Madison's eyes widened in amazement, before the more logical part of her brain took over. "But… I mean, how?" She frowned. "How's that possible?"
I will explain everything soon, young one, Mothra explained, her mandibles spreading in what Madison instinctively recognized as a smile. Unfortunately, the connection between our minds isn't strong enough for me to maintain a link for very long yet, so I need to be quick right now. I would like to extend an invitation to you: if you come to me, I can strengthen our connection and answer any questions that you may have. In exchange, I would like to learn more about how this world has changed since my King and I went into hibernation. She leaned back a little, her claws flexing in the air. If you do not wish to do this, or if you would like me to sever the link between our minds and leave you in peace, that is completely acceptable. But when we first connected in my temple, I sensed the kindness and bravery in your heart, and I believe you to be worthy of this offer.
"I… I mean…" At first, Madison had no idea how she was supposed to respond. If this was real and she wasn't just imagining this extraordinary conversation, then Mothra – a being so ancient and powerful that some early human civilizations had worshipped her as a goddess – was interested in befriending her. Her, an ordinary human child with nothing special about her save her familial connection to Monarch. It sounded completely ridiculous.
But, if this was somehow real… then she'd be an idiot to pass it up, right? How many people within Monarch, or even in general, had a direct line of communication to a Titan, and a golden opportunity to learn more about them directly from the source?
Taking a deep breath to try and calm herself down, she looked back up at Mothra, and slowly nodded. "I don't know if I'll be able to do that," she replied, a little hesitantly. "But if I can somehow come and find you, wherever you are… then I'd be honored to accept your offer."
Wonderful! Mothra's bioluminescent aura pulsed brighter, and the Titan Queen's eyes sparkled as a warm rush of happiness rippled through Madison's mind. And as for how you can find me, well… that should be the easy part. You see, you're not the only one that I've contacted tonight… and my Singers will help you find your way here. Her strange smile grew wider, and she settled back down onto the great stone slab as their surroundings began to shift and fade away into darkness, her eyes still focused on the young girl. We will meet again soon, dear child. Until then… farewell.
When Madison's eyes drifted open, she was momentarily confused to find herself in near-total darkness, save only for a faint green glow that she eventually recognized as a digital clock on the nightstand next to her bed. The air was cool and dry, a dramatic contrast from the warm, humid tropical air that she had been breathing in her dream.
After a few seconds, she finally drifted out of her dazed state, and she realized that she was back in her bedroom at Castle Bravo. She and her father had settled into the quarters that she and her mother had kept reserved in this Monarch outpost: with most of the world still in turmoil after the chaos of the Mass Awakening, they'd both agreed that this was by far the safest place that they could be for the time being, and had been welcomed to stay for as long as they needed by the senior Monarch personnel.
For a few minutes, Madison just lay there, her head resting on her pillows as she thought about the dream she'd just had. Her first impulse was to dismiss it as just her imagination, but try as she might, she couldn't just ignore it. This wasn't the first time that she'd had a dream like this, and there was no denying that Mothra had spoken to her when she'd been awake as well, back in the Yunnan Rainforest temple. Hell, she'd had a full conversation with the Titan back then, hearing that soft, musical voice echoing through her mind, until Jonah and his thugs had burst in and ruined it.
All of this meant that there were two possible explanations for what she was experiencing: either she was losing her mind and hallucinating as a result of everything that she'd experienced over the past few days, or it was all real. And if it was the latter, she needed to figure out what she was going to do about it. But she had no idea what she could do about it, since it wasn't like anyone else would believe her if she told them what she'd been experiencing. Claiming that one of the Titans was communicating with her using some kind of telepathy would probably just lead to her father and the rest of the Monarch personnel assuming that she must be hallucinating after everything that she'd been through, especially since she didn't have any way to back up that claim.
With all those thoughts swirling around in her head, Madison ultimately gave up on trying to go back to sleep: there was no way she could relax enough to doze off again right now. Instead, she clambered out of bed, pulling a black sweatshirt on over her dark blue T-shirt and putting on slippers as well. That, plus her gray sweats, was enough to keep her nice and warm in the air-conditioned environment of Castle Bravo.
Moving as quietly as she could, she slipped out of her room and through the main room of their quarters. Judging by the soft snoring that was echoing from the cracked-open door of the other bedroom, her dad was fast asleep, but she still did everything she could to avoid disturbing him. Making her way through the apartment, she ducked out into the corridor and carefully closed their door behind her, before heading off down the hall.
Castle Bravo was huge, with an elaborate layout that often made it difficult to navigate, but Madison had been there plenty of times with her mother and she knew her way around. Since it was the middle of the night, there was barely anyone around, and she didn't have to worry about talking to anyone as she made her way to the cafeteria. Well-stocked with food and open 24/7, it was designed for convenience's sake, so any of the base's personnel could come in and grab a snack or a drink whenever they needed, although fresh-cooked meals weren't available at this time of night. That was fine, though: she wasn't particularly hungry, so a large hot chocolate from one of the dispensers was more than enough.
Castle Bravo had been built into an underwater seamount, with a large platform disguised as an oil rig making up the only portion of the structure that was visible above water; as a result, there were numerous points along the slopes of the seamount where large observation windows had been created, so the personnel could get a view of the ocean outside. With that in mind, Madison headed to one of the larger observation decks, which had been adapted into an off-duty lounge for Monarch personnel to relax when they weren't working. Since going back to sleep didn't seem like it would be happening right now, this was the best way she could think of to relax.
When Madison arrived in the lounge, she hadn't been expecting anybody to be there, but as she looked around, she saw someone sitting in one of the chairs in front of the large underwater viewing window. She frowned and considered going somewhere else, but she ultimately shook her head and proceeded ahead. Holding her cup in both hands, she walked slowly down the steps into the lounge and made her way up to the window.
As she got closer, she realized that the person sitting by the window was Dr. Ilene Chen, wearing a dark robe and sipping from a cup of coffee. The older woman turned in her chair and looked up, smiling when she saw Madison approaching. "Hi, Maddie," she greeted her with a friendly smile. "Couldn't sleep?"
Shaking her head, Madison sat down in a chair on the other side of the small table where the scientist was seated. "No," she confirmed. "I had… a really weird dream." She was oddly tempted to tell Ilene about the strange dream that she'd had, but she quickly decided against it. The older woman might be more supportive of the Titans than most people, but there was no reason to think that she would believe Madison's claims about Mothra. Instead, she shrugged. "I can't really remember all of it, but it woke me up and then I couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided I'd walk around for a bit and get a drink."
Ilene nodded understandingly. "That happens to me sometimes too," she replied, leaning back in her chair and gazing out of the window into the darkness of the deep ocean. They couldn't see much in the perpetual gloom, as the ocean was pitch-black at this time of night, but the occasional bioluminescent flicker of a deep-sea fish was sometimes visible. The two of them sat in silence for a minute, before she spoke up again. "So… what did she say to you this time?"
"She…" Madison's voice trailed off into silence. She blinked, her eyes slowly widening, as she looked over at Ilene with a puzzled frown. Had she really heard that right? "I'm sorry… what did you say?"
Ilene glanced back over to her, and the older woman's lips twitched up into a small, knowing smile, just like the smile that she'd sent in Maddie's direction when they'd been on the Osprey two weeks earlier. "I was just wondering what she told you in that dream," she repeated, a little playfully this time. "I figured it would probably be mostly the same as mine, since she told us that she was going to be extending an invitation to you as well."
"I… you…" Madison's lips worked silently for a long moment, her head spinning as the realization of what Ilene had to be talking about hit her. No way. There's no way she could've known about that. Unless… "How?" she breathed. "How did you know about that?"
Ilene's smile widened a bit. "Because I woke up a couple of hours ago from a dream just like the one that I'm guessing you had, and the Queen told me what she was planning," she explained matter-of-factly. "I was surprised that it happened so soon, of course, but I'm not disappointed. I've been waiting to talk to you about this for the past two weeks, ever since we shared that dream after the battle." She leaned back in her chair and folded her hands in her lap, regarding Madison with a hint of amusement in her eyes. "You remember that, right?"
Madison's head was spinning as the implications of what Ilene was saying sank in. The women that she'd seen in her previous dream of Mothra, two shadowy figures with glowing blue eyes… she hadn't been able to recognize them before, but as she replayed the ending of that dream in her mind, the mental image of them – a woman with short, dark hair, and another one with a long dark braid – now finally made sense.
"You," she whispered. "That was you?"
Ilene nodded. "I can't tell you everything yet, Maddie. But let's just say… there's a reason why my family have been researching Mothra ever since my grandmother and her sister first joined Monarch." She closed her eyes for a moment, a look of concentration appearing on her face. And when her eyes snapped open again, suddenly they weren't her usual dark brown anymore: instead, they were glowing, a brilliant shade of blue. The exact same shade of blue, in fact, as Mothra's eyes.
Madison froze, stunned into breathless silence as she stared at Ilene's glowing eyes. Their gazes remained locked for a few endless seconds, until Ilene blinked and the ethereal blue glow vanished like a light-switch being flicked off, her irises reverting to their normal brown hue.
For a minute, Madison was at a complete loss for words. Finally, she managed to get out, "I… I'm sorry, I don't understand."
Ilene chuckled softly. "I wouldn't expect you to understand yet," she replied matter-of-factly. "If I could tell you everything right now, I would… but I think my sister should be here for that. I'm sure she'll agree that we should tell you the whole story, and then we'll tell you everything you need to know. But she and I should both be there when we explain things to you, and this isn't the kind of thing that we should discuss over a phone call." Her smile faded briefly, becoming more solemn. "Humans often fear things that they don't understand, which is why my family has had to keep our true nature a secret for so long. So we need to be careful about this. Do you understand?"
While she still wasn't entirely sure what this meant, Madison was starting to put the pieces together. Clearly, Ilene and her sister Ling, who she vaguely remembered from some Monarch conferences that she had attended with her mom, were somehow connected to Mothra, and Ilene didn't want the rest of Monarch to find out about that. Considering how scared many people were of the Titans, especially after the events of the last few weeks, she could understand that.
With that in mind, while she wasn't happy about the prospect of having to wait to find out what was going on, Madison nodded. "All right," she agreed, sipping her drink and leaning back into her chair as she turned to gaze out into the dark ocean beyond the observation window. "I'll wait until we can talk to her."
Fortunately, it didn't take too long. Madison was practically bubbling over with anticipation for the next few days, trying to distract herself with other things so she wouldn't dwell on that strange dream and obsess over trying to figure out what it meant. Her dad could definitely tell that something was off with her, but he didn't ask her about it. To be fair, he probably assumed that she was just trying to distract herself from the pain of her mom's death, as that was what she'd already been doing for the past few weeks. Fortunately, it felt like her dream of Mothra had snapped her out of that haze of grief, giving her something new to think about. She'd been able to have a couple of private conversations with Ilene during that time, and the older woman had assured her that they would be able to discuss the situation soon.
Finally, a week after Madison's strange dream and her late-night conversation with Ilene, Dr. Ling Chen arrived at Castle Bravo, having finished her work at Mothra's former containment site in China. While she hadn't seen Ling for a few years, as soon as Madison saw her – almost identical to Ilene, with darker-hued clothing and long dark hair that was tied back in a loose braid – she knew that her hunch about Ilene had been right: the Chen sisters were the two shadowy blue-eyed women that she had seen during her first dream-conversation with Mothra.
Ling had explained her decision to come to Castle Bravo by claiming that she needed Ilene's help with some research that she'd been conducting into the history of Mothra's temple in China and others like it. While the other Monarch personnel had bought that explanation, Madison hadn't been surprised when Ilene (who had exchanged cell numbers with her after their first late-night conversation) sent her a quick text message, asking her to meet them in the observation lounge again that night. She'd spent the rest of the day constantly suppressing her excitement at the prospect of finally getting the whole truth about everything that was going on; she had feigned weariness so she could go to bed early, and had managed to distract herself for the next few hours by listening to one of her favorite podcasts.
Finally, once it was late enough and she was sure that her dad had gone to bed, Madison slipped quietly out of her room. Pulling her shoes on instead of slippers this time, she made her way out into the hall and then headed off towards the observation lounge, not making any detours this time.
Sure enough, Ilene and Ling were sitting at a table in front of the observation window, talking quietly to each other. They both turned towards Madison as she entered the room, matching smiles appearing on their faces. Except for their differing hairstyles, they looked virtually identical, and Madison could now clearly match them both to the pair of shadowy women in her dream.
"It's good to see you, Maddie," Ling greeted her warmly, smiling up at her as she took a seat across from them. "How are you feeling?" Her voice was slightly lower-pitched than Ilene's, but otherwise it sounded nearly identical to her twin's voice.
That was a very difficult question to answer these days, with all of the mixed emotions that had been swirling around in her mind since Boston, so Madison ultimately just settled for a shrug. "I'm… okay, I guess," she replied, before she shook it off and leaned back in her chair, raising an eyebrow. "So? Do I finally get to know what's going on?"
Ilene chuckled under her breath, and Ling unsuccessfully attempted to suppress an amused grin. "Yes, you do," she agreed. "I'm sorry we couldn't tell you sooner, but when the Queen contacted us in our dreams and told us about the offer that she was extending to you, Ilene and I agreed that we needed to discuss the situation in person before we told you the whole story. But I'm confident that we can trust you, so we're happy to answer whatever questions you have."
"All right." Madison nodded, feeling a surge of warmth at the notion that the sisters trusted her enough to share what was clearly a closely-guarded secret. "Okay, so… I guess the first things I want to know are, how did you two know about my dreams, and…" She shook her head, wincing at just the thought of saying the next part out loud because of how crazy it sounded. "Has Mothra really been talking to me?"
The sisters exchanged amused glances, before Ilene spoke up. "The short answer for that second question is: yes," she answered. "To explain how and why that's possible, and to answer the first question, is going to take a little longer." She smiled, folding her hands in front of her and resting them on the table as she shifted forward in her seat. "The first thing you need to know is that there's much more to the history of Titanus Mosura than anyone else at Monarch knows. We don't know the whole story of how this happened, of course, but our family history has enduring tales, passed down for countless generations, that tell the story of where we came from."
Ling nodded, taking up the story. "Thousands of years ago, Mothra is believed to have developed a relationship, of sorts, with an ancient human civilization that is mostly unknown to modern science, with the exception of Monarch. Similarly to how the Iwi of Skull Island have a close bond with Kong and his ancestors, this ancient civilization was devoted to the worship of both Mothra and Godzilla. Aztec mythology, as well as some other ancient records and myths that we've found in other parts of the world, refers to it as 'Aztlan', and we believe that it was the inspiration for the legend of Atlantis."
"During that time," Ilene continued, "our ancestors first appeared. We don't know exactly how it happened, but our best guess is that, to better enable her to communicate with her human worshippers, Mothra somehow… genetically modified a few select human families. Specifically, each family that was selected had a set of twin girls, and they were the ones to undergo the process. The legends claim that the Goddess bestowed a small amount of her own powers upon those special girls, causing them to evolve into something new."
Madison blinked, feeling more than a little confused. "Hang on… what? You're telling me that Mothra can alter human DNA? I know the Titans can do a lot of things that seem impossible, but… that sounds really impossible."
The twins chuckled in unison. "Oh, trust me, we know how ridiculous it sounds," Ling replied with a faint grin, "but it's the truth. One detail about Mothra from those old legends that no one else in Monarch knows yet is that she possesses powerful psychic abilities, strong enough that she can communicate telepathically with other Titans and even with humans. And, as it turns out…" Her eyes closed for a moment, then reopened, and Madison had to suppress the urge to flinch back when Ling's eyes lit up with the same glowing blue bioluminescence that Ilene had demonstrated before. A moment later, her eyes widened in shock as she suddenly heard Ling's voice again, not verbally this time, but echoing inside her head, just as Mothra's voice had in the temple and in her dreams. She passed that ability along to us as well.
That's right, Ilene's echoing mental "voice" added, and Madison's eyes widened even further when she saw the other twin's eyes glowing blue as well, before the blue glow faded and she continued by speaking aloud. "According to those stories, Mothra possessed several unique abilities that the other Titans don't. Among those are her telepathy – which is what she used to contact you in your dreams, and what she uses to communicate with us – and an ability known as parthenogenesis, which allows her to reproduce without needing a mate, producing eggs that hatch into reincarnations of herself." She smiled, indicating herself and Ling. "She has other special gifts, of course, but those two talents were the ones that she replicated in our ancestors, and in the other sets of twin girls who received her 'blessings'. Our theory is that she has some way of modifying the DNA of her unborn larvae, and that she can use that ability to modify the DNA of humans as well."
"Like Mothra," Ling continued, "we possess the ability to see into the minds of others and to communicate using our thoughts alone, as well as the ability to reproduce without needing a partner. Each of us possesses the potential to conceive and birth our own set of twin daughters whenever we want, without needing to find a sexual partner beforehand." She chuckled and nodded to Ilene. "Usually, only one member of a generation will have children, to make sure we keep our abilities as well-hidden as possible. In this generation, that was Ilene: her daughters were born in that way, just as we were."
Nodding, Ilene fished out her phone, tapped the screen a few times and brought up a photo, which she held up so Madison could see it. "This picture shows our entire family for the last four generations," she explained, smiling. "Notice a pattern? Your father did when he saw one of my family photos a few weeks ago, but he didn't seem to realize just how unusual it is."
Madison's eyes widened as she looked at the screen. It was clearly a family group photo: Ilene and Ling were in the center, accompanied by two young girls who were standing in front of Ilene. Two older women stood to Ling's left, another pair of twins who looked about the right age to be their mother and aunt. And to Ilene's right were an even older pair of women, these ones old enough to be Ilene and Ling's grandmother and great-aunt. There were no men in the picture, and all four pairs of women were unmistakably twins.
"Whoa," she breathed. She wasn't a genetics expert or anything, but she was sure that the odds of a family having four sets of identical twins in four consecutive generations, and nothing else, must be extremely low.
"We're not the only family line of these psychic twins that existed back then, of course," Ling spoke up. "But, although we've found plenty of myths and rumors of people who demonstrated similar abilities to ours, so far we haven't been able to find any others who are still around today. According to our family stories, it's been thousands of years since our bloodline was first created, so the other psychic bloodlines may have all died out since then."
"We've been known by many names across the millennia," Ilene explained, smiling as she leaned back in her chair and glanced through the observation window at the dark sea outside. "One ancient myth calls us the Shobijin. Another calls us the Elias. And a third source refers to us as the Cosmos. But we prefer the name that our Queen has always used to refer to our kind: the Singers."
Madison could hardly believe what she was hearing, but she had to admit that as crazy as this story sounded, it did make sense on some level, especially considering what had been happening to her lately. Something about this explanation, however, made her feel a little confused again, and her lips twitched into a frown. "Okay, that makes sense, but… something about this doesn't add up to me. If Mothra can talk to you two because she altered your ancestors' DNA and gave them some weird powers, then how can she talk to me? I don't have any special genetic heritage or anything like that, as far as I know."
Ilene and Ling exchanged a glance, both clearly thinking that over, and regarded her contemplatively. "We've been thinking about that," Ling answered, "and I do have a theory. When did you first connect with Mothra, and what exactly were you doing when it happened?"
Madison couldn't entirely suppress a shiver as she thought back to that day in the Yunnan Rainforest temple, remembering the brutal images of Alan Jonah and his men gunning down all of the scientists and other Monarch personnel who'd been unlucky enough to be there when Mothra had hatched. "Well, it was right after my mom managed to figure out Mothra's Alpha frequency for the Orca," she explained. "The broadcast had calmed Mothra down, and… I still don't know why I did that, but I touched her forehead. As soon as I did that, it was like I could suddenly just… feel her, in the back of my mind. And then, just like that… she started talking to me." She shrugged and grimaced faintly. "At the time, I was too shocked to process it properly, and I didn't really have any time to think about it. Afterwards, I figured I might've just been going crazy or something. But…" She chuckled softly. "I guess I was wrong."
"Interesting," Ilene mused, before she turned and nodded to Ling. "I think you're right about that theory, then."
"Yeah, it must have been that physical contact," Ling agreed, turning back to Madison. "When you touched Mothra, that must have given her the opportunity to form a temporary connection between your minds. We're connected to her by blood, but you're not, so your link with her must be a purely-psychic connection that she created in that moment." She nodded. "That would explain why she's been able to speak to you several times since then: because, in your subconscious mind, that psychic link still exists."
Madison's eyes were wide in amazement as she thought that over, remembering the feeling of warmth that had surged through her body when she'd placed her hand on Mothra's head in the temple. But as much as she wanted to believe what they were saying, there was still a lingering feeling of doubt in the back of her mind, thanks to one inescapable fact.
"But…" She closed her eyes for a moment, wincing as the horrific memory of Mothra's death in Boston flashed through her mind again. "How can that be? Mothra… she's dead. Ghidorah killed her; we all saw it. How could she still be alive?"
Ilene and Ling exchanged a knowing look, sympathy in their eyes, but they both smiled as they looked back at her. "You're not wrong," Ilene agreed solemnly. "She did die… but remember what we told you? Mothra doesn't reproduce the way other life-forms do."
"That's right," Ling confirmed. "The reproductive ability that she gave our ancestors is impressive, sure, but plenty of species in nature – invertebrates, reptiles, sharks, even some birds – can reproduce asexually, the same way we can. But Mothra's ability to reproduce is far more impressive than that. She doesn't just produce offspring asexually: she's somehow able to transfer her own mind, all of her past memories, from her current living body to her unborn offspring. Titanus Mosura isn't really a species at all, the way the other Titans are: she's one individual with many different bodies, and she can use her own eggs to reincarnate whenever she dies."
"Which means," Ilene continued as her smile grew wider, "that while Ghidorah did kill one of Mothra's bodies – the one that hatched from the egg in the Yunnan temple – she most likely has other bodies out there as well, which were still hibernating inside their own eggs. And if she's conscious enough to contact us, then it's possible that one of those other eggs may have already hatched."
"Which means… she could be alive again!" Madison murmured, her mind following that train of thought to its logical conclusion. "And that would also explain why she was in her larval form this time: in the two dreams I had back in Boston, she was in her winged adult form, but this time she was a larva again, like she was back in the temple. Plus, she wasn't at the temple this time… we were someplace else, in some kind of tropical rainforest. There was a river, and what looked like an old abandoned city…" She shook her head. "I couldn't tell where it was or anything, but I figured I must've just dreamed that up, because I've never seen that place before."
Both sisters' eyes developed a mischievous gleam, and they sent identical grins at each other. "Well, we do have some good news for you, then," Ling quipped. "Because we saw that place in our most recent dream too. And not only is it a real place, but we know exactly where it is. Our mother and her sister were the leaders of the Monarch expedition that discovered it, back in 1961. We're pretty sure it was once another outpost of the Aztlan civilization, just like the Temple of the Moth in China or the ruined city that Ilene and your father found in the Hollow Earth a few weeks ago. Which would mean that it's an ideal place for another one of Mothra's eggs to be hidden, or for her new incarnation to find shelter."
"Really?" Madison's eyes lit up, an electric tingle of excitement running up the back of her neck as the realization that all of this was real properly sank in. If they're right, then… she's still alive! "Well, we've gotta go there, then! Where is it?"
"Infant Island?" Mark Russell frowned, leaning back in his chair as he looked at the satellite image on the briefing room's main screen. "Why do you want to go there?"
It was the next afternoon, and Ilene and Ling had called the rest of Castle Bravo's higher-up personnel – Mark, Sam Coleman, Rick Stanton, and Colonel Diane Foster – to a meeting so they could discuss their proposal for an expedition to the island from Madison's dream. Madison was sitting next to Mark: she'd been invited to the meeting as well, although no one besides the twins knew that she had been involved in planning this meeting (since they wanted to keep the fact that she was having psychic dreams of Mothra under wraps).
Fortunately, after the Chens had convinced Rick to help them conduct a bit of research, it hadn't been too hard for them to find the evidence that they needed to justify the trip.
"Because there's been a, let's say… recent development there that we want to investigate," Ling replied with an amused smile, before nodding to the screen, adjusting it to show another image from one of Monarch's Titan-monitoring satellites. "After Godzilla left Boston and headed out into the Atlantic, he dropped off our systems and we lost all trace of him." Her grin widened. "Until this morning, at least, when I had a hunch and we asked Rick to do a satellite scan of the Indonesian region."
"Rick?" Ilene put in, nodding to where Rick was seated at the laptop which was hooked up to the room's projector. "Care to show them what we found?"
"You got it," Rick replied with a chuckle. "I dunno what gave you two that idea, but we hit paydirt." His fingers tapped swiftly across the laptop's keys, bringing up a new screen and showing a satellite view of the thousands of islands that made up Indonesia. "I did our usual Titan-detection scans around that area, and sure enough…" Three glowing dots appeared on the screen, clustered close together at a point along the northeastern edge of the huge archipelago.
As the image zoomed in, it ultimately resolved into a single distinctive island: a large, mostly rounded island, isolated from the rest, with a dense ring of coral reefs around its shores. Sure enough, all three glowing dots were located on or near the island.
"Thanks to Rick's thermal and bioacoustics scans of the area around Infant Island," Ling picked up, "we were able to confirm that Godzilla is currently on that island, along with Scylla. But the most interesting thing we found… is the bioacoustic signature of the third Titan on that island." Her smile grew as she nodded to Rick, who tapped in a quick command on his laptop which brought up the designations of all three Titans. The sight of the third name on the screen provoked startled and confused reactions from Mark, Sam, and Colonel Foster, but it brought a wide smile to Madison's face.
Titanus Mosura.
"Mothra," she whispered, her voice becoming a little shaky as she looked at the screen, feeling a pang in her heart as the last of her doubts faded away. They were right. It's really her.
Her dad, for his part, looked thoroughly confused. "I don't understand," he spoke up after a moment, frowning at the screen. "How's that possible? Mothra died in Boston: how could she be alive? Is there another one that we didn't know about?"
"Possibly," Ling replied, smiling as she looked at the screen. "We do have a theory: namely, some of the myths that we've identified involving Mothra suggested that she would be 'reborn' whenever she died. My guess is, there may have been another Titanus Mosura egg hidden on that island, just like the one that hatched in the Yunnan rainforest temple. Then, sometime in the past few weeks – possibly as a result of the previous Mothra's death, or possibly triggered by one or more of the Alpha calls that Ghidorah and Godzilla sent out – that egg was catalyzed, and now it's hatched just like the first one did."
"That could explain why Godzilla's there," Sam spoke up, clearly thinking things over. "It seemed like he and Mothra had some sort of a mutually-beneficial partnership, possibly even some sort of symbiotic relationship… so if another Mothra has been born, I suppose it would make sense for him to be drawn to her." He frowned as he looked back up at the screen. "No idea why Scylla would be there, though."
Ilene shook her head. "Your guess is as good as ours on that one. The only explanation I can come up with would be that in some ancient myths that I've studied, there were claims that Mothra would sometimes be accompanied by other Titans whenever she appeared, possibly using them to help her ward off any potential threats. So I suppose Scylla could be one of those."
"I guess that's possible," Mark murmured thoughtfully. "Things like that can happen among normal animals all the time. Ravens will sometimes lead wolf packs to carcasses or to prey, in exchange for a share of the meat. Working together, they can survive and feed themselves more easily together than either of them could on their own." He shrugged. "Maybe some Titans work the same way."
"In any case," Ling cut in, "we'd like to take a team to Infant Island, to investigate this sighting and confirm whether this really is another Mothra. We'll need to keep the team fairly small to avoid provoking any kind of aggressive response from Godzilla or Scylla. Infant Island does have some very unusual animals, but it's not nearly as hazardous as Skull Island, so we won't need a lot of backup: a G-Team squad plus the two of us should probably be enough, I think."
Colonel Foster nodded slowly, clearly thinking over the proposal. "I'm willing to authorize a G-Team squad for this," she agreed. "Infant Island isn't considered to be a high-risk environment, at least not on the island itself, so sending a small team shouldn't be a problem as long as we can avoid provoking any of the Titans."
"Count me out," Rick snarked as he leaned back in his chair, taking a sip from his usual flask. "No offence, Chen, but running around the jungle chasing Titans doesn't exactly sound like my idea of a fun vacation."
"None taken, Rick," Ilene shot back dryly, rolling her eyes. She turned towards the Russells, and Madison suppressed the urge to grin when she saw a faint, mischievous glint in the scientist's eyes. "I do think your input could be helpful, though, Mark," she continued. "You've got more outdoor experience than either of us, and your behavioral studies could be useful if we're going to be examining the relationship between these Titans."
Madison hadn't expected her dad to be excited about this idea, so she wasn't surprised when he frowned. "I mean… I don't know how much help I'd be," he replied hesitantly. "And I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving Maddie here by herself for however long this would take, so…"
"What if I came with you?" Madison practically blurted the words out, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment a moment later as everyone in the room turned to look in her direction. "I… I mean, that way you wouldn't have to worry about leaving me here by myself, right? And I could help if I went with you guys."
Mark's eyes had widened when he'd processed her suggestion. "Ah… no, Maddie, I don't think that's a good idea…"
"Why not?" Ling raised an eyebrow and smiled as she leaned back against the wall. "I wouldn't mind that. There's no need to worry: the normal wildlife on Infant Island isn't dangerous as long as you're careful, and Ilene and I can keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't get into any trouble while we're all there."
"Not to mention," Ilene added, "I think it's worth noting that Maddie is the only person here who's spent any time up close with Mothra's larval form before. So she might have some insights that could help us."
Mark clearly still didn't look comfortable with this idea, but Madison wasn't about to miss this opportunity. "They're right, Dad," she insisted, nodding to the sisters. "I'll stick with you guys and do as I'm told, I swear. I just…" She sighed, deciding to let some of the vulnerability that she had been keeping locked away for the past few weeks out. "Seeing Mothra, back in that temple… that was the last time I felt really, completely safe and happy, before Jonah showed up and everything went wrong. If she's really alive again, even if it's a different one…" She shook her head, slowly opening her eyes and looking plaintively up at him. "I need to see her again. Please, Dad?"
For a long moment, Mark was still visibly conflicted, and Madison was worried that he was going to say no after all. But as he gazed down at her, she saw his expression softening, and he finally sighed and nodded, rubbing his temples and pinching the bridge of his nose between a thumb and index finger. "Okay, sweetheart," he muttered. "We'll go together. But I expect you to follow through on that promise: no going off by yourself, and you listen to Dr. Chen – both of them – at all times. Is that clear?"
Madison nodded eagerly, fighting back the urge to laugh in delight. Ilene and Ling's plan had worked to perfection: they were going to Infant Island, to find Mothra's new body and to figure out what the Titan Queen had in store for her. For the first time since her mother's death, she felt genuinely, truly happy.
"All right, then," Mark confirmed, rubbing his eyes and letting out a soft chuckle as he nodded to Ilene and Ling. "We're in."
Notes: And here we go!
Just a few random notes on some stuff in this chapter:
– The island where Mosura & Gojira meet up before they both go into hibernation is meant to be part of the Aleutian island chain, which stretches between Alaska & Russia. The sea cows that Mosura notices are Steller's sea cows, a real-life species of giant marine mammals that lived in the North Pacific during the Ice Age and were sadly hunted to extinction by humans in the late 1700s.
– The idea of Mothra having another secret temple located high up in the Himalayas was inspired by the excellent MonsterVerse fic "Cometh the Heavens" by FrostyTeddyBear5, which I would definitely recommend to anyone who hasn't read it.
– As I mentioned in my previous fic, since the Chen sisters are set up in KOTM as the MonsterVerse equivalent of Mothra's twin fairies (referred to in this series as her "Singers"), I figured I'd go all-in on that idea for this AU and explore their connection to her in more detail. The other names that Ilene & Ling mention in this chapter for their kind (Shobijin, Elias & Cosmos) are the names of various different incarnations of Mothra's fairies in the classic Japanese films.
– "Aztlan" (aka Atlantis), the ancient civilization that the Chen sisters talk about in this chapter, is the name that I'm using for the ancient civilization that built Mothra's temple in China and Godzilla's underwater city in the Hollow Earth. I'll be going into more detail on this later on in this story & over the course of this series, but my current plan is that in this AU (and, to some extent, in the canon MonsterVerse), there were several ancient human civilizations that lived alongside the Titans. Aztlan/Atlantis was one of those civilizations, and it was devoted to the worship of Mothra & Godzilla. A couple examples of other civilizations like that would be the ancient Phoenician group that we see in the Godzilla: Aftershock graphic novel, which worshipped Gojira's father Dagon and saw him as their protector due to his battles with "Jinshin-Mushi" (aka MUTO Prime), as well as the civilization that worshipped Kong's species and ultimately gave rise to the Iwi tribe on Skull Island.
– As we learn at the end of the chapter, the island where Gojira, Mosura & Scylla have gone is my take on Infant Island, Mothra's classic home in the old Japanese films. In KOTM, we learned that Infant Island exists in the MonsterVerse, that the people who live there worship Mothra as a goddess, and that Monarch conducted some sort of research expedition there in 1961 (which was presumably led by the Chen sisters' mother & aunt), but that's all we know about it so far, so I'm creating my own version to explore it more. We'll be seeing a lot more of that island in the next chapter, but I'm drawing some inspiration from the classic depictions of Infant Island in the Japanese films, as well as some elements from the MonsterVerse's Skull Island.
Next time, the Monarch team arrives on Infant Island, and Madison is introduced to the island's unique inhabitants; we learn more about humanity's past relationship with the Titans; and Madison & the Chens reestablish their connections with the Queen. Stay tuned!