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Chapter Text

Godzilla had found a small uninhabited island that the humans had not yet discovered. It’s nice to be away from the nosy little creatures and have some peace and quiet. He had taken half a day to explore the island and had found a cave large enough to house the giant beast, with a water and above-ground entrance. 

After fighting Scar King and freeing Shimo, Godzilla wanted a place where the humans wouldn’t be as nosy as they are when he sleeps in the Coliseum. Having dived deep into the bottom of the ocean and slipping into a passage he marked long ago in his youth, he swims until he’s in a massage cave chamber. 

Safe in the cave and away from prying eyes, Godzilla hoisted himself from the water and shook himself dry. With a huff he allowed himself to shift from Kaiju to his humanoid form. He doesn’t use this form often because it makes him feel too small, vulnerable, and wrong. It doesn’t help that being the King of the Monsters means he must fight others to keep his title. 

Over his long life, Godzilla had used this form a total of three times. The last time he transformed was when he was comfortable enough to allow Mothra to see. It had taken the Moth at least a few years to convince Godzilla to show her his humanoid form and when he did, she had done the same. 

He had told her that he wasn’t used to using this form, so they had spent a week in their humanoid forms so Mothra could help Godzilla adjust and learn how his humanoid body worked. It was a rough week for Godzilla, but it had been one that allowed him to navigate being human better than he had before. 

Shaking his mind of old times, he turns to the ground entrance and heads up. Stepping out, Godzilla is greeted by the warm sun and cool air. The hint of sea salt fills his nose as he takes a deep breath and purrs. It’s rare to find an island that humans haven’t touched and destroyed.

Godzilla’s human body is muscular with broad shoulders and his hair is chin-length black. His scales cover most of his arms with splotches of tan human skin here and there with clawed hands, while his chest is smooth skin. His thighs and legs are the same as his arms. His tail lies behind him and his dorsials are small and dull compared to his Kajiu form.  

He wears a blue yukata with waves at the bottom and end of the sleeves. With a hum, Godzilla looks out at the vast greenery of the island. He didn’t know which direction he wanted to explore first, but there was a beach about a half-day walk from the cave entrance. 

The wind blows through his hair and the scent of the sea is pleasant. With a hum, Godzilla decides that he’ll take a trip to the beach first and let himself relax before enjoying the island in his much smaller form. One of the things he does like about his human form is that he can experience the beauty of the things that were once tiny to him in a different light. Things that were just a blip to him now appear to be as massive as his Kajiu form is. 

With a path winding from the cave entrance through the forest to the beach, Godzilla knows that he’ll be hidden under the shady canopy of the trees until he meets the sands of the beaches on the island. With a hum, he turns to the path opening and begins his journey to the beach. 

Listening to the melody of the island’s life, Godzilla had set his pace to one of leisure. There was no need for him to race to the shoreline, so he could allow himself to enjoy the sounds and feelings that he normally would not. The sound of leaves fluttering in the wind, the dirt under his feet, and the bamboo fabric against his skin are things he hasn’t felt in years.

He knows Mothra would love to be next to him walking and enjoying the sound of life. To enjoy some time to reconnect after her resurrection from the Iwi girl. But, she had duties in Hollow Earth that she had to attend to. Much like him with his duties on his surface, she had hers in the world below. As much as he wanted to open their link and invite her up, he knew she was busy. 

Though doing so could allow the humans to find the island and that would mean he and Mothra wouldn’t have a private place to have just for themselves. Godzilla also knew that if the humans found the island, it would only be a matter of time before it was destroyed.            

But for now, he’ll push that to the back of his mind. He wanted to relax and thinking of the humans isn’t helping. Taking a deep breath and running his fingers through his hair, he tries to calm himself. With his tail swaying behind him, Godzilla resumes his way to the beach. 

He isn’t sure how long he wants to stay on the island in his human form, but at least he doesn’t have the humans on his tail. He isn’t sure how he’ll react if the humans ever find out that he could shift from Kajiu to human. He doesn’t do well with anyone— Kajiu or others— thrusting themselves into his personal space and asking questions. He can see himself getting agitated enough and throwing a fist or two at a human. If that happens, he can control his strength better in this form and hopefully not cause too much harm. 

Humans are such fragile creatures. 

The sounds of waves come to Godzilla’s ears. A smile comes to his face when the trees and foliage part ways to reveal the sandy shore. The dirt beneath his feet transitions into warm sand as Godzilla steps under the sun as a breeze blows. A purr comes from the human Kajiu as he starts to walk the shoreline on the dry sand. Looking out to the water, he wants to shift and take a swim. But he didn’t want to alert the humans to where he’s disappeared too. While he can swim in this form, it was quite breezy out and he wasn’t in the mood to chase down his yukata if it blew away while he was out in the ocean. 

Humming a tune, Godzilla looks around the beach and takes in the scenery. On one side he has the foliage and trees of the forest and on the other is the vast ocean he calls home. Looking around, he sees rocky outcrops with birds flying around. He knows these outcrops were critical nesting grounds for many animals and he wonders how many have been lost to the waves of time or the humans. 

Godzilla turns his gaze from the outcrops to the sands below and finds something strange. Blinking in confusion, Godzilla sees on the rocks there is a small boat that is sitting. Wondering why the boat was there, Godzilla picks up his pace. As he draws closer to the boat, he wonders how long the vessel has been run aground.

Has someone gotten lost?    

Was the boat abandoned at sea and washed up? 

Is the boat for researchers? 

If so, are they still on the island? 

Is the human or humans, ok?    

More questions ran through his head, but those were the top. He hoped that it was just an abandoned boat that had washed ashore due to the sea’s currents. He didn’t want humans to find one of the few places where he could hide from humanity and Kajius to get some peace. Yet at the same time, he’s also worried about the human or humans. If the human or humans were hurt, then there is a possibility of death. Humans have become too accustomed and comfortable with their lives. Many have lost the knowledge of their ancestors and wouldn’t survive. If the human or humans were injured, Godzilla has the feeling that they wouldn’t last long without treatment. 

Godzilla hopes that it’s just an abandoned boat. 

Having arrived at the boat, Godzilla can tell it’s not been washed up for long. It looks new or lightly used. Throughout several years, Godzilla knows what a long-abandoned boat or ship looks like when the weather has had time to work without interruption. No, this boat appeared fresh. 

Looking at how the boat is structured; Godzilla thinks it’s big enough to hold at least three humans comfortably. There’s a cabin that reminds him of the ones he’s seen on yachts.  

Walking around the boat, Godzilla finds the word Monarch in big blue letters on the side facing the outcrops.

“Oh, fucking hell.” Godzilla gives a full-body sigh. “Just my luck.” 

His senses are more enhanced than a regular human, Godzilla focuses and doesn’t seem to hear anything coming from the boat. No heartbeats, breathing, the sounds of rustling. There wasn't any sense of life coming from the yacht. Finding a ladder, Godzilla climbs up and looks around. He finds no one on the surface, but there’s a cabin and space inside the boat. Godzilla finds the thin scent of a human on deck, but he can’t tell how old the scent is.  

With a sigh, Godzilla goes to the cabin and heads inside. 

“Hello?” Godzilla calls out, in case there is a human.

He doesn’t hear anything and heads farther inside. He finds a small living area with a couch on each side of the boat and a small table in the middle. Moving from the living area, Godzilla enters a small kitchen. He nods his head, impressed that the humans have been able to make small places feel so… homey. 

Turning back to the living area, Godzilla can tell there’s a thick scent of a human all over the place. The scent was familiar, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. For now, he’ll put that to the back of his mind. With the thickness of the scent, he knows that a human has been inside the vessel. And this means that the human is on the island. 

Yes, human, as in one. 

The scent is that of only one.

Now he needed to get out of the boat and far away before the human returned. He doesn’t want someone from Monarch finding out he has a form like this. He doesn’t want to deal with the humans wanting to study him. He knows they’ll ask if the others could do the same. 

But with the boat running aground, the humans would need assistance in surviving until they can be found. If they can be found. With a sigh, Godzilla knew he would need to give the human help soon. Whether it was to help them find food and water or take them to civilized land, Godzilla was going to have to face the music. 

Turning around, Godzilla jolts back in surprise. He had not expected to find a human behind him. Standing behind him is a human that seems familiar, but he can tell they are not too pleased to find him there. 

“Well, guess those murals were true.”

Godzilla knew who the human was by the voice. The human was one of the many that were on the strange metal thing that floats when that one human had sacrificed himself to help. 

Mark, was it? 

And he knew what the other meant by murals. 

So, the ancient humans had recorded his human form. 

“Wouldn’t have been recorded if it wasn’t true in some aspect." Godzilla slips his arms into his sleeves; he had not expected to find a human so soon and the situation is rather… awkward.

“I assume so.” The human says, throwing his jacket onto the closest couch. 

Godzilla doesn’t know how the human has gotten past his senses, but he’s internally impressed. Both kept their eyes on each other, both not moving. Godzilla couldn’t tell the time due to the body of the vessel blocking the sun. He also wonders how long the human has been here on the island and why he’s here. 

After what felt like an eternity, the human was the first to move towards the cupboard and open it. Watching him close, Godzilla had mapped out many different ways to escape or defend himself if the situation called for it. 

“Mark, is it?” Godzilla asks, “So, how long have you been here?” 

“Yes,” The human nods, “Ran aground a day ago. I wasn’t heading to this island in particular.”

Well, that answered one question. 

“And where were you going?” Godzilla asks.

“I was heading to an island about 4 days' travel from here, but I hit some rough water and ended up aground. Didn’t know this place existed. It’s at an angle where most wouldn’t see it unless you're actively looking.” Mark sets a cup on the counter and opens the fridge. He reaches in and brings out a gallon of what can be assumed to be water and twists the cap off. “I’m not sure how the bottom of the boat looks.” 

Which is why Godzilla to love the island in the first place. It’s rare for him to find a place that is hidden behind other more visible landmarks. Hearing the last bit, Godzilla titled his head not sure what Mark met by the bottom of the boat. But the human must have seen the confusion as he let out an assumed snort while he poured himself some water. 

“If the rocks had damaged the bottom of the boat enough, the thing would sink once it hits the water.” 

“Ah, that makes sense.” Godzilla hums, a bit of hope inside at the possibility of Mark being able to leave. Maybe he’ll try to strike a deal with him to keep the island location secret. “I could take a look.” 

“Look at?” Mark raised a brow as he took a sip. 

“I can lift the boat and see how bad the damage is.” 

Godzilla found it amusing when Mark titled his head and looked at him with a skeptical expression. While Godzilla doesn’t look that strong in his human form, the human-kaiju knew otherwise. One advantage this form had is the illusion of him being weaker than that of his Kajiu. This allowed him to keep some tricks up his sleeve in case he needed an upper hand in a situation. 

“So?” Godzilla hums, his tail swaying lazily behind him. 

Mark appears to think for a moment before shrugging. “Worth a shot, sure.” 

Godzilla heads out of the boat and onto the rocks with Mark following behind. Heading to where the boat structure makes a point, Godzilla kneels to find a gap where he can slip his fingers in and get a grip. 

“Stand back,” Godzilla tells Mark as he finds a gap and slips his fingers between the rocks and wood. 

Hearing the sound of rocks crunching under boots, Godzilla turns his head and finds that Mark is a few steps away. Turning his head back, Godzilla gives a grunt as he lifts the boat. Walking forward a little, Godzilla could see the damage to the bottom and knew that the news wasn’t going to be good. 

“This thing isn’t going anywhere.”

“What?” Mark says as he approaches and looks for himself. “Damn it.” 

The bottom had three massive gashes, and both knew that if the boat were to enter the water again, it would sink within minutes. Godzilla looks at Mark and gives a sympathetic expression. 

“So,” Godzilla says as he puts the boat down, “From what I know, this island is undiscovered by humans—” 

Godzilla rolls his eyes when Mark gives him a pointed look. 

“Undiscovered by the majority of humans,” He corrects, “There’s not going to be a rescue coming for a long time. And me taking you to a more inhabited place isn’t going to be easy. There’s nothing for miles and miles out here.” 

“I have a satellite phone.” Mark says, “I already called the coordinates in. I wasn't going to get out of here on my own.” 

“That’s… wonderful to hear.” Godzilla felt the corner of his lip twitch at the thought of more humans finding the island, “Would rather toss you on my back and haul you out myself. But, gathering enough food and water for me to do that would take time and I'm not sure if there's enough to last the journey.” 

Mark isn’t able to breathe underwater, so he couldn’t use the water passage to prevent himself from causing damage to the island if he had to shift. As much as he hated the thought, Mark calling for rescue was his best option.  

“I prefer to not die from dehydration, starvation, or exposure.” Mark snorts, “I get it, you don’t want people running around the place. I might be able to get a deal cut between Monarch and you.”

Godzilla raised a brow and crossed his arms. He didn’t like dealing with humans, but if he could strike a deal and make them keep the island a secret… well what’s the harm in hearing the human out? 

“Oh? And how would you do that?” 

“Help keep me alive until they get here.” Mark says, “If they find me alive, I can talk them into keeping the place secret from the public. Might be able to keep Monarch from coming here too much.”

“Too much? What do you mean?”

“Others are going to want to study the island. It doesn’t matter if I tell them to or not. Monarch as a whole have no issue going behind each other’s backs and doing what they want.” Mark explains, “It’s easier to let them study, but limit the amount of visits and how long they are than forbidding them from coming at all.” 

Godzilla looks to the sky and lets himself muse over what Mark had said. While he prefers the humans to never touch the island again, he can see where Mark is coming from and the points he’s made.

“Fine, I can allow two visits." He finally says, “Not sure how long the visits should last. Did they say how long it’ll take for them to get here?” 

“They estimated seven to fourteen days.” Mark replies, “This one is more hidden than the others, so it’ll take them a bit of time.” 

“Well, I suppose those are good terms for now.” Godzilla says as he extends his hand, “Deal?” 

“Deal.” Marks shakes the offered hand. 

Godzilla was giddy about his, but he kept it under the surface. He didn’t like Monarch due to the humans there being nosy and constantly being in his or other kaiju’s personal spaces, but to have a place— an island— where these humans wouldn’t be bothering him or others for the majority of the year? He’s willing to push his dislike aside to seal this deal. 

Godzilla hums as he turns his attention back to the boat. It had landed on a rocky part of the shore. While he had a feeling that the boat would be fine where it had landed, the human-kaiju didn’t want to take any chances at losing his deal. 

“I’m going to move the boat closer to the trees. The rocky place seems fine, but the high tide could take the boat if the water gets high enough.” Godzilla explains as he looks at the sun and finds that he has four hours until nightfall. 

“Ok, sure.” Mark yawns. “I’ll have to fix up the inside afterward.” 

Godzilla nods and gets to work moving the boat. There’s some rope hanging that he grabs and ties to the front of the boat. He knows that dragging the boat against the rocks would cause more damage to the bottom, but the vessel isn’t seaworthy anymore. 

“This might take me a few hours,” Godzilla says. Looking at Mark, he can tell the human is tired and most likely wants to sleep. 

With a nod from Mark, Godzilla takes his time to pull the boat in a way that doesn’t cause too much damage. But, the sound of metal scraping on rock is something the human-kaiju didn’t like. Mark even winced at the sound, which had the other apologizing a few times throughout the few hours of dragging the boat to a much safer area. 

Once satisfied with where the boat was now, the night was an hour away. Godzilla planned to hick his way back to the cave, but tiredness aches through his muscles. Covering a yawn, he turns to start his journey back. Nightfall didn’t mean anything to him since his night vision was greater than that of a human. 

“You can stay here for the night.” 

Godzilla turns to find Mark climbing up the ladder and disappears into the cabin. Shrugging his aching shoulders, Godzilla follows. Once inside, he finds Mark tidying up the mess that had been made when he was pulling the boat.      

“I get one couch and you can have the other.” Mark yawns as he finds some blankets and tosses one to the other. 

Catching the item, Godzilla settles onto the couch that had the trees through the windows. Feeling himself drifting into sleep, Godzilla watches as Mark settles himself into the other couch and falls asleep in an instant. 

He didn’t know how tired the human was, but he blinked in surprise at how fast Mark had gone to sleep. With a final yawn, Godzilla lets himself fall into sleep. 

He’ll ask questions in the morning.

Chapter Text

Sleep was something Godzilla was known for, but sleeping in his human form was one thing that he had not done in years. And he wasn’t used to using a blanket either. The one given to him by Mark had warmed up minutes after settling himself under. He shifted the thing around but found no piece of fabric sticking out. Looking over the pattern, Godzilla has a feeling the blanket is handcrafted. 

Godzilla sifts through his memories until he remembers tribes of primitive humans using wool from sheep, goats, alpacas, and llamas to make clothes and blankets. A smile comes to his face knowing that some ancient traditions were still being practiced. Listening to the even breathing of Mark, Godzilla turns his head and finds the human curled under his blanket. The small table does block a bit of his view, but the only thing he can see is some of Mark’s hair poking out of the blanket.  

Sleep wasn’t coming for the human-kaiju, and he didn’t have anything to keep himself occupied, so here he is… watching a human sleep. He shivers, but it’s not due to being cold. He finds that he is watching a human sleep strange, even creepy, and said human appears not bothered by it. 

But the human is deep in sleep, so Mark isn’t consciously aware that he is being watched. But the human body is an amazing thing, even if it’s less than that of a Kajiu’s. Was Mark that tired that his body doesn’t care that it’s being watched? Could Mark’s body sense that Godzilla wouldn’t harm him and therefore allow him to sleep deeply? 

Godzilla doesn’t know, but for now, he isn’t going to question it. It’s possible that Mark had had a busy day and that he was tired enough to just sleep no matter the situation. Godzilla has seen humans exhausted enough to collapse and rest in dangerous situations, even if they didn’t want to.

Looking away from Mark, Godzilla scolds himself for being creepy. Even if he wasn’t trying to be on purpose, he knows that he was indeed being a bit creepy. He wouldn’t be too pleased if he found out that he was being watched while he slept. Thinking over the events from earlier, Godzilla homes in on one piece of information.

Mark is going to be on the island between seven and fourteen days. He isn’t sure how much food and water Mark has stored in the boat. Godzilla knows that the island has a small waterfall, but that’s about a two-day hitch from the beach. Fruit-bearing trees and plants are limited, and most are not flowering or have produced their fruits long ago. 

At least the ocean is plentiful in things that Mark could eat. He would need to fish or harvest, but at least Mark has a reliable source of protein. If necessary, Godzilla could fish in deep waters for something Mark could eat. And with how polluted the humans have made the water, Godzilla is sure that he could find some unopened bottles of water that Mark can drink. 

With the boat as big as it is, there’s plenty of space for storage. There’s a stove, so Mark can cook food and boil water. Godzilla had taken care to not damage the engine of the boat, so Mark could still have power as long as the fuel lasted. On an island that the human is unfamiliar with, the boat is the safest place for him. 

The boat would be the first thing the humans of the rescue team would look for as well. 

Mark’s chances of survival and being found are all tied to the boat.

Folding his arms under his head, Godzilla sighs. While thinking of how to keep Mark fed, hydrated, and safe that wasn’t enough to keep his mind busy, and now he finds himself bored lying on a couch and staring up at the ceiling. 

The ceiling has no pattern and is like that of the outside. Having seen the inside during daylight, Godzilla wonders why the boat has been completely painted white. But it’s Monarch and Godzilla has a gut feeling that those working at the organization didn’t care too much about designing the interior of a boat. 

There’s a soft sound and Godzilla turns his attention to find Mark had shifted in his sleep. Mark’s blanket had moved to expose his face, and Godzilla could see that the human had his arms pillowing his head. 

Once he knows that Mark is still sleeping, Godzilla looks out the window and isn’t able to tell the time due to not being able to see the moon. With a sigh, he looks around to find what the humans had invented to tell time. But he isn’t able to find one. However, it's possible that he couldn’t see it due to where he is lying. 

Lifting himself on his elbows, he looks around some more. He still finds nothing and with a shrug lays back down. Adjusting the blanket, Godzilla yawns as he gets comfortable again and decides that he could try to get a nap in. 

A few hours of sleep were better than staying up all night and being tired while he needed to help Mark survive didn’t sound like the best plan. Yawning again, Godzilla settles down and lets himself fall into sleep.

He wakes up to find Mark had shaken him. Sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Godzilla notes the inside of the boat is brighter than when he had fallen asleep. Looking at a window, he finds sunlight filtering through. He didn’t know how long he slept, but the sun being up clearly indicates that he slept for more than a few hours.

“Morning,” Mark says, as he makes his way to the stove. 

Godzilla stretches until he hears some of his joints pop, “Morning.” 

“Sleep well?” Mark asks, turning the stove on and placing a kettle on, “Hungry?” 

“I suppose so. I didn’t realize how tired I was.” Godzilla wraps the blanket around him as his tail thumps lightly against the wooden floor, “No, I’m good.” 

They’re going to have to inventory what Mark has and start rationing. In the rule of three, the shelter was covered by the boat. That left water and food for the two to be concerned about. But he’ll let Mark eat before starting this long day. 

Godzilla yawned again as he wanted to go back to sleep. The warmth from the blanket is more than enough to lull the human-kaiju back into sleep. The couch wasn’t the comfiest, but it works well enough for sleeping on.

Listening to the rustling of Mark making himself breakfast, Godzilla slowly closes his eyes and is about to fall back asleep when a noise draws his attention. Opening his eyes Godzilla finds Mark had placed a paper cup and bowl with a plastic spoon in front of him on the table. Leaning over, Godzilla sees the bowel is filled with a thick substance that reminds him of porridge. The cup had a clear liquid that Godzilla suspects is water. 

He looks at Mark with a raised brow.

“You're going to need it.” Mark spoons some of his breakfast into his mouth.

Godzilla blinks and looks back at the food in front of him. He hasn’t eaten in his human form for a long time and the last time wasn’t the most pleasant experience. He had to deal with his stomach hurting for three days with some vomiting sprinkled here and there. He didn’t know what had caused the stomach issues, but he suspects it was some food that wasn’t cooked properly. 

Giving a small prayer that the food wouldn’t cause the same experience as last time, Godzilla spooned a small amount into his mouth. The food does remind him of porridge and bland, which Godzilla is happy about. He didn’t know how his stomach would react to eating something that had some flavor to it, even if light.

Breakfast was eaten in silence. Godzilla isn’t much of a talker, so a quiet morning wasn’t anything new or uncomfortable and there wasn’t anything for them to talk about. From the lighting inside the boat, Godzilla believes it’s early morning. The human-kaiju would like to get the day started. Taking stock of what Mark has stored in the boat would take a bit. They’ll have to gather more food for the human and if Mark doesn’t have any kind of survival tools, those would have to be made. 

Godzilla didn’t need normal food to survive, but he was able to supplement if he wanted to. He knew that he should have rejected the meal, so Mark would have more in his supply. But he understood why Mark had made some for him. 

Once breakfast was finished, Mark had taken the items and tossed them into the trash. Moving himself off the couch, Godzilla folds the blanket and sets it down. He didn’t know what the day had in store for the two, but it was time to get cracking. 

“Since you're going to be here for about two weeks, what supplies do you have?” Godzilla asks, “Today is mostly for inventorying, list making, and minor gathering.”

Mark took a breath before shaking his head, “You're not going to like what I have to say.” 

“Why?” Godzilla raised a brow, “You were heading to another island. Surely you have enough food and water to last… how long you planned on staying.” 

“In the beginning, yes,” Mark begins with a sigh, “I had at least four weeks' worth of food until I ran aground due to being in a storm. I lost some of the boxes of food I had and a container of water, along with some tools. There isn’t enough room down here for everything I needed, so I had to store it on deck.” 

Godzilla’s heart sank to his gut and hoped Mark wasn’t going to give him even more terrible news, “What do you have… after the storm?" 

“Well, there’s a one-gallon jug and two-gallon jug in the fridge full of water. And there's a 7-gallon container under the sink.” Mark says, “Food-wise, I don’t know. Lost most of it during the storm.”

“What food do you have?” 

“Some are perishable in the fridge. I stored at least three cases of canned soup, a case of canned chicken and chili, and two cases of canned vegetables.” Mark rattles off, “I have some dry things like flour, rice, and beans. I also have three bags of porridge mix. I had some MREs, but those were stored on top.” 

Godzilla blinked at what Mark was saying. So, they needed to count everything and figure out how many days Mark had worth of food. If he’s going on Mark having three meals a day, then the porridge is breakfast. Then he needed to find out what Mark would have for lunch and dinner. 

“Okay, so what we need to do is count everything and plan out what you’ll eat.” Godzilla hums. 

“Yeah, something I’ve been putting off. Not feeling too good right now,” Mark mumbles under his breath. 

Godzilla heard what the human said and was going to comment on it, but Mark started opening cupboards and taking the canned goods out. After emptying the cupboards and placing all the food on the table, Godzilla makes a list of every food Mark has. 

For canned goods, there are 32 cans of soup, 24 cans of chicken, 8 cans of chili, and 24 cans of mixed vegetables. 

For dry, there are three bags of porridge mix, seven small bags of rice, two small bags of mixed beans, and two small bags of flour. 

Godzilla looks over what’s on the table and hums as he leans back on the couch. After some back and forth with the human, they had decided that Mark could have the dry foods and the other canned foods for lunch and the canned soup for dinner. Mark puts the food away and sits back on the couch, to which Godzilla notes the human looks a bit… pale. 

“So, there’s about a week's worth of food here,” Godzilla says after doing some calculations. “Luckily most of the dry stuff just needs to be boiled in water to eat. The beans are going to be an issue though. They have to soak for six hours or overnight before cooking.”

“That’s going to take up a lot of water.” Mark sighs. “I have about ten gallons in total.” 

“I know where a small waterfall is, but it’s a two-day hike from here,” Godzilla says, he notes how… tired Mark looks and wonders if he should go fetch the water on his own when the time comes.  

Godzilla wished there were more containers for water. If he could get at least four more days' worth of water for Mark means that there’ll be fewer trips he’ll have to make and that would allow him to focus on gathering more food for the human. 

He knows that the water from the waterfall will need to be purified so that it would be safe for Mark to drink. Godzilla isn’t sure if he should add filtration as the waterfall has very clear water. After a bit of going back and forth in his head, Godzilla decides he’ll filter the water before boiling. 

“I shouldn’t go through ten gallons of water too fast.” Mark chuckles, “That’s about 10 days' worth of water.”

“Well, nothing wrong in making sure how long it’ll take to get to the waterfall.” Godzilla hums, “I’m not sure how long it’ll take to filter and purity the water, though.” 

“I have filtration and some purification tablets,” Mark says as he gets off the couch and kennels down. He opens a drawer and pulls a backpack out. 

Godzilla didn’t know the couches had drawers, but he hadn’t examined the couches in detail. Hearing the draw close, Mark sits himself back on the couch and sets the backpack on the table. Zipping it open, Godzilla had to stifle a laugh as Mark made a surprised noise. 

“Something wrong?” Godzilla asks.

“No… well… nothing bad.” Mark stammers out, as he pulls two flat pieces of plastic with something white sticky from them.  

Godzilla tilted his head and asked, “What are those?” 

“Collapsible water containers. I didn’t pack these” Mark’s still surprised as he flips the containers over and shrugs, “There are both two and half gallons.” 

“I could go and fill them,” Godzilla suggests, “That’ll be an extra five gallons of water.” 

“I want to come then,” Mark says. 

Godzilla wanted to go alone. He wasn’t much of a people person and did want to have some time away from Mark. There wasn’t anything wrong with Mark at the moment due to them having just met yesterday, but with how Mark is physically looking… 

“You sure?” Godzilla asks, “You have enough water to last until I get back. I’m sure you won’t mind the alone time.” 

“Might as well document a little while I’m here,” Mark looked at Godzilla with a knowing expression, “It’ll help keep Monarch off the island for longer.” 

Well… he couldn’t argue with that.

“Alright then,” Godzilla says as he leans forward, “What else is in there?” 

Mark chuckles as he pulls out some clothing. Godzilla notes there’s a pair of pants, a shirt, a hat, and some socks. It appears that Mark has an extra set of clothes, which Godzilla is silently thankful for. Humans tend to end up having a… stench after a few days. Hopefully, the human has some personal hygiene and laundry products.   

The waterfall could be used as a place where Mark can take a shower and wash his clothes. It’ll be cold, but Godzilla would rather have a clean human in clothes than one stinking it up. 

“These are the tablets, and this is the filter,” Mark says as he pulls the items from the pack.

Godzilla takes the bottle that Mark pointed to as the tablets. As he looks at the bottle, he realizes that he doesn’t understand what’s been written. It seems he’ll have to take Mark with him when filling the extra containers. Setting the bottle back on the table, Godzilla picks up the filter and notes how small it is. 

“It’s a hand pump filter.” Mark says, “If the water is muddy or cloudy, it can be used to clear it. But, filtered water needs to be purified before drinking.”      

Godzilla lets out a small hum, “Seems I’m taking you with me. I don’t know how to use these.” 

Mark lets out a chuckle as he puts everything back into the pack and zips it up. As much as Godzilla wanted the human to stay for reasons both selfish and non, he needed him. He should learn how to read English soon and maybe some others. 

“Can’t read?” 

“Not English.” Godzilla says, “I’m Japanese, and well… does a 300-foot kaiju need to read?” 

Mark looked at Godzilla with a raised brow, “Do you want me to answer that?” 

“... Probably not.” 

Godzilla looked away with his face heating up and he was sure that a blush was visible. If Mark shaking his head with a chuckle is anything to go by. If possibility didn’t help that the human-kaiju had puffed his checks out when he had spoken. 

“Enough,” Godzilla grumbled. 

“Fine, fine,” Mark says, but then coughs hard enough that Godzilla jumps. 

“You sure you’re, ok?” The human-kaiju asks, “You’re… not looking too good.”

When Mark’s coughing fit subsided, he responded, “It’s nothing to be worried about.” 

Godzilla had a feeling that Mark wasn’t telling him the truth. So, the human-kaiju came up with a little plan. “How about this? If you're feeling better tomorrow morning, we can head to the waterfall. If not, you're staying here. Deal?”   

Mark looked to the other with a raised brow, but sighed, “Deal.” 

“Good,” Godzilla gives a pleased hum, “Now, I’m going to make some hardtack.” 

“Hardtack?” Mark questions.

“Yeah,” Godzilla stands from the couch and heads to the small kitchen. “You have two small bags of flour taking up space. Hardtack is only water and flour that’s baked. Salt can be added to preserve shelf life.”

Godzilla turns his head and finds Mark wrapped himself up in his blanket with his eyes closed, but the human-kaiju doesn’t mention it. He had a feeling that Mark was ill and had been hiding it. Taking the bags of flour out along with the water and what he needed, Godzilla went to work making the dough. He may not know how to read English, but Mothra had taught him how to use an oven and stove. As he worked, Godzilla could hear the even breathing of Mark as he fell into sleep.

The day had gone without incident. Once the last batch of hardtack was done, Godzilla turned the oven off. He had left it open to allow the heat to warm the area. With the hardtack cooling, Godzilla glances at Mark and finds the human is still sleeping. With a small hum, Godzilla climbs to the deck and sits where the boat makes a point.

When night fell, Godzilla had returned to the inside and found Mark sitting at the table with a steaming bowl of soup. The human appeared to not be eating but nodded when Godzilla sat down. 

“How are you feeling?” Godzilla asks. 

“A little better,” Mark says, before spooning some soup into his mouth. Godzilla had taken note that some color had returned to Mark's face. 

“Still tired? You look like it.”

Mark nods and Godzilla can tell the human wasn’t into the conversation. Allowing Mark to finish his dinner in peace, Godzilla wrapped himself up in the blanket he folded this morning and laid down.

Mark cleaned up and soon he was lying down with the blanket around himself and was starting to fall back into sleep, but a coughing fit forced the human to sit up. 

“Hey, hey, hey!” Godzilla says as he gets up and steps to Mark, rubbing his back. “Easy there.” 

Once the fit passed, Godzilla helped Mark lay back down. Soon he had fallen asleep, but Godzilla had kept an eye on him throughout the night. 

It's mid-morning and Godzilla was checking Mark's backpack for the third time that morning. Mark had slept through the night without another coughing incident. 

When Mark had woken up, he appeared to be looking better than when he had gone to bed. Godzilla still was unsure if the human was healthy enough to travel, but a deal was a deal. The human-kaiju hoped that Mark wouldn’t get sicker while they made their journey to the waterfall. But, the human had eaten breakfast like he was starving, which Godzilla had found as a good sign. 

Mark had even soaked three hardtack biscuits to have with his breakfast. He did say the biscuits were bland, but Godzilla had not found any herb blend to add. The human-kaiju had shrugged at the comment, there wasn’t much he could do with the ingredients that were there.  

“You done?” Mark asks. 

Godzilla turns to the human and snorts, “The last thing we need is coming back here cause we forgot something.” 

“There’s not much to forget,” Mark says as he takes the backpack from the human-kaiju. 

“Hey!” Godzilla tries to get the item that was snatched back, but Mark holds it behind him and uses his other hand to keep the human-kaiju at a distance. 

“This is the third time you’ve checked it,” Mark says, once Godzilla has stopped trying to get the pack. “And don’t say there’s more that can be added. There’s very little to add and you know this.” 

“Fine,” Godzilla sighs, not feeling the urge to argue. Mark did have a point. It wasn’t like he could drag the boat to the waterfall…

Well he could, but that would take more than two days and take too much energy for the human-kaiju. The boat is also more visible by the open ocean than a small waterfall hidden in the trees. 

“Right, now let’s get going,” Mark says and he heads out of the boat. 

Godzilla grumbles something under his breath but follows after Mark quickly and takes the lead. They have two long days ahead of themselves and Godzilla thinks they’ve started heading out a little late, but he had wanted to make sure that Mark had everything.

If they forgot something, well that’s on Mark. 

Chapter Text

“How long have you known of the island?” 

It was the first question that had been asked since the two had started their way to the waterfall. Mark had taken a few sips of water from the bladder that Godzilla had packed. Godzilla had spotted the bladder on the counter when Mark had been making breakfast. 

After asking where the bladder had been and learning that Mark had kept it in the backpack, Godzilla wanted to give the human a piece of his mind about keeping it hidden. 

He had calmed himself when he learned that Mark was using it to transport clean safe drinkable water for their journey to the waterfall. Since Godzilla doesn’t need fresh water to survive, he tells Mark not to pack anything extra. He didn’t need the human being weighed down. 

Once the two water containers that were in the backpack were full, those things were going to be heavy to carry. If Mark hadn't had a filtration system on hand, one container would have been used to transport dirty water. 

“For a while,” Godzilla answers, “It’s one of the few places where I can get away from everything. The second is the bottom of the ocean.” 

Godzilla looks back at Mark and notes he’s a bit behind him. He could hear the other’s breathing and from the sounds… he wasn’t liking it. Maybe it wasn’t the best to take Mark out to the waterfall. Now he’s regretting not waiting until the afternoon to see if Mark was well. 

But a deal is a deal. 

Having stopped to wait for Mark to catch up, Godzilla looks to the sun and debates on whether they should turn back. It's barely noon and ten days' worth of drinking water is a lot of water, but some of his food uses water to cook. Rice and beans take up a lot of water. And since one needs to soak before cooking, Godzilla isn’t sure how much water Mark has to spend on drinking. 

“Everything alright?” Mark asks once he’s caught up with the human-kaiju. 

“Yeah,” Godzilla says, turning to look at the human and noticing he’s looking a little pale. “We’ll need to keep an eye out to find a place to set up camp for the night.” 

“Right,” Mark nods, “Didn’t know the hike was going to be rough.” 

“You, ok?” Godzilla asks, reaching a handout and placing it against Mark’s cheek, “You’re a little warm.” 

Mark reaches his hand and gently pushes the human-kaiju’s hand away, “I’m hiking uphill, I’m going to be a bit warm.” 

Godzilla would have brought up Mark’s breathing, but the human would have used the same excuse. The best he can do is keep an eye on Mark’s health and make more stops if he needs to rest. 

“Okay,” Godzilla hums, “Let’s get going. But, if you're feeling worse, tell me.” 

“I get it,” Mark says, “I’ll tell you now, I promise.” 

Godzilla raised a brow and being truthful to himself, he didn’t believe Mark would tell him if he was getting worse. But trust is a fickle thing. At this moment, he and Mark had not developed a good sense of trust with each other.

“Alright,” Godzilla nods, beginning to walk again, “I’ll slow the pace a little.” 

The two had walked in silence for another few hours. Godzilla isn’t one for conversation and Mark was slacking behind again. Having kept an eye and ear out on Mark, he’s noticed the human coughing once in a while. But, overall, Mark’s conduction had not worsened.

However, he does stop again to allow the human to catch up. Having perched himself onto a small fallen tree, Godzilla’s tail drags across the dirt as he waits for Mark to make his way up the path. While the human isn’t close, he can hear the ragged breathing and knows that isn’t just from a rough hike. 

The path they’re taking is a single dirt trail that had been carved out by himself and the native animals that inhabit the island. It’s uphill, but a straight shot with little to no other paths branching off. There’s a crest that Godzilla had marked where he found a smaller trail that led to a clearing that he had discovered the second time he had visited the island years ago.   

Looking up and through the canopy of leaves, Godzilla notes that it’s past mid-day and curses to himself. He and Mark should have turned around and headed back to the boat. He should have listened to his intuition for once in his life and yet, he acted like the stubborn Gojira that all the Kaiju knew. 

With a full-body sigh, Godzilla lowers his head to find Mark standing right in front of him. 

“Oh fuck!” Godzilla jerks back, nearly falling from his perch. His claws break into the wood as he grips the log for stability. He blinks at the human for a few moments before saying, “Don’t do that… Don’t sneak up on me, like that.” 

“I’m surprised you didn’t hear me coming up the path,” Mark says with a bit of breathlessness. 

Godzilla was about to retort with a snappy remark, but Mark sounding breathy took more importance. Giving a huff, Godzilla waves his hand and says, “Enough. You need a breather.”

The Gojira needed time to calm his racing heart and figure out when they should set up camp. Godzilla had not found suitable ground to set up camp and it’ll start to get dark soon in about five hours. If he can't find a place soon, then he’ll have to make one. And he knows that’ll take time. He’ll have to remove trees and vegetation then pat the loose dirt solid.

Godzilla wanted the tent set up and a fire going while it was still daylight. Nights on the island can get cold and the last thing he needed was helping Mark set up camp while it’s dark. Godzilla can see in the dark just fine, but Mark being a human wouldn’t. 

There’s also the fact that he didn’t know how to set up a tent. 

“If I remember correctly, over that crest,” Godzilla begins, pointing ahead of them, “There’s a small clearing that’s just off the path that we can set up camp. I want to get everything settled and a fire going before nightfall.” 

“How long would it take to get there?” Mark didn’t sound as breathy as he had moments before, but it still wasn’t to where the human-kaiju would be comfortable enough continuing. 

There was a strange sound, and Godzilla had a feeling that Mark might have another coughing fit looming over the horizon. 

“About an hour.” Godzilla says, “Sit. You sound like you about to—” 

The sentence was left unfinished as Mark doubled over and began coughing hard enough that Godzilla thought the human was about to throw up. Standing up and rubbing the human’s back, he wondered how Mark had kept the coughing fits soothed. 

He had heard Mark clearing his throat for most of the hike, but nothing like what the human was having now. Did Mark slip himself something that he had kept hidden? Something he had not told Godzilla that he was carrying. 

With the water bladder incident from this morning, he wouldn’t put it past the human to have kept something that was soothing his coughs and didn’t tell him. 

“—Hack a lung out,” Godzilla mumbles as Mark finishes his fit and guides him to rest on the log. 

Sitting himself next to the human at an angle, Godzilla’s body faces Mark as he slides his tail around the man’s waist and pulls him to lean against him. He finds Mark’s head cradled between his shoulder and throat with the human’s face nestled against his neck as deep breaths are taken. A clawed hand rests gently on the human’s hair while the other lays against Mark’s back, just above where Godzilla’s tail rests. 

The backpack and tent rest between their feet. 

Godzilla’s clawed fingers massage the man’s scalp, to which Mark nuzzles his face deeper into the human-kaiju’s neck.    

They stay like this for some time, Godzilla allowing Mark to recover and soak in the comfort that’s given. 

Stealing a glance at Mark’s face, he finds the human’s eyes closed and his breathing beginning to even out. As much as he wanted Mark to sleep, the position they’re in isn’t one of comfort or stability. If Godzilla leaned back too far the two would tumble off the log and onto the unforgiving Earth below. 

“Mark,” Godzilla gently shakes the human, who grumbles. “We need to get going.”

The human mumbles something unintelligible as he buries his face into Godzilla’s neck. While he understood the human wanted to rest, this log wasn’t the best place for such a thing. 

Godzilla didn’t make a good mattress either. 

“I get it, you're tired. But we need to get going. This log is uncomfortable.” Godzilla groans as he uncurls his tail from Mark’s being. The uneven texture had caused some pieces to dig into his ass and thighs.  

It takes Mark a bit of time to remove himself and slide off the log. He was about to reach for the backpack, but Godzilla had slipped his arm through a strap and tossed it over his shoulder.

“I can carry it.” Godzilla stands from the log and shakes himself to rid of any numbness that had been caused by sitting. “We shouldn’t have much farther to go.” 

Mark nods with a yawn and both head off. Luckily, the crest was a short walk from where he had taken a rest. At the top, Godzilla looks around and finds a tree with claw marks on the bark. A smile pulls on his lips and knows this is the crest that the small trail branched from. Looking around, he finds the smaller trail and knows that the clearing is about half a mile below. 

“What the hell?” 

Godzilla turns his attention to Mark and finds the human looking at the clawed tree. With a small chuckle, Godzilla answers the human’s unasked question, “I marked it. A few years back I found this clearing and walked the trail up. I clawed a tree on the crest as a marker.”

Godzilla watches as Mark looks at him and then at the claw marks a few times. While it was entertaining to see the human comprehend what he was seeing, Godzilla had a feeling this was a sign of Mark’s conduction worsening. 

“Did you have to claw it that hard?” Mark finally asks, touching the marks, “They’re quite deep.” 

“Had to make sure they’re visible.” Godzilla shrugged, “Come on, we’re close to the clearing.” 

“Right,” Mark says as he turns to follow.

The clearing wasn’t far off the path and the two had made it in about 20 minutes of walking. Godzilla takes a deep breath, slips the backpack off, and unclicks the tent. Mark takes the tent bag and finds a place to set it up. 

The tent is big enough to fit both of them and the backpack. Before leaving the boat, Godzilla had stuffed both blankets into the pack so Mark would be warm during the night. At first, Godzilla had not planned on sleeping in the tent with Mark, but with Mark looking worse, he decided that he would lie inside to keep an eye on the human. 

Even ill, Mark had set the tent up quickly. Stepping to the tent, Godzilla finds Mark already inside and setting up a place to sleep for the night, “I’ll get a fire started,” 

“Don’t worry,” Mark coughs, “There weren't any large logs and it’s going to be dark soon. I just want to sleep.” 

Letting out a sigh, Godzilla knew Mark was correct. There had not been any large logs that would keep a fire fed for the duration of the night. If they wanted to keep a fire going all night, Godzilla would have to go out and chop up some large logs and that would take hours. Hours he didn’t have, and Mark was right again. Nightfall was only an hour and a half away.

Mark had settled himself on his half of the tent and motioned for Godzilla to do the same. With a nod, Godzilla slips into the tent and zips it up. Once he settles himself down, Godzilla turns his attention to Mark and finds the human wrapped under one of the blankets. The other is sitting folded on top of the backpack. 

“It can get cold at night,” Godzilla takes the blanket and places it over Mark, “Don’t need you getting worse.” 

Mark opened his mouth to say something, but Godzilla shook his head, “I’ll be fine. Get some sleep.” 

There’s a sigh from Mark, but the human doesn’t fight. Godzilla hums as silence falls over the two and soon Mark’s breathing evens out as he falls into sleep. Listening to Mark’s breathing and the life of night waking up, Godzilla falls into a light slumber.

Godzilla wakes up feeling warmer than when he had gone to bed and his chest feels heavy, like his breathing is constricted. Blinking his eyes open, Godzilla moves his head and finds Mark pressed against his back. Eyeing widening in shock, Godzilla does everything he can to not jolt out of the embrace. Psychical touch wasn’t something the ancient Gojira used to, and he tends to overstimulate easily. 

Moving his head, Godzilla looked at his chest and found the human’s arms wrapped around him. Laying his head down, he tries to calm his heart. He isn’t used to being cuddled in such a fashion, but it seems that at some point in the night, Mark had gotten cold enough to seek out Godzilla for warmth.    

Reminding himself that Mark was ill and that it wasn’t uncommon for sick humans to seek comfort, whether conscious or not. It’s possible this is a one-time thing and there wasn’t anything wrong with letting Mark have a bit of comfort in his time of need.

There’s the blue light of the Sun rising and Godzilla knew that Mark would be sleeping for a few more hours. As long as he kept calm and still, Mark could shift in his sleep and Godzilla could move away once he knew the human wouldn’t wake. 

What he had not wanted was for the human to nuzzle his face deeper into his back and send a shiver running up his spine. It didn’t help that Mark’s nose was cold! 

With a sigh, Godzilla did count the small blessing that was his dorsal spines being small as hell. He could only imagine what a cuddle session would be like if his spines were proportional to his body.    

They had stayed like this for what Godzilla suspects is an hour and it didn’t appear that Mark would be waking up soon. The blue light of sunrise is slowly fainting into a soft golden glow. If the human didn’t move soon or wake up, Godzilla knew he’d have to wake the human up. And this isn’t a situation he’d want to explain. It didn’t help that his face felt hot, like when one was blushing. 

Movement is felt on his back and the Gojira blinks yet lays still. He wants to move his head to see what the sleeping human is doing, but that could cause said human to wake. But it seems that some being of a cosmic level had taken pity on him or had their fill of entertainment because Mark had moved. The human had shifted and with the movement, Godzilla’s chest was freed. Titling his head, he looks behind and finds Mark had rolled into his back. He suspects the human has his arms splayed out, which gives him the opening he needs to move.

Being as quiet and careful as possible, Godzilla lifts himself off of Mark’s other arm and moves closer to the tent entrance. He quietly unzips the opening so it’s large enough to let him out. Slipping out and rezipping the tent, Godzilla sneaks away from the tent to have some alone time and ponder over what had happened earlier. 

Hopefully, by the time Mark wakes, Godzilla will have calmed enough to not have to come up with an excess as to why he’s… acting strange. 

“Relax, you damn idiot. Huddling for warmth is normal. I’m a living heater.” Godzilla chides himself as he picks at his tail. He makes a mental note to go for a swim in the upcoming days. His tail is starting to feel a bit dry, “Touching isn't that overstimulating. I cuddle Mothra all the time, I don’t feel like this when I do.”

He didn’t know how long he had been sitting, but the sound of the tent opening brought him back to the present. Turning to look behind him, Godzilla watched Mark exit the tent and could tell the human was exhausted. 

“Sleep well?” Mark yawns while rubbing his eyes. 

“Yeah. The tent was a bit too warm when I woke up.” Godzilla says, “You? You fell asleep minutes after setting up.” 

“Tired,” Mark replies, “Just tired, constantly.” 

Godzilla hums. This was supposed to be a two-day one-night hike and while Mark hasn’t gotten worse, he still wasn’t in tip-top shape. Mulling this over, Godzilla may extend the trip to include a night, or two so Mark could rest. The waterfall was only a half mile from where they had set up camp. 

“Maybe you should take the day and rest.” Godzilla says, “You’re not worse, but you're not getting better.”

“How long was this hike supposed to take?” 

“A two-day one-night thing,” Godzilla says. “I might add a night or two. At least we’re not rushing.” 

Mark’s silent for a moment before saying, “Then we can set up camp at the waterfall before heading back.” 

Godzilla muses over Mark's words. The waterfall did have a large flat area where they could set up the tent and Mark could rest for a day and extra night if needed. Godzilla knows that Mark had packed food for two days, but the human-kaiju would easily forage or hunt.

Then it dawned on him, that Mark had not eaten lunch and dinner yesterday. He has an idea as to why and if they were to head out again, Mark needed to eat something.

“The only thing you ate yesterday was breakfast.” Godzilla gives the human a pointed look. 

“Wasn’t hungry.” Mark simply shrugs. 

“If we’re going out, you need to eat something.” Godzilla says, “I don’t care what it is, but you need to eat. I can get a fire going if needed.” 

“No, no, it’s fine.” Mark waves the other off, “I have something I can eat.” 

“Good,” Godzilla nods, “Once you finish and your stomach has settled, we’ll pack up and head out. It should take us until late morning or mid-noon to get there.” 

Looking at the horizon and calculating the Sun’s position, Godzilla hums, “That should give you roughly two hours to have breakfast.”

And those two hours were spent in silence. Not because Godzilla didn’t want to talk, but because Mark was still looking worse for wear. Once he had sat long enough for his stomach to settle, Godzilla helped the human to his feet, and they took their campsite down. With everything packed up and ready, Godzilla took the lead. 

Climbing up the small trail was easy and soon the two were following the path to their destination. Mark had a few mild coughing fits, but nothing had significantly slowed them. Godzilla wondered if he had misjudged how Mark looked this morning since the human was keeping up better than he had the day previous.

As Godzilla had estimated, they arrived at the waterfall by mid-noon. That was plenty of time to set up camp again. Godzilla wasn’t sure if Mark wanted to start collecting water now or wait. The human-kaiju had spotted some hygiene products and a fresh set of clothing. He wouldn’t be surprised if Mark wanted to clean himself before collecting water. Though he knows that the cold water wasn’t going to be the most pleasant thing to bathe in. 

“What do you want to do first?” Godzilla asks. 

“Water first,” Mark says, “I can clean myself up after.” 

“Right,” Godzilla wouldn’t admit it, but Mark was beginning to… have a scent. And while it wasn’t bad at the moment, it would worsen over the days. “I’ll see what firewood I can find. You’re going to want a fire when you decide to get clean.”  

Mark let out a small chuckle, “Not my first time taking a bath in freezing water.” 

“Still!” Godzilla huffs, throwing his hands in the air, “I don’t even like taking cold baths.” 

Mark was about to say something, but Godzilla gave the human a pointed look, “Yes, I bathe when I look like this. Dried salt water is one of the worst feelings I’ve had.”      

Mark shrugged and went off to take care of the water. Godzilla slipped into the trees and searched about for fallen logs that he could chop up into small pieces. After finding a few that weren’t rotting and somewhat seasoned, Godzilla set to work. 

Luckily a good position of his strength had transferred to human form. Using his tail to break the logs into small chunks, Godzilla then used his claws to rip said chunks into more usable pieces. Once he was satisfied with the amount made, he gathered some into his arms and started to make his way back to camp. 

It had taken him a couple of rounds, but all the cut wood had been transported and stacked neatly. What would have taken a human more than a day, Godzilla had done in a quarter. It was evening and the Sun had barely started to dip. Looking over to Mark, the human has filled one container of water and is working on the other. 

Setting a place for the fire and gettin' it going, Godzilla tried to stifle a yawn.

“Sounds like you’ll sleep well tonight,” Mark says. 

“After you take a bath and have a warm dinner,” Godzilla calls back. But Mark was right. If he were to lie down, he’d fall asleep within seconds. 

Once the containers were filled and Mark had taken his rather cold bath, the human was huddled in front of the roaring fire. Having dried himself and dressed, he now ate a warmed thing of soup from the can. 

“Now it does get a bit colder at night near the waterfall,” Godzilla hums, “I cut up a lot of wood to keep the fire going, but it’ll need to be fed every so often.” 

“So, you're saying you're not going in the tent?” Mark raised a brow. 

“Most likely,” Godzilla shrugs, “Or I throw a bunch on and let it burn out, then start it up in the morning. Whichever floats your boat.” 

“Do what you want.” Mark yawns, putting the now empty can into a plastic zip bag.

“Why don’t you head to bed? It’s getting pretty dark now.” Godzilla suggests. The Sun had just set and the moon with the night sky was moving in. 

“Yeah, I think—” Mark yawns again, “—I’ll do that.”      

Mark turns and heads into the tent. The zipper zips close and Godzilla hears the human rustle about before he settles. 

“See you in the morning,” He calls. 

“Mmhmm,” Godzilla replies, tossing a log onto the fire. “Night.”  

Over the next hour, Godzilla listens to the human fall asleep as he feeds the fire. Maybe Mark wouldn’t need an extra day to rest. But that would depend on how the human felt in the morning.

Chapter Text

It's been three hours since Mark had fallen asleep, and Godzilla had lazily been keeping the fire going. He had thrown at least seven logs onto the fire during those three hours. At this point, he’s tempted to let it die and head into the tent for the night. 

Looking behind him, I see that the tent does have an inviting sense to it. It’s closed off from the rest of the world and provides a sense of security— even though it’s false. Godzilla knew the fabric of that tent wouldn’t hold a bear back. Hell, a small rodent could bite its way through the damned thing. 

And yet, it’s something that helped keep anyone using it safe from the elements… Well, semi-safe. But the island didn’t have any major predators that one needed to keep themselves safe from. The biggest threat on the island— outside of himself— was the damned birds that nested. 

And he’s ninety percent sure that those birds are seagulls. 

Now the water was a different story. Sharks, orcas, and seals were common predators of the sea outside himself. But, in Godzilla’s opinion, the currents were the most dangerous. Currents were hidden in plain sight and if a human is unfamiliar with the ocean, these currents would make the saltwater they grave. 

In Kajiu form these currents were nothing by ants to him. He didn’t even feel the currents against him, but in human… 

Shaking his head, Godzilla turns his attention back to the fire and sighs. He knows he should head to bed soon. He plans to have him, and Mark spend another night out while heading back to the boat. Mark’s condition may not have been getting worse, but Godzilla isn’t wanting to take any chances. 

Throwing a rather large log into the flames, Godzilla shifts from where he’s been sitting and heads to the tent. Unzipping the front, he slides inside and zips it close. Looking inside, the fire casts an orange glow, and Godzilla can see Mark has curled on one side of the tent like the night before. He’s wrapped in one of the blankets, while the other had been tossed into the side that Godzilla would be taking. He notes Mark has his jacket over part of himself and wonders if the fire isn't producing enough heat. He’ll ask Mark about that in the morning.

Settling himself on the other side, Godzilla uses the blanket as a makeshift pillow. Now at eye level with the sleeping human, Godzilla finds that Mark had slipped his arms under his head and his breathing was… rough. Like he’s congested. 

It didn’t surprise Godzilla that Mark sounded terrible while he slept. The human was ill, and the human-kaiju hoped that his being out and about had not worsened the human’s condition. He didn’t know what he would do if Mark’s health took a turn for the worse. 

With nothing much to do, Godzilla closes his eyes and falls into a light sleep.

Which is why he blinks himself awake when he hears and feels movement. Cracking an eye open, he finds Mark sitting up and breathing heavily. The tent no longer has an orange glow, and Godzilla knows the fire has died. 

“Mark?” Godzilla calls with sleep in his voice, “You, ok?” 

“Yeah,” The human rasps, “Didn’t mean to wake you.” 

“What’s wrong?” Godzilla asks as he lifts himself, “Can’t sleep?” 

Mark lets out a deep breath, “A bit hard to breathe. A little stuffy.”  

With a hum, Godzilla reaches for the zipper and unzips the opening a little. Just enough to allow some fresh air into the tent. The heat from the fire still lingers, but not as strong as when it was alive and going. 

“If you need to, we can step out and head near the waterfall. The air should be cooler.” 

“That might be… best.” Mark coughs. 

After fully unzipping the opening, Godzilla turns to find Mark searching through the backpack, “What are you—” 

There’s a click and a white light fills the tent. Godzilla raised his hand to cover his eyes until they had adjusted. He didn’t know that Mark had a… flashlight, was it called? He really should have listened to Mothra when she was going on and on about how humans have advanced over the centuries.

It would have saved him from the embarrassed flush that crept up on his cheeks when Mark chuckled. Godzilla had not realized he had hyper-focused on the small thing in Mark’s hand. 

“It’s a flashlight.” Mark says, “Never seen one before? Heard of it?” 

“S-s-shut up!” Godzilla stammered feeling the blush becoming warmer, “I’ve heard of one before. Just… Mothra talks a lot.” 

Dear God, don’t let her hear him say that… again. He didn’t need another scolding from the female Moth. He’s received too many due to his no-brain-to-mouth filter as is! 

Seeing Mark raise a brow, Godzilla shook his head, “Forget about it, trust me.” 

He does not go into detail about the Moth’s tirades when he does end up in that situation because of his big mouth. Hell would have to freeze over if he’d ever let Mark know.

Turning away from the human, Godzilla grumbles something that Mark can’t hear and slips out of the tent. And yet, he swore he heard the damned man chuckle! The air is quite warm from the dead fire, and he can understand why the human had woken up. He wouldn’t be surprised if the heat had caused Mark to feel like a dried-up prune. 

Watching the area light up in the white glow as Mark made his way out of the tent, Godzilla looked to where he heard running water and saw the waterfall was lit up by the outskirts of the flight light beam. They had set up the tent a bit away from the waterfall to not risk having water leak into the tent or having the ground sink beneath them. 

He had never seen the night around him lighten up like this. While as a kaiju the lights from the massive settlements had not clued him in on how bright the human’s artificial sun was. But, seeing what this tiny thing in Mark’s hands can illuminate… oh he wasn’t going to be ready for what one of those settlements had in store. 

Not that he planned on visiting one of the larger settlements. What were they called? Cities? 

He really should have paid attention when Moth was yapping. 

“Kinda regretting putting the water jugs in the tent.” Mark mumbles as he makes his way to the waterfall.

Was… he wasn’t planning on drinking the cold water, was he? While most of the water was clear, the parts that met the edge of the earth were muddy. The water wasn’t safe for the human to drink, either! 

“You’re not—” 

“I’m not stupid,” Mark grumbles, “Unlike some people I know.” 

Godzilla let out a relieved breath. At least Mark wouldn’t worsen his illness by drinking contaminated water. Yet, he understood why the human did want something cold to drink. He had gotten the fire too hot and to keep the jugs of clean water safe, Mark had stashed them in the tent. 

Stepping next to Mark, Godzilla looks around where the light has lit up the pool of water and the surrounding foliage. The air was cooler by the water, but the heat from their fire was still felt on their backs. Godzilla had a feeling that Mark wouldn’t return to the tent for a while. 

After letting Mark have some time to breathe the cool air, Godzilla was about to try and coax the human back into the tent when he heard some rustling coming from beyond the pool. Snapping his head to where he heard it, Godzilla lets out a low growl, daring whatever had made the noise to do something. 

“Are there any large—” 

“No,” Godzilla growls again as the bushes move, “This island is too small, but the others do.” 

“Great. Do any of them swim?” Mark whisper-asks. 

“They do, but my scent is all over the island,” Godzilla whispers back, “Most wouldn’t step foot unless forced.” 

The bushes rustle again, and Godzilla lets out another growl. He’s about to launch forward and chase whatever is hiding, but whatever is moving about has popped itself into the light. 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” 

He can hear Mark trying to stifle a laugh at the situation. Godzilla had gotten himself all worked up over a small rodent that’s the size of a squirrel. He was being territorial due to a stupid rodent. 

“Mark, I can hear you trying to laugh. Shut up.” 

“I’m sorry,” Mark snorts out, “But you got territorial over a squirrel.” 

“I doubt that’s a squirrel,” Godzilla huffs. Though the creature did resemble one. 

“A flying squirrel maybe,” Mark shrugged. 

“I don’t care,” Godzilla grumbled, “I’m going back to bed.”

He made his way to the tent and slipped inside. Laying himself down, his back is facing where Mark had been resting. He didn’t want to admit it, but he felt stupid about getting territorial over a dumb rodent— squirrel— whatever the hell he saw! He should have known that smaller creatures would flee to this island to escape the predators that called the larger islands home.

While he had marked this island as his own, he knew that the large predators would come here if they believed it was safe enough. He wasn’t mad about being territorial over his… well territory. It’s just that he got territorial over something he thought was a threat. 

Hearing rustling, Godzilla looks up and finds Mark returning. Once the tent was zipped up and both had settled, Godzilla closed his eyes to try and fall asleep. This means he did not notice Mark reaching his hand out and rubbing his lower back. 

Yet, unconsciously, Godzilla responds by pushing his back into the human’s hand and letting out a soft purr.

When he awoke, the blue of morning was visible in the tent. Turning his head around, he finds Mark cocooned in the blankets. With a shrug, the human-kaiju suspects that he had gotten a little chill at night and wrapped himself up. He couldn’t feel the lingering heat from last night's fire. 

Lifting himself and groaning, Godzilla exits the tent and looks to the fire pit. Any embers have long since cooled, so the human-kaiju starts gathering up leaf litter and twigs to get a new fire started. 

Slipping back into the tent, Godzilla fills up a metal cup with some water. He looks at Mark and finds the human still sleeping. Slipping out and zipping the tent up, he sets a thing of water near the fire to boil, so that’s something warm for Mark to drink. 

Godzilla had only three things on the list today. Get to the clearing, set up camp, and see if he could find anything edible for Mark to eat. The human had only packed food for two nights. But Godzilla wasn’t comfortable rushing back to the boat with how the human’s illness had been. He hasn’t gotten worse, but he hasn’t gotten better. Since Mark had woken up during the night, Godzilla wasn’t in a hurry to wake the human and get moving. 

He had expected last night to put him in a sour mood, but he felt… relaxed. He didn’t understand why, but he’s putting that on the back burner for now. He wasn’t going to dwell on something when he had more important things to worry about. 

As the blue turned to orange, Godzilla heard the zipper unzipping. Turning his head, he found Mark stepping out with a yawn. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Mark sat near the other and Godzilla hands the human the warmed water. 

“It’s a bit chilly out,” Godzilla says his attention turned to the wood stack. 

“Yeah, I can tell,” Mark says, “Everything ok?” 

“Huh? Oh, yeah.” Godzilla turns his attention back to the human, “Just… the upcoming night is going to be cold. I'm not going to be able to carry enough wood to keep a fire going…” 

“Or to get one started,” Mark says, “If we have to skip a fire, then we have to.” 

“But—” 

“It’s fine,” Mark yawns, “It’s not the first time I’ve slept without a fire.”

Godzilla sighs and shakes his head but drops the subject. He didn’t understand the human man and why he wasn’t worried about a fire… could his illness be getting worse? 

Focusing his hearing, he does pick up on Mark’s heart and takes note that it is beating a bit more than the previous days. 

“Best we get going,” Mark says once he’s finished the cup of water.

“You haven’t—” 

“Not hungry,” The human mumbles, “Doubt I’ll keep anything down.” 

With a sigh, Godzilla turns to the fire and is glad he made a small one. It’ll easily die out and he could throw some water along with dirt so it would start up again. Bringing the water jugs out and helping Mark pack up the tent, they head off to their next destination.

Mark’s been quiet, too quiet for the human-kaiju’s liking. While they were not the chattiest of their species, Mark tended to ask questions that he would answer. And yet, for the past three hours, Mark hasn’t said a word. 

Looking behind him, Godzilla finds Mark lagging. The human-kaiju had taken to carrying the water jugs to not overload Mark. Which was a good thing. If Mark had to carry the jugs, he would be farther behind. 

Luckily the crest wasn’t that far, and Godzilla hoped to be at the clearing by early noon. Hopefully a bit early, but he wasn’t pushing the pace that he and Mark were traveling. Since Mark had not eaten breakfast, Godzilla wasn’t sure how much energy the human was running on. But he suspects it's near zero. 

He should have forced the human to eat, but wanting to get to their next campsite had caused the human-kaiju some oversight. All Mark had this morning was a warm cup of water. 

Mark needed to eat something. As much as Godzilla didn’t want to stop, he knew that they had to. Being careful when setting the jugs down, Godzilla waits until Mark catches up. 

“What?”

“Sit and rest,” Godzilla says, “I’m going to find you something to eat.” 

“I told you, I’m not—”

“I know, you said you weren’t hungry,” Godzilla held up a hand and hushed the human. His shoulders tensed in case he had to wrestle the human into sitting, “But you need to eat something. I don’t care if you end up throwing it up later, but you need to eat something.”

Mark sighs as if knowing he wouldn’t win this argument, “Fine.” 

“Sit,” Godzilla says, the tension bleeding from his body, “There’s a few fruit trees close by. I shouldn’t be long,” 

Mark settles on a nearby fallen tree and nods with a cough, “Right.” 

Godzilla sets off and disappears into the trees. He didn’t have to go far to find some fruit trees. Now he needed to find some ripe fruit that Mark could eat and not get worse from. He didn’t know what kind of fruit tree he had found, but the fruit was oval, and the color was yellow to greenish. 

With a snort, Godzilla reaches up grabs one of the fruits and pulls. The fruit came off the tree with ease, which told Godzilla that the fruit was most likely a bit riper than the others. The color of this one was more yellow than green like the others. Giving the fruit a sniff, Godzilla confirms his suspicion. But the fruit was still edible. 

Looking at the trees around him, Godzilla finds a few more fruits that look like the one he picked and decides to take a few more for the road. At least Mark would have something to snack on throughout the day if he felt hungry.

With four full things of fruit in his arms, Godzilla heads back to where he had left Mark. If the human is hungry enough, he could always hunt something small if needed.

Once he arrived at where he left Mark, the human looked up and nodded. 

With a hum and stepping to the human, Godzilla sets the fruit on the ground. Sitting next to the human, he reaches out a hand and places it against Mark’s forehead. He could feel the heat and knew the human had a small fever. He didn’t know if Mark had something to help bring the fever down, but there were plastic jugs of water.

“Drink a little,” Godzilla says, “Should help you feel a little better… if only a little,” 

“I have a few cups, but…” Mark shrugs and turns his attention to the fruit.

Godzilla picks up one of the fruits and tears it open. He hands the smallest chunk to Mark, who takes the piece and hums. Watching the human as he took a small bite, Godzilla couldn’t help but chuckle when the human devoured the piece. It seems Mark’s hunger had made an appearance after getting something into his stomach.  

Tearing off another chunk and giving it to the human, Godzilla would let the human eat as much as he needed to fill his empty stomach. After eating more than half of the fruit, Mark shook his head when Godzilla tried to give him another piece. 

“Well, someone was hungry.” 

“Shut it,” Mark huffs as he hiccups, “Didn’t know the island had Papaya.” 

“Well, you are in a tropical area,” Godzilla takes the discarded skins and chucks them in a direction that is not towards the clearing, “Don’t want anything following us,” 

Storing the rest of the fruit in Mark’s backpack, Godzilla helped Mark up and they headed off. They had gotten to the clearing a bit later than Godzilla had wanted, but Mark had been keeping pace during the rest of the trip. 

They had set the tent and were now taking a breather. Mark had settled himself inside the tent due to feeling tired. Since they had not brought any of the firewood from the waterfall, Godzilla suggested that he could find a fallen tree and cut some. Mark had declined the suggestion, pointing out that it would be dark soon and that Godzilla shouldn’t waste energy on something that he wouldn’t have done before nightfall.

“So, I’m assuming you don’t want me to try and hunt?” 

“No, you won’t be back before nightfall and you’ll have to gut and clean the kill,” Mark groans, clearly annoyed with the other, “Now, get your ass into the tent, before I drag you in here.” 

Godzilla snorts out a chuckle and crawls into the tent. Zipping the opening close, he settles into his usual spot and hums. Mark had wrapped himself in one of the blankets and placed his arms under his head. Turning to lie on his back, Godzilla closes his eyes and tries to drift off. 

There’s some movement and rustling, which he doesn’t think much of until something lands on his face. Grabbing at the item and pulling it off, he blinked to find the second blanket had been thrown over him. He looks at Mark, who looks the same as he had moments ago. 

Not having the energy to complain, Godzilla rearranges the blanket, so he’s covered and comfortable. He knows that he and Mark had settled in some hours early, but he finds it ok. With Mark still feeling a bit unwell some early sleep might help. 

Cold. 

The first thing Godzilla feels when he wakes up is cold. 

To him, it’s not a biting cold, just uncomfortable. One where a second blanket or fire could stave off. Though he only has one blanket, Godzilla could easily fall back asleep without this cold bothering him. 

Yet, he turned his attention to Mark and found the human shivering. Silently cursing to himself, Godzilla sits himself up and shakes Mark. He didn’t know when the temperature had dropped or how long they’d been sleeping in the cold, but Mark's shivering wasn’t a good sign. 

“What?” Mark jolts up with his teeth chattering, “Shit it’s fucking cold,” 

“Yeah, I know,” Godzilla says, shifting closer to the human and wrapping his blanket around Mark, “I didn’t know the temperature would drop like this. I didn’t feel anything that indicated this would happen.” 

“What are you— Hey!”

After wrapping himself and Mark, Godzilla pulled the human into himself before lying down. He made sure that Mark was nestled tightly against his chest and that a good portion of the man’s body was lying on his. 

“I have a feeling it’s going to get colder, and you don’t want to be on the ground if that becomes the case,” Godzilla explains, “Bitch about this in the morning all you want, but for now, this should help keep you warm.” 

Godzilla had expected the human to complain either way, but all he got was a grumble before Mark nuzzled his face into the warmth of his chest. He did his best to suppress a shiver, because damn! Mark’s nose was cold as hell. 

A thought passed Godzilla’s mind about using a controlled charge to help warm Mark and the tent up. It would help fight against the cold, but it would drain him of much-needed energy that he’d need in the upcoming days. It hadn't even been a week since Godzilla had found Mark, and he needed to make sure the human stayed alive for at least two weeks. There wasn’t a radiation source for him to replenish any lost if he did decide to use a control charge. 

Casting his gaze on the human in his arms, Godzilla finds the human is falling asleep. He didn’t want to explain what he wanted to try and wake Mark further than he already had. 

He hoped that the sudden cold didn’t cause Mark’s illness to become worse. He didn’t know how long humans can be ill and the last thing he needed was for Mark to be sick for a whole two weeks. 

“What’s on your mind?” 

Mark’s voice jolts him from his thoughts and finds the human staring back at him, “Un… Well, I could try something that can help warm you and the tent up.” 

Mark raised a brow, “Go on,”

“I can use a controlled charge. The heat can warm the area up enough that the cold weather shouldn’t be too much of an issue,” Godzilla says, “But I would be using up a lot of radiation and there isn’t a source for me to feed from to replenish. I'd be rather… exhausted until I recover naturally,” 

Mark seemed to chew over the information for a while before asking, “What if you only do it for an hour or two? Just enough to let me go back to sleep?” 

“I shouldn’t be too tired if I do something like that.” Godzilla says, “It can work,” 

“If you want to,” Mark yawns, nuzzling into the other’s chest, “Just don’t tire yourself out too much,” 

Godzilla thought for a moment, but the decision was quick to make when both had shivered. A few hours of a controlled charge shouldn’t be draining enough to cause any issues. 

With the charge on a low setting and the glow dim, the warmth coming from him should warm the tent enough that Mark should sleep comfortably. Moving his hand, his thumb brushes against Mark’s skin, and the human mumbles something Godzilla looks at him and finds that he has fallen asleep. 

With a hum, Godzilla pulls one of the blankets over the human’s head to help trap in warmth. The dim glow from his controlled charge casts Mark’s face a pink tint and Godzilla couldn’t help but let a small smile pull on his lips. 

“Sleep well, Mark,” Godzilla mumbles with a yawn. 

Sleep was calling the human-kaiju, and he didn’t mind heeding this call for a while.

Chapter Text

The morning had come. 

Watching the tent slowly turn from the blue of morning to a warm yellow, Godzilla had not gotten much sleep. He had been rather fitful through the rest of the night. No matter how hard he had tried to sleep, he couldn’t. His control charge had warmed the tent enough that it stayed warm through the rest of the night and into the morning. 

And yet, his mind and body would not calm down to allow him to return to sleep.

While he had warmed the tent to fight off the cold, it wasn’t enough for a human to consider it comfortable. If Mark still being wrapped in the blankets resting on his chest was anything to go off of. 

Godzilla looked at the human and knew he had to wake him up. They needed to pack up and get themselves back on the trail. It’ll take them about half a day to arrive at the boat and settle Mark. 

Letting out a sigh for the millionth time, Godzilla looked up to the tent ceiling and listened to the morning critters waking up and going about their lives. This was something about this morning that could have lulled the human-kaiju back into sleep if the situation he found himself in wasn’t himself looking after an ill human. 

His breathing had begun to even out and his eyelids felt heavy. Was the little sleep he had gotten throughout the night coming to bite him in the butt? He had tried his best to rest, but he couldn’t get much sleep, no matter what he had done. And yet, he feels so calm right now. Like a soothing wave had washed over his body and calmed his overactive mind. 

Even though he feels the sensation of himself falling into sleep, he’s still conscious. Still wide awake. He can hear the birds giving their morning calls, the leaves rustling in the wind, the rough ground against his back, the warmth of the tent, and the weight of the human resting on his chest. 

Moving his attention to the human, Godzilla hums as he watches Mark's sleeping form. With everything going on, he is surprised that he’s feeling relaxed and calm at this moment. It felt strange, but it was pleasant. 

He placed his hand on Mark’s back and felt the human’s heartbeat being a bit fast, but with Mark being ill, he had expected as much. He yawned and let his eyes close, the sound of their heartbeats slowly beginning to beat as one. 

It was almost like they were becoming the same. 

Their body and minds mending together. 

It was like they were… 

Harmonizing.  

Eyes shooting open, Godzilla realizes what is happening. He had not harmonized with another human in years. Decades? Millennia? He couldn’t remember when the last time he had allowed this to happen, and it seems that he had forgotten the feeling of what harmonizing felt like on his part. 

He knew he needed to stop this. Even though the relaxed and calm feeling is a welcome, he dares not force something onto Mark that he had no knowledge of. Godzilla had not told Mark of this ability he possesses and to allow it advance farther would be irresponsible of him. 

He knew there’ll be issues that’ll crop up due to stopping the harmonizing process this early, but he needed to. Mark had a right to choose. 

With a deep breath, Godzilla gently and slowly pulls himself from the process. He didn’t want to suddenly remove himself and Mark had a bad reaction that could cause him injury, he ill enough as is. 

As he pulled himself away, Godzilla could feel something reaching out to him. He knew it was Mark, though unconscious and not knowing what was happening to him, his body did not want the process to end. Letting out a purr and feeling the human relaxing, which allowed Godzilla to successfully remove himself from the harmonizing process. 

“How could I let that happen? What the hell did I do?” Godzilla mumbles, placing a hand on the human’s back and rubbing circles, “Hopefully that won’t cause too many issues,”

Letting himself sigh, Godzilla— and by extension, Mark— needed to take a bit of time to recover from pausing the harmonizing process. But it wasn’t a long wait. They needed to get themselves up and moving.

“Mark,” Godzilla whispers and shakes the human, “Come one, time to wake up,”

Hearing a mumble from the human, Godzilla expected the human to peel himself from the cocoon of blankets and get ready. Instead, he buries his face deeper into his chest and pulls the blankets farther around him. 

“Mark,” Godzilla looks at his hand that has been outside of the blanket and an idea comes to mind, “You might want to start getting up,” 

“Five more minutes,” Mark whines. 

“Mark, we need to get going,” Godzilla looked at the blanketed human and began to slip his hand under the cocoon of blankets. With his hand being colder than the body in the blankets, he knew the reaction the human would give. 

“I said five more— Fuck!” Mark jerked away from the human-kaiju, flinging the blankets from himself, “Asshole! Your hand is cold!” 

Godzilla chuckles as the human grumbles while staring him down, “I told you it was time to get up,” 

“You didn’t need to tickle me with your cold hand,” Mark huffed, “Asshole,” 

“Oh relax. How else would I get you off of me? You didn’t look like you’d get up willingly,” Godzilla waved the human off as he sat up, “Eat something and we’ll get packed soon,”

Noticing Mark glancing at the backpack that held the fruit he picked from yesterday; Godzilla had a feeling that Mark may not be feeling hungry. With the human still, Godzilla notes the paleness had gotten… brighter? 

He didn’t know how to describe what he was seeing, but Mark was indeed looking worse. He can hear the human breathing and could tell he’s congested. Worse than he was a few days ago. 

“Not feeling hungry,” Godzilla reaches his hand out and places it against Mark’s cheek, taking note of how warm the human feels, “Feeling a bit warm,” 

“I was sleeping against you,” Mark leans into the other’s hand as a small cough leaves his lips, “How are you not burning hot? You’re bio-nuclear,” 

Godzilla raised a brow at the question, “I’m not fully bio-nuclear while like this. I have to supplement my diet with normal food or I’m not going to be having a fun time. Radiation just allows me to not eat for long periods and use a controlled charge when needed. Other abilities that need radiation can’t be used due to how low of a level I have stored,” 

“So, I assume your controlled charge has limited use?” Mark yawns.  

“It does. Which is why I use it sparingly. It’s just too warm an area up if I feel too cold,” Godzilla confirms, removing his hand from the human. He hears the small whine from Mark but pretends to ignore it. He unzips the tent and heads out. He did stay near the entrance, “I don’t produce a lot of radiation, either. Most of the Kaijus can’t find me by radiation signature if I’m using this form. Not too sure about the effects on humans, but there shouldn’t be anything. At least from what Mothra told me,” 

“Was she around the ones in Hollow Earth?” Mark calls from inside the tent, placing everything from the night before into the backpack. Once the backpack was ready, he passed it to Godzilla. 

“Uh… about seventy percent of the time,” Godzilla takes the backpack and sets it a few steps away from the tent. 

“Might not be able to fully rely on what she says,” Mark slips his hand into one of his coat pockets and takes out a cough drop. He’s been using these for the past several days. Quickly popping it into his mouth and putting the small wrapper away, he grabs the water jugs and leaves the tent. He sets the jugs where Godzilla had placed the backpack. 

“The other thirty percent means she’s been around normal humans. That has to mean something,” Godzilla says as he starts to dismantle the tent. 

“For her, possibility,” Mark walks over to help, “But her level of radiation is lower than yours. She may not cause effects, but you and some of the others might. It’s something that’ll have to be tested,” 

“And how exactly am I supposed to do—” Godzilla holds up one of the metal rods as he catches a look from the human, “No. No, not happening. I’m not going to be a lab experiment,” 

“How do you know what a lab experiment is?” Mark raised a brow as he folded up the other and passed it to the human-kaiju.

“Mothra talks a lot,” Godzilla places the rods into the case and motions for Mark to grab an end of the tent, “We don’t see each other as much as we used to. So, when we do meet up, she tends to go on long talks about what she’s been doing. She tends to use her human form more than any other Kaijus,” 

Once the tent was held and stuffed away with the rest of the materials, Godzilla flung the backpack onto his back and grabbed both water containers. He notices Mark’s confused look and says, “I can carry most for the time being. It’s about half a day to get back to the boat and you're still not looking too good,” 

“Not going to argue,” Mark shrugged as he picked up the tent case. He wanted to get back to the boat and have a more comfortable place to rest, “I don’t want to have another night out. No offense, but you’re not that comfortable to sleep on,” 

Godzilla snorts out a laugh, “None taken,” 

At least Mark hadn’t been showing any signs of worsening due to the harmonizing being forcibly paused. Godzilla could barely feel Mark there in the back of his mind. Since the process hadn't been completed, Godzilla could only locate where the human was. Anything else like feeling what Mark feels and how his health is doing are things he can sense only when the process is complete. 

Most of the travel back to the boat was in silence with Mark having a few questions here and there. But the human wasn’t in the most talkative mood due to how he was feeling. Godzilla had picked up on his breathing becoming heavier and his voice raspier over time. He had expected a cough but didn’t hear any of it. He had heard what he believed to be the sound of paper crinkling when Mark was still in the tent, but when he turned around there wasn’t anything that Mark was holding that could make the sound. 

After a bit into their hike, Godzilla had stopped and tried to get Mark to eat some of the Papaya. He understood the human had no appetite to eat anything, but he had not had breakfast this morning. Godzilla conceded after a bit of back and forth but had gotten Mark to agree on taking a rest.

Now that he’s sitting next to Mark, Godzilla notches the faint scent of honey coming from the human. He knew there wasn’t any honey or honey flavored that had been packed when they had first started their journey.

“Mark,” Godzilla eyes the human with a raised brow, “You have the scent of honey on you,” 

“Well, that be the cough drop,” Mark hums, “I’m surprised you didn’t notice earlier,” 

Godzilla blinked confused at the human. He hadn’t heard of a ‘cough drop’ before and didn’t know Mark had been using these, “A what?” 

“This is a cough drop,” Mark must have anticipated the question, because he pulled something from his coat pocket. It was small, oval-shaped, and wrapped in some paper.

Seeing the paper, Godzilla remembered the sound from this morning and realized this must be what he had heard. This thing being in Mark’s coat also explained why he didn’t know of its existence until now, “What does this do? It’s rather small,” 

There’s a chuckle from Mark as he lets the human-kaiju take the item and turn it over a few times, “It helps with coughing and soothes a sore throat. They are small because you don’t need a lot of medicine to help with a sore throat and cough,”  

Godzilla hands the cough drop back to Mark and stands up, “Well that explains why you're not hacking a lung out, but couldn’t you have put them in the backpack?” 

“Easier to keep them on me,” Mark says, following Godzilla's lead. He knew they needed to get going.

When they arrived back to the boat, Godzilla passed the water jugs to Mark so he could climb up the ladder and onto the vessel. Once upon deck, he took the containers back and Mark climbed up. After getting inside and setting the jugs on the counter, Godzilla slipped the backpack off and set it on the table. To which Mark unzipped it and emptied all contents out. He took his unwashed clothes and tossed them into the bathroom, saying he’d worry about cleaning them some other time. 

The human looked exhausted, and Godzilla didn’t blame him for wanting to lay down and relax, even try to sleep. He had used up the last of the cough drops in his coat during their hike back and Mark’s coughs have been getting more and more rough. 

“Try to get a nap in,” Godzilla says, knowing their hike had taken half a day, “I don’t think we’ll be doing much for the rest of the day,”

There were things that both could do, but Godzilla didn’t want Mark to push himself and make his illness worse than it already was. While the human-kaiju wasn’t ill, he did have exhausted settling into his bones from their adventure. 

Watching as the human fell into sleep, Godzilla hoped his decision to have Mark follow him to the waterfall and pull from the harmonizing process early didn't cause more harm to the human.

A day and a half later, the answer reared its ugly head.

“I’m a fucking idiot,” Godzilla murmured to himself as he sat on the deck of the boat, his arms crossed on the railing with his chin nestled on them. His kimono is around his waist due to it feeling uncomfortable and itchy against his skin, “Why the hell did I make that deal with him?” 

It’s early noon and Mark had finished vomiting about two hours ago and had fallen asleep. Mark had two trash cans in the bathroom. One was small that has now been dubbed the “Vomit Can” and had some small trash bags that were being used to collect the human’s stomach contents. The larger one was used to dispose of the bags that Mark had vomited in. 

Looking out at the ocean, Godzilla can feel himself itching for a swim. He hadn’t gone for a swim since he had made his journey to the island from his nest in the Colosseum. The itching wasn’t just for a swim. Turning his attention to his arm, Godzilla sees the dry skin flaking off in the wind. Reaching his hand out and peeling a large chuck of dry skin off, Godzilla examines it for a moment before letting the wind whisk it away. 

It didn’t help that the controlled charge had cause his temperature to rise and the cool air had not been enough to bring it down. While his temperature being high wasn’t a major concern and had benefited Mark by keeping the inside of the boat a comfortable temperature, Godzilla knew if it rose more, he’d be in some inconveniences. 

He needed to swim and since Mark had fallen asleep and would be sleeping for a while. If the human does wake up, he is still able to take care of himself. Surely a quick swim couldn’t hurt. Physically he needed to take care of himself, if not for Mark’s sake, but his own.

Standing up with a sigh and stretching, Godzilla slips his kimono back on and adjusts it while looking over the railing and thinking for a moment. Surely, he could walk to the ladder and climb down, he didn’t need to— 

“What are you thinking?” 

The sudden voice of Mark had startled Godzilla that he jumped and almost tumbled over the railing. Looking to his side he finds the human wrapped in one of the blankets and staring at him. 

“Don’t sneak up on me like that,” Godzilla takes a few breaths to calm his heart, “I… need to swim. Skin dried out and flaked off. The controlled charge has raised my body temperature, so I’m running a bit warmer than I’d prefer. I just feel—” 

“Out of it,” Mark finishes. 

“Yeah,” Godzilla nods. 

“Here,” 

Godzilla catches the two items Mark tosses. One is a white towel, but the other is something he hasn’t seen before and holds it up. It's a piece of black clothing that appears to be some kind of pants. Maybe short pants. He notices the string hanging from the waist part of the short pants. 

“Swim trunks. Many human males use them when swimming. You're a bit taller than me, but they should fit with relative ease,” Mark explains. 

“Thanks,” Godzilla mumbles as he places the trunks with the arm that holds the towel. At least he did have to swim nude. But how did Mark know that he was planning on taking a swim? Last he saw, the human was fast asleep, “You, ok?”

“Yeah, a bit tired,” Mark yawns and rubs his eyes before turning and heading back to the inside of the boat. 

Once Mark had disappeared into the boat, Godzilla jumped over the railing and felt his feet hitting the warm sand. Walking to the ladder and climbing down would have taken a few minutes at best, but he wanted to get himself out for a swim and had some space to think about what had happened. He had not expected Mark to pop up like he knew what Godzilla wanted to do. He had a feeling as to why Mark had suddenly appeared and seemed to know what he was about to do. Harmonizing, even incomplete, did give the human some abilities that a normal human wouldn’t possess. One ability is sensing what the harmonized Kaiju is feeling at the moment. However, this ability tends to work the most when the human and Kaiju are within close range.

Arriving at the rocky outcropping that Mark’s boat had originally settled on, Godzilla finds a part far enough from the water that his clothing and towel wouldn’t get wet. Setting the towel down, Godzilla quickly changes and heads to the water. The swim trunks felt a bit strange, but it was something he could get used to. 

Feeling the cold water against his hot and dry skin, Godzilla purrs as he swims out. He didn’t know if he should hunt or search for supplies that Mark had lost in the storm. Ocean currents could have dispersed the lost supplies anywhere and everywhere, but with how polluted the humans have made the Earth, he’s sure he could find something that could be useful. 

But for the moment, Godzilla enjoyed a leisurely swim. Dipping his head under the water and swimming into the shallows, he passes many fish and marine mammals. While he pays the creatures no mind, he notes a small school of fish hanging around the length of his tail. 

Looking around he doesn’t see anything that would have scared the school to use him for protection, so the other thought was that the school was… eating at the dried and flaking skin. 

Shaking the thought off, Godzilla swims more towards open water. It wasn’t long before the school of fish circling him returned to the safety of the reef, which he understood why. While being in a school did offer fish protection in open waters, this school in particular was too small and would have been dispatched if a predator had come across them. 

Swimming in open water like this wasn’t something Godzilla had done before. Out of the three times he’s used this form and had taken to the ocean, he stayed in the shallows and coral reefs. Open water had been… intimidating and in such a small body, Godzilla didn’t feel particularly comfortable.  

And yet, there was a possibility some of Mark’s supplies could have washed near the island. With the human sick, Godzilla knew he wouldn’t be eating as much as he would. This means that dry goods stored away would last longer, but he is unsure about the canned soups and chicken. Water is the biggest concern. While they had enough to last more than ten days, Mark being ill meant the human would need to consume more. Especially with him vomiting. 

After some time of searching, Godzilla did not find the crates that Mark had mentioned. He didn’t find anything that could have been useful for the human’s survival, and this left the human-kaiju in a sour mood.  He turned to head back to the reef when he caught a glimpse of something shiny. 

Swimming to take a look, Godzilla finds something metal sticking out of the sand. He must have turned at the right angle for him to see the sun casting off the metal or else he would have returned to the shallows and never knew what was hidden a few yards under him. 

Moving more sand off the metal object, Godzilla uncovers a handle and grabs it. Giving a few strong tugs, he unburied the item and found it to be… well he didn’t know. The item is rectangular and there’s a massive latch on one side. Turning it around, Godzilla doesn’t find anything that would help him identify what the object is. Having turned the thing over a few times, Godzilla concludes that the thing is barren of any writing. 

He looks around, hoping to find more of the item or something else. But it seems the sand floor appears to be empty for miles and miles on end. But since he had found this object buried, there could be more hidden. He didn’t know how much time he had, but he memorized the area. He could come back some other day and search the area as much as he wanted.

Taking the item, he found, he pushes himself off the sandy floor and starts to swim back to the shallows. He had expected the thing to be heavy, but it was not. He wanted to open it to make sure that it wasn’t empty, but if it did have something inside then he doesn’t want it to become wet. He’ll let Mark deal with the thing and figure out if he found something worthwhile. 

Godzilla had not expected something to ram into him and once he got his bearings, he found a medium-sized Great White Shark swimming around him. Watching the shark swim up to him, Godzilla is surprised when the shark shows him it’s belly. There’s something hanging from the shark’s lips and Godzilla understood what the creature was asking. 

Swimming to keep up with the shark, Godzilla places the rectangle between his knees so he can work on helping the Great White. There’s a hook lodged in the shark’s flesh, but it’s in an area that Godzilla can easily remove. Removing the hook was an easy job, but making sure the fishing line attached was all collected was a bit of an annoying experience. There wasn’t much fishing line, but it had tangled itself around the shark’s fin and he had to untangle it. But, seeing the shark now free had made the whole process worth it. 

Godzilla went to grab the object from his knees when he felt a bump. He looked up and saw the shark circling him. It bumped him with its fin and headed to the sandy floor that he had once been. He follows the shark and lets out a happy noise when something metal catches his eye. 

Swimming to the object, he moves the sand around and discovers it’s the same thing that he’s holding. Finding the handle and grabbing it, he pulls the item up with a bunch of sand flying everywhere. Swimming away from the mini sandstorm and looking for the shark, Godzilla doesn’t see the creature. Spinning himself around a few times, he confirms that he couldn’t find the shark and shrugs. 

Turning to the coral reef, Godzilla makes his way back. He had two of these strange objects and didn’t know what these things were, but one felt heavier than the other. Swimming to where he had entered the water, Godzilla uses his tail to catapult himself out of the water and onto the outcropping. 

Landing on his feet, Godzilla shakes a lot of the saltwater off of himself. He walks to where he left everything, and they are still there. Setting the metal things down, Godzilla slips the swim trunks off and wraps himself up in the towel. The sun had warmed the item, and he purred feeling this against his wet skin. 

As he dries himself off, Godzilla finds a shallow cut running the length of his left foot. It’s on the inner side and he didn’t know how this cut had appeared or at what point it could have occurred, but it didn’t seem to be anything he would have to worry about. The cut should heal within a few days at most. 

Once dried and dressed, Godzilla places the towel and swim trunks over his shoulder, while the metal items are in his hands. Making his way to the boat, Godzilla ignores the slight sting of the sand in his wound. He can clean the wound once he makes it to the boat and has settled down. 

Once he arrives at the boat, Godzilla slips inside and finds Mark awake. He’s sitting with something on the table and a pencil in his hand. Godzilla steps closer and the human turns his head to greet him, but the surprised expression is something Godzilla chuckled too.

“Well, I did find something,” Godzilla sets the metal things on the table, making sure to not get what Mark was writing on wet, “I don’t know what these are though,” 

“But I do,” Mark moves what was in front of him to the couch and pulls the two items to himself, “Where did you find these ammo cans?” 

“Ammo cans?” Godzilla repeats. 

“Yeah,” Mark nods, “Humans use these to store ammunition, but some use them to store other things,” 

“Oh,” Godzilla says as he walks into the bathroom and places the towel and swim trunks on the floor. He returns and sits on the other couch, the pain in his foot stinging from the pressure of walking, “I found them while swimming. One does feel a bit heavier than the other,” 

Mark tilts his head with a raised brow, “You, ok?” 

“Yeah,” Godzilla lies, “Feeling a little gross since I have dried seawater on me,” 

Mark points to the bathroom, “Take a shower. There’s enough water for a few showers,” 

There’s a moment of silence before Godzilla stands and slips himself into the bathroom. Mark follows and shows the other how to work the shower, then he returns to the couch to sit and look over the ammo cans. 

“I might be a bit,” Godzilla poked his head out to let Mark know before disappearing and the door to the bathroom closing. 

He hears a chuckle from Mark as he undoes his kimono and turns the water on. There’s the sound of something unlatching and wonders if the cans have anything worthwhile inside. He better not have gotten a cut on his foot for nothing. 

Chapter Text

After his quick shower and dressing, Godzilla finds himself sitting across from Mark. Spread out on the table were the contents of the ammo cans he had found. He had expected well… ammunition since the can’s had the ‘Ammo’ in the name. 

He didn’t know what the items were, so Mark had gone through everything and explained what he had found swimming. One of the cans had more flashlights, batteries, some battery banks of different sizes, and charging cords. He didn’t know there were other types of flashlights besides the small one that Mark had used before. He didn’t know what batteries were and what a battery bank was. 

The last ammo can though? 

“So, why the hell did one of the cans have nothing but granola bars?” Godzilla asks as he picks a bar and shoots a look at Mark. When he had stepped out of the bathroom and made his way to Mark, the human had opened the last ammo can and the contents had been unexpected, “Mark?” 

Godzilla could tell that he didn’t want to answer the question since he was looking away when the question was asked. Last he remembered, Mark wasn’t flushed due to his illness, but now there’s a light tint of pink to his neck and cheeks. He has a feeling as to why Mark is all flushed up. Using the packaged food to hide his lips, Godzilla feels a smile pulling. 

“Mark,” Godzilla says in a sing-song voice, “Why is an ammo can full of—” 

He feels something smack against his forehead before hearing a light thump. Looking down, he sees a granola bar in front of him on the table. But he’s still holding the one he picked up earlier. Taking a glance at the human and blinking a few times, Godzilla spots the corner of Mark’s lip twitch. 

“You didn’t,” He whispers in disbelief, “You didn’t,” 

Mark tilts his head, trying to look innocent, “What?” 

“Don’t play coy with me!” Godzilla grumbled, “You did not throw that at my head,” 

“I don’t know what you're talking about,” Mark turns his head to the side. Though his hand sneaks towards the mountain of the snack food. 

“Don’t!” Godzilla notices the hand and is able to dodge the incoming projectile.

Having swung his body to the side and using the table as a partial shield, Godzilla looks at the human with a raised brow when he hears the chuckle. He didn’t know what was up with the human, but he seemed to be in a… playful mood. 

“What is up with you?” Godzilla asks as he slowly sits himself up, though still ready to duck if Mark has another granola bar at the ready, “Playful are we?”

Mark shrugs, “Bored, I guess?”

“So, you decide to throw granola bars at me?” Godzilla raised a brow, “You can go back to what you were doing before I can back. Hell, take a nap. But, throwing food at me? You can’t be seri—” 

Felt something whacking him in the face and sliding down. There’s a thump and looking down, Godzilla finds another granola bar had been thrown at him and now lays on the floor. 

There’s a moment of silence, before Godzilla turns at Mark and smirks, “Oh that does it,” 

Hearing the panicked cries of ‘Wait! Wait!’ from Mark, Godzilla ignores the human as he swings from his seat and around the table to deal with the playful being. Mark had tried to get away, but being wrapped in the blanket does make movement difficult. Which is why Godzilla had been able to catch the human and pins him to the bottom of the couch. 

Being mindful of his weight and strength, Godzilla waits until the human has gotten a few good punches in before leaning down and using his weight to hold the human in place. All the while, Mark laughs out several ‘Sorrys’ and says he wouldn’t do it again. Godzilla wasn’t going to fall for the human’s promises, not when he was still in such a playful mood. 

He thought about getting some payback for the food being thrown at him, but the mischievousness from earlier had dissipated and Godzilla wanted the human to settle down before cleaning the table and seeing what time it was. 

If Mark had been in better health, then he may have acted on his thoughts. But the human needed to conserve whatever energy he could muster. He knew as to why Mark had suddenly become playful as well. 

He needed to speak with Mark about his harmonizing ability as soon as he could. Mark’s sudden playfulness is connected to the mischievousness that Godzilla had felt earlier, but he wonders why the human had chosen to react in that manner. Godzilla knew he couldn’t force Mark to react a certain way to his feelings. 

Did Mark see an opportunity and take it? 

He files the question away for later as he sees that Mark has started to settle. Humming he asks, “Finally calmed down, have we?” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Mark yawns, “Now, get off. You’re still heavy.” 

Doing as the human asked, Godzilla looks out the window and blinks in shock. The sun was going down and nightfall would be in a few hours. He didn’t realize how much time had passed. Surely, he hasn’t been out swimming for that long? 

“You came back around later afternoon,” Mark sits up and starts to place the granola bars back into the ammo can. 

Godzilla looks at the table and focuses on the flashlights that are scattered about. There’s a headlamp that has four levels of brightness. A low, medium, high, and one that Mark called SOS. Mark had explained that SOS was a distress signal that humans use to tell each other that they were in trouble and needed help. With flashlights that had this feature, this signal was rapid blinking of the lights. 

One flashlight was like the small one that Mark had but was a little bit bigger and black. One part of this bigger flashlight twisted, which Mark showed affected the light. The light that had been wide, had turned into one that was narrow, and the middle became very bright. Mark had called the wide feature Flood and the narrow one Bulls-Eye.

The last flashlight item was one Mark explained as a spot and flood light. Turning the flashlight on, Mark demonstrates the spots and flood modes. This one had three modes in total: a low, high, and flood. They also discover that this flashlight is a swivel, which explains the ninety-degree angle. 

“Something tells me I shouldn’t have introduced you to what a flashlight is,” Mark’s chuckle rings out and brings Godzilla back to the present. 

“Yo-yo-you didn’t introduce m-m-me,” Godzilla spluttered, face heating up.

“Relax,” Mark drops the last of the granola bar into the can and closes it, “I only said that ‘cause you spaced out again,” 

Godzilla turned his head to try and hide the embarrassed flush on his face. He isn’t sure why he’s so fixated on flashlights, but it’s causing him to look like an idiot and not a creature that has existed for millions of years. 

“Don’t get so upset at yourself. I’m sure others would act the same if they saw something like this,” Mark waves the black flashlight before placing it on Godzilla’s side of the table, “Feeling a bit hungry,” 

“Well, you didn’t really eat anything today, due to your stomach,” Taking the subject change, Godzilla walks past the table and into the kitchen. He opens the cupboards and finds everything they had inventoried in the beginning of this debacle, “There’s soup or canned chicken. Which one do you want?” 

“The papaya is in the fridge,” Mark says while he starts to put away the electronics. 

“You want anything… else?” Godzilla turned to the ill human and raised a brow, “Papaya, on its own, isn’t a filling meal,” 

“What do you want to clean? Throw up that’s strictly papaya or papaya and soup mixed?” Mark turned to the human-kaiju and leveled a brow. 

Taking a moment to think, Godzilla closed the cupboards and opened the refrigerator. Taking the smallest fruit that had been brought from the waterfall journey, Godzilla takes out a knife and cuts the fruit into pieces. Setting the knife into the sink, he’ll wash it sometime in the morning. Placing the fruit into a bowel and grabbing a plastic fork, he takes it to Mark and sets it in front of the human. 

Sitting across from him, Godzilla notices that Mark has put everything but the black flashlight back into the ammo can. Taking the flashlight into his hand and feeling the weight, Godzilla had expected this one to be heavier than the small one that Mark had. He hasn’t held the flashlight Mark kept on him but looks told him that the one he’s got in his hand is heavier. 

Leaning back, Godzilla rubs his fingers around the flashlight and notes the smooth and rough textures. Looking at the item in his hands, Godzilla sees that the rough textured parts of the flashlight have a diamond pattern. There’s a thin piece of metal that Godzilla thinks could be used to hook the flashlight onto something. 

Hearing a yawn, he looked up and found Mark had finished his bowel. Setting the flashlight onto the table, he gets up and takes the items to the trash can in the kitchen. Returning to where he sat, he finds Mark had laid down and is drifting into sleep. 

“Night,” Godzilla whispers, “Try to get some sleep,” 

“Night,” Mark mumbles, “Can’t promise anything,”

Godzilla chuckles as he lays down and pulls the blanket over himself. While he isn’t feeling tired at the moment, Godzilla knows the high of the day will soon crash and exhaustion will set it. Stretching himself to get comfortable, he hisses at pain when his wounded foot stings from the movement. 

“You, ok?”

“I’m fine,” Godzilla looks to Mark and finds the human with a concerned expression. Giving a wave of his hand, he says, “Stretched a little too rough,” 

Mark hums but doesn’t say anything else. He closes his eyes and soon enough he’s sleeping in minutes. 

Closing his eyes, Godzilla allows himself to relax as the day’s high finally comes down. Yawning as he slips his arm under his head, Godzilla settles into a sleep. 

Feeling the cool breeze against his back, Godzilla's eyes look down, finding Mark’s head nestled in his lap and his body pressed against the length of his legs. His tail follows the length of Mark’s body, appearing to cocoon the human in a protective embrace. Feeling a soft rumble in his chest, Godzilla places his hand on Mark’s head and runs his fingers through his hair. He watches as Mark presses his face deeper into his lap and a small smile pulls onto his face. It wasn’t every day that Godzilla had allowed someone to use his lap as a pillow and let them take an afternoon nap in the sun. 

How had he found himself in this position? 

Well, Godzilla mentioned how he and Mark had spent the past three days cooped up in the boat and some fresh air seemed like a good idea. The three days had passed without much of anything happening. Mark had slept for most of those days, which allowed Godzilla to do what he wanted without having to keep an eye on the ill human. So, he had taken those days to relax and keep himself off his injured foot. Yesterday, he noticed that the injury had been healing slower than he wished, but it’s healing, nonetheless. 

That night had been a quick dinner and Mark went back to sleep and slept without the night. When morning came, Godzilla had made breakfast, which was when he mentioned the topic. 

At first Mark had wanted to stay in the boat and sleep, but Godzilla had nagged the human to come out and get a little bit of sun. After a minor back and forth, they had come up with a compromise. Mark would come out and get some sun, but he wanted to be laying down and nap. 

But the boat didn’t have anything for Mark to sleep on, not even a lounge chair. Godzilla didn’t want the human to sleep on the deck without something between him and the wood. Since part of the boat had been under the trees to create shade, the wind had blown leaves and sap onto parts of the deck. Godzilla had taken some time to clean the leaves from the deck, but the sap wasn’t going anywhere. He didn’t have anything to help scrap the sap off, so he decided to choose a part of the deck that had the least amount of sap.

Taking the second blanket and spreading it on the deck, Godzilla sat down and leaned against the railing with his arm extended along the metal. Resting his head against his arm, he hums as Mark makes himself comfortable and soon, he’s falling asleep. 

Hearing a groan, Godzilla is brought back to the present and stops massaging Mark’s head. He moves his hand to the human’s shoulder, “You, ok?” 

“Yeah,” Mark mumbles into the human-kaiju’s lap, “Just… something seems weird— strange even,” 

Godzilla tilts his head feeling confused, “What do you mean ‘strange’?” 

“It’s… I’m not sure how to explain it,” Mark says, “But it’s like… I know when somethings up?” 

“Up?” Godzilla raised a brow. He had a feeling he knew what Mark was trying to say but had wanted the human to speak his mind without his influence. 

“It’s like I’m having feelings, but they’re not mine,” Mark turns so he’s now lying on his back and looking up at the human-kaiju. He had unconsciously grabbed the other’s tail with one hand, while the fingers on his other laced through the fingers now on his chest. The feeling of unease and nervous swirled inside him, “I feel like I’ve tapped into someone else’s emotions and can understand their feelings at any moment, but it’s only a small amount,” 

“Easy there,” Godzilla closed his eyes and let out a soft sigh, keeping himself calm. He can feel the uneasiness and nervousness coming from the other. He moved his hand from Mark’s shoulder to his chest, knowing the human would seek out comfort. He’ll tell Mark of his ability once the human has gotten everything out of his system, “Try to explain the best you can,”

“It seems like if I’m not near, I can’t feel anything. But, if I’m close, I can feel a ping, even though it’s small. Sometimes I feel calm, other times it’s playful, and once in a while I just get annoyed. It’s like I’m not myself at times,” Mark explains, “I don’t know what’s going on,” 

Moving his head from his arm, he moved his arm to place his hand on top of Mark’s head and ran his fingers through the human’s hair in an attempt to comfort him, “I understand how you feel, and unfortunately… it’s my fault,” 

Mark raised a brow at the human-kaiju, “What do you mean?” 

“I have an ability that…” Godzilla paused to search for a word. He wasn’t the best at explaining, but is trying, “... An ability that allows me to connect to someone. Normally I choose and speak with the person if I plan to use this ability, but…”

Mark eyed Godzilla as the human-kaiju bit his lower lip, “What happened?” 

“The night where I had you sleep on me—” 

“Still not a comfortable mattress to sleep on,” Mark interrupts with a teasing smile. 

“Can you not?” Godzilla stopped rubbing Mark’s head to pinch his nose, feeling a smile pulling on his lips, “If I wasn’t a comfortable mattress, why are you using my lap, then?”

Swatting the hand from his nose, Mark responds, “Your lap is better,”

Rolling his eyes, Godzilla rested his hand back on Mark’s head, “When I woke up that morning, I hadn’t realized my ability had been active and I was about to fall back asleep. When I did realize it, I had to forcibly stop. I hadn’t expected my ability to… un… ‘active’ while we had been sleeping,” 

Mark let out a hum, “I think I know what you're talking about,” 

“What?” Godzilla blinks at the human. Had his ability been recorded and he wasn’t aware? 

“One of the other researchers had found some ruins that recorded an explanation of an ability that allowed a human and Kaiju to harmonize. It seems a Kaiju can choose a human and harmonize with them as a way to connect themselves to the human world,” Mark says, “Many think it’s so the Kaijus could appear more human to us than well… as animals. Though the text says it was a way for them to connect to the gods,” 

Godzilla let out a hum, “Well, back then, ancient civilizations did see me and the others as deities. I shouldn’t be surprised that’s how the ability had been explained,” 

“So, why did you choose me?” 

“I didn’t. Well, at least not consciously. It’s possible that due to you being ill and being out in cold weather, I was worried enough to allow the process to begin and didn’t realize it until that morning,” Godzilla says, “I… haven’t harmonized with a human in so long, I had forgotten how fickle— sensitive even— the ability can be,” 

There’s some silence between the two before Mark opens his mouth, “We haven’t translated the full text yet…” 

“Worried about what happens to a human when harmonized. It's a normal thing even humans I’ve harmonized with have had,” Godzilla hums, “With a complete harmonization, nothing changes with the human. The list is small, but you’ll be able to locate me anywhere on the surface and Hollow Earth, you’ll know the general feeling of what I’m having at any moment. Though if I’m closer to you, you’ll be able to tell exactly how I feel. You might have a bit of strength increase, but nothing that needs to be worried about. And you might have an increase in appetite, but it shouldn’t be anything detrimental,”

“So, I’m not going to be bio-nuclear or end up looking like you?” 

“Ok, first, rude,” Godzilla huffed. Mark better not have been trying to call him ugly, “But, yes, you’ll be a relatively unchanged human through and through. Now, I have been given claims that those who do harmonize with me are more resistant to radiation, but I can’t confirm if this is true,” 

Godzilla noticed the look Mark had on his face and snorted, “No, don’t even think about it. You’re not going to try and test that theory,” 

“You’re no fun,” Mark huffs, “So what about an incomplete harmonizing?” 

“Well, it depends on how far the process had gotten before it stopped. For simplicity’s sake, if the process is fifty percent or more complete, you’ll still be able to feel what I’m generally feeling. For knowing exact feelings, you may not be able to feel everything, even though I may be close,” Godzilla says, “You might be able to feel the direction I’m in. But as for pinpointing, you won’t be able to. Everything else comes when the process is complete,” 

“Is that all the abilities given?” Mark asks, “Seems to be a rather small list,” 

“I’m not sure. I wasn’t really into harmonizing with humans, unlike the others. In truth, I had harmonized with a total of three humans and those were the only abilities that I saw. I also tend to sleep a lot, so it’s possible I haven’t been told or felt more abilities with those I had harmonized with,” Godzilla says, “Mothra has harmonized with humans the most, she’s more knowledgeable on the topic,” 

“So, it sounds like we’re going in blind,” Mark hums. 

“You don’t have to complete the harmonizing,” Godzilla says, feeling a bit panicked. Mark didn’t think he’d force him to complete it, did he? “I didn’t want to do it in the first place. It was an accident. I’m not—”

“Relax. I know you didn’t mean to have this happen and I know you're not going to force me,” Mark rolled his eyes, “Jumping to conclusions a little too early,” 

“Sorry,” Godzilla sighs with relief, “I don’t like the idea all that much. Not my thing,” 

“Well, how about this?” Mark hums, “For the rest of my time here, we can think about whether we should complete the harmonizing or not. That's why we can take our time,”

Godzilla muses over what Mark proposed. At this moment, five and half days have passed since Godzilla had found Mark and this means that there’s eight and half days left before Mark is rescued. 

“You said they’ll come to get you in fourteen days, right?” 

“Seven to fourteen,” Mark corrected, “Though I suspect fourteen, due to how hidden the island is,” 

Godzilla hummed as he looked out to the ocean, taking in the calmness and beauty that nature provided, “I suppose it’s something we can do,” 

Mark sits up and looks out at the ocean as well, “Beautiful, isn’t it?” 

“It is. Sometimes I don’t give myself the time to appreciate the small things,” Godzilla says, “Being the ruling alpha doesn’t give me time to relax and see everything around me,” 

“Should have brought my camera from inside,” Mark hums, “The scenery is perfect,” 

Godzilla looks to the sun and notes it’ll begin setting in about three hours, “You can, but the sun will set in about three hours. So, just stay near the boat, ok?” 

Mark looked at Godzilla before rolling his eyes, “I’m not a child, I do have some common sense,”

“Sometimes I feel like you don’t,” Godzilla chuckles, as he watches Mark stand up and head to the inside of the boat, “Also you didn’t answer my question about the granola bars in the ammo can,” 

“I don’t think those came from the boat,” Mark called out, “If so, then I didn’t pack them!” 

Godzilla watches as the human disappears into the boat and shakes his head. The ammo cans had been buried nearly completely in the sand when he found them, but he knew from experience that storms can stir up the sentiment and bury anything within a day if said storm is strong enough. He doesn’t know how strong the storm was that Mark had encountered, but the cans didn’t have any marks on them to help identify them. 

Laying his arm on the railing, Godzilla leans his head against it and lets out a sigh. While he had stayed off his feet for the past three days, he had noticed a heavy feeling from his body. There’s a light ache in his bones and he’s been feeling a bit more tired than normal. 

He had checked his wound when he had woken up and his wound appeared to be healing, but that didn’t explain the tiredness and achy feeling. He had chalked it up to himself recovering from when he used the controlled charge to warm the tent. 

Looking up when he hears footsteps, Godzilla finds Mark climbing down the ladder and heading towards the rocky outcrop where the boat had once been long ago. Watching him for a few minutes, Godzilla enjoys the breeze and decides to look at his wound again. Mark is so far out that he shouldn’t see what the human-kaiju is doing. 

Pulling his foot and resting it on his thigh, Godzilla notes how the wound has only healed about one-fourth of the length of his foot. Normally he’ll heal from wounds in his human form in about four days, but the evidence is telling him that he is not healing like he should. 

Feeling the area around his wound, he notes the tenderness and slight pain. But everything looked normal for a wound that’s healing. He isn't sure what’s going on, but if it doesn't get better in three days, he’ll let Mark look at it. 

Soon, night falls and Mark has returned to the boat. They gather the blankets and settle themselves back inside the boat for dinner of soup, water, and hardtack. 

As Godzilla falls into sleep, he wonders what the next eight or so days will bring.

Chapter Text

Morning must have come as Godzilla wakes to sounds coming from the kitchen. He pulls the blanket over his head to block out the sun. He doesn’t want to get up, the warmth from the blanket more inviting than the prospect of what the day will hold. 

Groaning as the blanket is removed from his head, Godzilla looks at the human with narrowed eyes, “Really? Can’t I get five more minutes?” 

“No,” Mark lets out an amused snort, “Making breakfast soon,” 

“Right,” Godzilla pulls the blanket over his head, “I’m going back to sleep,” 

This time the blanket is completely pulled off again and Godzilla glares at the human before rubbing his eyes. Can’t a human-kaiju get a few more minutes of sleep? 

“Sorry, but that’s not happening,” Mark hums as he folds the item, “We’re running a bit low on water. So, we’ll have to take a trip up to the waterfall soon,” 

“I don’t remember us using that much water the past few days,” Godzilla sits up and titled his head to the human, “You slept for most of that time,” 

The human-kaiju looks out the window and finds the sun barely crested over the Earth. 

Why the hell did Mark wake him up so early?

“And you remember me vomiting, right?” Mark sets the blanket on the back of the couch and makes his way to the kitchen. 

“Before I gave you that trash can? Yes,” Godzilla shuttered at the memory, “I had to clean it up a few times and that wasn’t pleasant to do. We should still have enough to last us for some time. I didn’t use much to clean your vomit and we didn’t make any of the dry food you have,” 

“Well, you would be correct, but…” Mark turns around holding one of the plastic jugs. The thing was empty, “I polished off one already and I’m halfway through the second,”

Godzilla blinked at the human, before giving a full-body sigh. He had expected Mark to be a bit dehydrated since he had not consumed much water during the past three days, but he had not expected the human to drink so much at once. 

“I get you’re thirsty, I would be too after not getting enough to drink in three days,” Godzilla says. He wasn’t the best at understanding the human body, but surely drinking a lot of water at once would be harmful, “But why would you drink so much at once? Isn’t that bad for a human?”

“Well, the assumption would be correct,” Mark says, setting a pot on the stove and filling it with some water. He flicks the burner on, “But, I’ve been up for three hours and I’ve been drinking a safe amount,” 

Godzilla raised a brow, not sure what was considered a “safe amount” for a human who had little water throughout three days. He did not like taking the human at his word, but he did work for Monarch… surely the organization wouldn’t hire someone who couldn’t look after themselves in a situation like this. 

“So, I assume the plan is to have breakfast and head out to the waterfall?” Godzilla asks, knowing this time around, the trip should be shorter. 

“Depends on how long we’ll be gone,” Mark answers, “I want to check some things on the boat before leaving this time,” 

“And what would that be?” Godzilla raised a brow. To his knowledge, the boat's fine. 

Mark measured out some porridge into the water, “I need to check on how much fuel is left. There's a water tank I need to look at as well,” 

Godzilla blinked at Mark as he felt the corner of his lip twitch, “A water tank? Did I hear that correctly?” 

“Yes,” Mark flipped the stove off and stirred the porridge, “It’s mainly used for showers and laundry, so the tank isn’t that big,” 

That did make sense. Mark originally had been heading to a different island and planned to stay there for at least four weeks. He would have to clean himself and his clothing during that time. 

At least, he’d hoped Mark could bathe and wash his clothes.

“Saying this now, that shower has not been used as frequently as it should. And I know laundry has not been done,” Godzilla nervously chuckles, knowing he needs to have another shower soon. 

His kimono needs to be cleaned as well, but he is unsure if Mark has any products for delicate and expensive clothing. His kimono is one-of-a-kind and has been with him for so long that he couldn’t remember the time period of when he had the kimono commissioned. 

“I’m aware,” Mark takes two bowels out, places them onto the counter, and portions out breakfast. 

With breakfast at the table, Godzilla waits for his to cool before eating. He is not letting himself make the same mistake of eating freshly hot food that had been made only moments ago. The roof of his mouth had been burnt and eating afterwards had been an uncomfortable experience. 

The pain from that experience was just as bad as the one he feels now with his injured foot. Which he is keeping pressure off of as a way to soothe the discomfort. 

“I’m also aware that someone needs his kimono washed along with a shower,” 

“And someone needs to wash all his clothes and shower as well,” Godzilla gives the human a mean stink eye, “At least I did shower,” 

“Three days ago. Still surprised your hair looks clean,” Mark says, “Most would have greasy hair that’s visibly weighted down,” 

Godzilla would have taken a spoon full of porridge, but what Mark said made him raise a brow and set his spoon down. 

“What? Something wrong?” Mark looked up from his food, “Not hungry?” 

“So, you're saying that humans don’t wash their hair properly? What the hell? Humanity is so advanced, but they can’t wash their hair properly. I know Mothra taught generations— and I mean generations— of humans how to properly wash their hair.” Godzilla rubs his temples, “And it wasn’t generations of humans in one area. Mothra traveled from country to country; continent to continent, settlement to settlement, and she made sure to show every human how to properly wash their hair. Hair type did not matter cause she knew or knew someone who did know,” 

“You’re frustrated, I get it,” Mark hums, “But do understand that life for early humans and for those after was not as easy as it is now. I would not be surprised if techniques have been lost over time. And I don’t mean just hair washing,” 

Godzilla sighed, knowing Mark was correct. He has woken from his numerous sleeps to see many civilizations rise and fall, knowing knowledge and techniques were both gained and lost. Yet it still hurt knowing some of the hard work Mothra and the others had not been passed on.

“I know,” Godzilla grumbles as he stares at his porridge, “It’s just… a lot of hard work is lost and some of the kaiju that helped are… no longer here,” 

“Knowledge can be retaught and even with those gone, I’m sure some of what they’ve given to others is still around. It might not be in the way you or the others expect, but it can be there,” Mark says, “Now eat your breakfast before it gets any colder,” 

“Right,” Godzilla sighs. While he didn’t feel hungry, most likely due to his mood, Mark had made him breakfast. Since they were going back to the waterfall, he needed the fuel. 

He moved the spoon around, the thought of having bland porridge every morning wasn’t something that appealed to him. The quick thought of telling Mark he’s not hungry and letting him finish it crossed his mind. The human hasn’t eaten well during his illness, surely a second helping of breakfast could do the human good. It’s not like— 

“Not happening. I can feel what you're feeling, remember?” Mark eyes the human-kaiju, “I get you’re not feeling too hungry, but you’ll appreciate a full stomach when we set off,” 

He should have seen that coming. Mark did have a point, even though he didn’t want to admit it. Godzilla knows he’s a prideful being and he knows that this pridefulness has bitten him in the ass numerous times in the past. 

“I know radiation is your main food source,” Mark leans back into the couch, “But you’ve used some of that radiation already and from what I can tell, you’ve been sleeping for the past three days,” 

“I was taking some time to relax while you recovered,” Godzilla spoons a little of the bland porridge into his mouth. With the food not having flavor, Godzilla wasn’t finding breakfast appetizing.

He also didn’t want to tell the human about his injury as it wasn’t healing to his liking. 

“What is it?” 

Godzilla looked at Mark with a raised brow, “Huh?” 

“Something’s up. I can feel it,” Mark gives a knowing look, “What is it?”

“Breakfast isn’t tasting too good,” Godzilla looks at his food, “Tastes too bland,”

He tilts his head as Mark gives a sigh, stands from his seat, and heads to the kitchen. He watches as the human opens some drawers and rummages through them. He isn't sure what Mark was looking for, but it has to be something that would go with the porridge. 

Hopefully, it was something good. 

After what appeared to be a few minutes, Mark found something. The human returns to the table and slides what he finds to Godzilla. 

“That might make breakfast more tolerable,” 

Godzilla picked up the small plastic container and turned it over in his hand. The bottle has a label, but he is unable to read it. The corner of his lip twitches as he curses his inability to read. 

“It’s cinnamon sugar,” Mark hums. 

Godzilla moves his gaze from the bottle to Mark then back to the bottle, “People mix cinnamon and sugar?” 

Mark nods, “It’ll give breakfast some flavor,”

Godzilla popped the cap open and sprinkled some of the seasoning onto his food. The cap closes with a snap and Godzilla spoons a little of the porridge into his mouth. A purr rumbles from his chest as Godzilla finds the cinnamon sugar has made the porridge more eatable. 

Pleasant, even. 

“Better?”

Godzilla nodded as he watched a small smile appear on Mark’s face. The rest of breakfast was finished in silence, which allowed Godzilla to plan the upcoming days. Since Mark has recovered from his illness, the trip should take two days. Maybe one, if the human is feeling well enough. 

“So, why did you wake me up early?” 

“Well, aside from checking on the things I need to do with the boat,” Marks begins, “Last time you checked the backpack three times before we left. If you’re planning on doing that again, I would like for it to not be a reason for us to start late. At least with you up early, you’ll be able to check to your heart's content and we’ll still be able to leave at a decent time,” 

It had taken a moment for the other’s words to sink in and digest, but Godzilla was not going to be taking such an accusation lying down— or sitting for that matter. 

“Oh, you are not blaming me for wanting to be certain we had everything,” Godzilla responds, feeling his face turning into a scowl. He kept his voice steady, but here’s a bit of annoyance, “You were ill and I did not need us turning back for something while in the middle of that trip. So, excuse me for triple-checking,” 

Mark raised a brow as a smirk slowly pulled on his lips, “So, are you mad that I woke you up? Or because I know you well enough to know you’re going to pack the backpack and triple-check it?” 

Godzilla could feel the spark of playfulness coming from Mark and realized what the human was trying to get him to do. No, he’s not falling for it this time. 

“I know what you’re trying to do and it’s not going to work. Not this time,” Godzilla says, taking the empty bowl and spoon from the table and throwing it in the trash in the kitchen, “Well, since we’re up and the sun isn’t in the sky at the moment might as well do what you need to do. And get everything we need packed up,” 

He would have gone back to sleep, but he’s been up for a bit and breakfast has him wide awake. He hears Mark chuckle and snorts loudly when the human passes by him. 

“Don’t be so sour,” Mark says in a bright mood, “You’ll be happy we got things started early,”

Godzilla turned to look at the human with a raised brow, wondering what the human could be on about. He’d much rather get some more sleep, but humans are strange creatures. Being able to feel Mark’s mood had helped simmer him down from annoyance to contentment. 

“Mark, you’re experimenting with the feeling ability, are you not?” Godzilla asks. It’s the only explanation he can think of as to why he feels like his emotions are flip-flopping while Mark’s is stable. 

“I’m just going off of what you're giving and responding accordingly,” Mark shrugs, yet his mood does not change. 

“Mark,” Godzilla eyes the human, “I should be annoyed— mad even at this moment, but I’m not. I’m content. This whole morning has been rather… strange, no?” 

“I’m part of Monarch, what did you expect?” Mark shrugs, “You want the other scientists trying to experiment with eyes constantly on you or have it done here with two of us and I give them the information?” 

Godzilla mulled over what Mark said. He knew the human was correct and he did not want to be subjected to constant poking and prodding by other humans that he had not met. The thought of having humans sticking him with God knows what and collecting what they want from him sent a shiver down his spine. 

“I won’t let them touch you, not without your consent,” 

Mark’s voice brings the human-kaiju back to the present, who nods, “Right. Just don’t like the thought of everything that involves… you know,”

“I get it,” Mark reassures, “I never liked going to the doctor, so I get it to an extent,” 

“Right,” Godzilla says, quickly thinking of a way to change the subject, “Well, let’s check on what you need to do with the boat then start packing,” 

Godzilla crossed his arms in front of him and rubbed his arms in a way to soothe himself. The talk about experiments had always made him uncomfortable, which he knew Mark could feel. 

“What to see how bright the flashlights we have are?” Mark asks, clearly taking Godzilla’s opening, “You’ll be surprised how bright some can be,” 

“Oh?” Godzilla tilted his head as Mark led him outside to where the water tank for the shower was hidden.

“So, I know you said you’d document your time on the island,” Godzilla says, “But, what exactly have you taken note of?” 

After checking on the water level in the tank, fuel in the engines, and packing everything they believed was needed, Godzilla and Mark set off to the waterfall. They’ve been walking the trail for about three hours and planned to spend the night at the little clearing like they had when they first went to collect water. 

And yes, Godzilla had tripled-checked the backpack. He had to swat at Mark a few times for saying ‘I told you so’ in a mocking manner. He knew the human was being a thorn in his side, but he gave the same reasoning as before. 

“Well, I had written down what I experienced with the storm and being sick,” Mark says, “Yesterday was the first time I had documented anything thoroughly with photos attached. There isn’t much I had written down about the island,” 

Walking side by side, Godzilla tilted his head to the human and raised a brow, “So, that’s all you’ve written down?”

“As in, what do I plan to give them? Yes,” Mark says. 

“So, you have things documented that you don’t plan to hand over?” Godzilla didn’t understand why Mark would do something like that. Mark is part of Monarch and any information they can gather would be invaluable to the organization. 

“Well, do you want them to know more about this form of yours and your other ability?” 

“Right, point taken,” Godzilla looked forward, “So, why are you recording me?” 

“It’s more of recording your harmonizing ability and how it affects me. There isn’t much for me to go off of, since the ruins have not been fully translated. Not sure if the ruins explain what happens to someone with an incomplete harmonize, but better to log what’s happening in case it’s valuable,” Mark explains. 

Godzilla lets out a snort, “Mark any information is valuable. You’re what? A scientist?”  

“In a way I am,” Mark notes the look Godzilla gives and explains, “I was a senior anthrozoologist before I became a leader of the Titan Relief,”

“A… anthrozoologist?” Godzilla blinked at the other. 

“I study the interactions between humans and animals, mostly domestic and wild animals. I was brought on due to… um… something my ex-wife and I had created,” Mark gives a full body sigh, “It was… well…” 

“It’s ok,” Godzilla says, noting the uncomfortableness and nervousness feelings coming from the human. It’s clear this is a topic he doesn’t want to speak about, “You don’t need to talk about your history with Monarch if you don’t want to,” 

Godzilla slowed his pace to allow himself to hang back a little behind Mark, giving the human some space. He didn’t mean to cause him discomfort, but it seemed there was something that the two may need to speak. If Mark finds himself comfortable enough to do so. 

It was just a little before noon when they had made it to the fallen log that they used as a resting stop. Mark sits himself on the log and zips the backpack open and fishes for something. 

Godzilla made his way and tilted his head, before asking, “What are you looking for?” 

“My camera,” Mark replies as he finds what he was looking for, “We got a bit of time and I want to get a few pictures before we head out,” 

“Don’t go too far,” Godzilla hummed as he sat down. 

“I don’t remember you being my dad,” Mark throws the playful jab, trying to lighten the mood. 

“Trust me,” Godzilla waved the human off, “You don’t want me as a dad. I’m not that good at keeping someone alive, much less at being a parent,” 

“You’re keeping me alive, so that’s something,” Mark takes the camera and heads to the tree that Godzilla had marked. 

Letting Mark take the pictures he wanted, Godzilla let a pained sigh slip from his mouth. He made sure to keep the sigh to a volume that Mark couldn’t hear, he didn’t need the human asking him if he’s alright and finding the injury. He’s sure that Mark would make them return to the boat if he found out that he was injured. 

So, he mostly ignored the throbbing in his foot while they had been walking. Now that he’s sitting, he removes some of the pressure and feels the wave of relief flooding. He has not inspected his injury before leaving and now isn’t the best time. 

Mark’s too close for comfort.

He’ll have to look over his wound once the duo has set up camp for the night and Mark is fast asleep. However, he’s taken note of tiredness setting in after the backpack had been packed and checked. He believes it’s from breakfast, but it has grown slightly over the hours from their travel. 

When Godzilla looked at the sky after some time, he noted that Mark spent forty-five minutes taking pictures and documenting what he saw in the area. He called the human over to have a quick snack before they were to head off to the clearing and set up camp for the night. 

“You never did answer my question,” Godzilla says as he slides down the path. The movement caused a slight pain in his foot, but he kept himself from showing his discomfort. 

“If it’s about the granola bars, then that was most likely a prank from someone who knows me,” Mark says after swallowing a mouthful of papaya, “I joked about having an ammo can full of granola bars a few times. Though, I don’t expect anyone would have tried,” 

“And who would have done that?” Godzilla felt his interest in this spike. Seems humanity hasn't changed all that much in some aspects. He wondered how the individual or individuals would react to learning that their prank was more beneficial than one would have anticipated. 

“My daughter most likely,” Mark answers, “Though, without a doubt, she had been encouraged. Some of the others I work with won’t pull a prank themselves, but have no issue encouraging Maddie,” 

Ah yes, offspring. Godzilla remembered the times he had done harmless things to annoy his parents, and he can easily see Mark’s daughter doing the same. Though he supposed that due to human’s line of work, pranks were more beneficial than harmless. 

At least he’d hoped so. 

After finishing their snack, the two head off to the clearing. They arrived at the clearing early in the evening, which would give the two plenty of time to set up camp and collect wood for a fire. 

With the fire crackling away, Mark had set some water and a can of soup to warm. They wanted to get an early start in the morning. Mark wanted to see if they could make it to the waterfall and return to the boat with a single night of camping out. With the human in better health, Godzilla suspected that would be doable. 

Godzilla is the first to crawl into the tent. The hike uphill had tired the human-kaiju and hitting the hay early was a very enticing thought. Coming in early also allowed him to position himself in a way that Mark couldn’t see his injury. 

“Guess the hike took more out of him than I thought,” Mark whispered as he climbed in a few hours later. 

“Been feeling more tired lately,” Godzilla mumbles, he would have fallen asleep by now, but the pain in his foot was being a bit of a nuisance. Didn’t help that Mark’s startled jolt was a bit amusing. 

“Though you’d be asleep by now,” Mark says as he starts to settle himself for bed, “What’s got you all tired so early?” 

“Drifting in and out. Does take me a while to fall asleep sometimes,” Godzilla yawned before answering the posed question, “Only thing I can think of is that I might have used more radiation than originally planned when keeping the tent warm all those days ago,” 

Mark raised a brow, and it seemed like he didn’t believe what he was told, but shook his head and said, “Try to get some sleep. We got a big day tomorrow,” 

Godzilla would have tried to convince the human that he was fine, but exhaustion hit him, and he found his eyes drifting close. Within minutes he was out like a light. 

Chapter Text

Waking up with his body aching isn’t what Godzilla would call pleasant, but it’s something he could work around with ease. But the nausea and twisting of his stomach is a different story. 

He’d woken up some time in the wee hours of the morning, wrapped in one of the two blankets they had brought. He had originally been lying on his stomach, but with it upset, Godzilla shifted to lie on his side. 

The sun hasn’t breached the horizon, and there’s that blue color of morning. Mimicking the soft breathing of the human next to him, Godzilla can calm the twisting of his stomach. 

The nausea persists, but it’s manageable.

Letting out a sigh, Godzilla turns his gaze to the sleeping human and wonders what the future will hold once Mark has been picked up. Would the human complete the harmonizing before his rescue team arrives? Or will he decide to leave it incomplete? 

Godzilla isn't too sure what would happen to a human who experiences an incomplete harmonizing for a long period of time. He's always had complete ones, and truthfully, he didn't want to find out the results of an incomplete process. 

Could Mark’s health deteriorate to the point of no return? 

Could the human end up experiencing chronic pain or illness-like symptoms? 

What if Mark ends up having his mental faculties wither away over time? 

The thoughts caused the human-kaiju to shudder, and he pushed them deep into the recesses of his mind. He did not want to have these thoughts anymore. 

With a heavy sigh, Godzilla curls his arm under his head and closes his eyes. He doesn't suspect himself of falling back asleep, but he could allow himself to rest until Mark wakes up. 

It had taken an hour or so before the yellow of the sun's rays filtered into the tent. 

Godzilla contemplated whether he should wake Mark or let the human sleep a little longer. He knows Mark wanted to get an early start, but another hour of sleep couldn't hurt. 

In truth, Godzilla did not want to get up. The blanket he’s under is warm, and that warmth is very inviting. So much so that if Godzilla were to close his eyes, he’d fall back into sleep. 

And that did have a nice ring to it, but Godzilla knew it was best if he'd stayed awake until Mark had woken up. Maybe he'll get a fire started soon and have some water heating up. Surely having something hot with breakfast would help the human wake up once he has risen from their sleep. 

With a groan, the human-kaiju moves the blanket from himself and sits up. Waiting for his stomach to calm from the movement, Godzilla turns his attention to the sleeping human, who has bundled himself under the second blanket with his jacket being used as a makeshift pillow. 

The corner of Godzilla’s lips twitched as there was some irony in this situation. During the first trip to the waterfall, Godzilla had taken an ill Mark to go and collect water. Now, Godzilla is the one feeling miserable and while Mark is not.

The rational part of his brain believes that he should have informed Mark of the injury, but pride is a stubborn thing. He’s a kaiju, and the small injury shouldn’t cause him more than mild discomfort, even if infected. Godzilla would rather be laid up in a human medical facility than admit that he was wrong and needed assistance. 

He isn’t as fragile as a human. 

Once his stomach has settled, Godzilla reaches for the zippers and opens the tent. The crisp, cool morning air filters in, and the human-kaiju takes a deep breath. A purr rumbles in his chest at the refreshing air, which is a pleasant welcome to the warm, stale air that had accumulated over the night.

Hearing movement and a noise, Godzilla turned his head to see that Mark had lifted his head and was staring at him. 

“I didn’t wake up, did I?” Godzilla turns so his body is facing Mark, ignoring the protest of his stomach from the moment. He wonders if Mark had sensed him feeling unwell. He hasn’t sat down with the human and asked how much Mark could sense. 

“I don’t think so?” Mark sits up and yawns, but his face is pulled into a puzzled expectation, “Something feels off. Like… I feel sick… but no?” 

Godzilla hums as he remembers one of his harmonized humans explaining to him what the sensation of sensing emotions and physical ailments was like. The individual described how they could feel any emotion he was experiencing in their chest for a quick moment before returning to normal.

He was told it wasn’t something that would debilitate them in their everyday life, unless he was close by and experiencing an emotion particularly strong. The individual explained what would happen if that were to accrue. There would be a sharp jolt of pain in the body, before the sensation of floating would come. 

At the time, Godzilla didn’t know what an out-of-body experience was and how it was properly explained. It was only after telling Mothra that he learned what the human had experienced. 

What shocked Godzilla at the time was when the individual explained how they had felt ill when he had become ill. It explained it as being at the tail end of illness, but Godzilla had not expected such a thing to happen. He doesn’t even remember what had caused him to become ill or how long it took him to recover. 

“Does it feel like the tail end of a stomachache?” Godzilla asks, curious about what the human’s response will be. 

“It does,” Mark replied, raising his brow at the other, “A bit uncomfortable, but nothing that’ll cause issues.” 

“You can go back to sleep if you want. I’m about to get a fire started and get some water—” Godzilla groaned and cradled his stomach with his arm. He had not eaten dinner the night before and wondered if the ache was due to his stomach wanting food. “That… hurts,” 

“Well,” Mark begins, “You’re either hungry due to not having eaten last night or you’re coming down with something.” 

“I doubt I’m coming down with something,” Godzilla snorts, but his stomach twists again, and a pained groan comes from his lips. 

“Lie down,” Mark hums, “Seems you’ve got a bad stomachache going on right now. It’s still early in the morning, and I can get the fire going,”

Godzilla was about to protest, but Mark placed his hands on his shoulders and gently pushed him into a lying position. With the human now fully awake and up, there wasn’t much that Godzilla could do to convince the human that he was fine. Letting out a sigh, Godzilla slips his arms under his head and gets comfortable. 

Feeling his stomach settle, Godzilla watches as Mark folds his blanket and places it on top of his jacket. He raises a brow as he knows that mornings can be cold enough to need a jacket. So, either Mark is feeling too warm or thinks that it’s warm enough that he doesn’t need his jacket. 

“Since it’s still very early in the morning, I’ll check on you in a few hours,” Mark says as he steps out of the tent. 

Godzilla hums in response and closes his eyes. He may be feeling the need to sleep, but he can rest his eyes while Mark starts the fire and takes care of anything that is needed.

If he were to fall asleep, he’s sure Mark would wake him when they needed to head out. Besides, the warmth from the blanket was inviting and Godzilla could feel himself falling into a light slumber.

“Hey, time to get up,” 

Godzilla mumbles as he is gently shaken awake, then a yawn escapes his lips. Sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Godzilla finds Mark sitting next to him with a notebook open and a pencil in his hand. 

“Morning, sleeping head,” Mark closes the notebook and places it into the backpack with the pencil. “Have a nice nap?” 

“It’s still morning?” Godzilla asks. He didn’t know how long his nap was, but for it to still be morning means that his nap wasn’t long. 

“Yes,” Mark slips the backpack onto his shoulder and crawls out of the tent, “Hungry? There’s still some hot water for a small thing of porridge,” 

Godzilla looks around the tent and finds it empty besides himself and the blanket he was using. So, Mark had packed up a little while he had been sleeping. Looking out the tent opening. Though he isn’t feeling hungry, Godzilla knows he’ll need the fuel for the day and turns to reply to the question, “Some porridge would be nice. Doesn’t feel like my stomach’s hurting now,” 

“You could have eaten something yesterday that didn’t agree with you,” Mark sits down and slips the backpack off. Unzipping the backpack, he takes out the bag of porridge along with a small plastic bowl and a plastic spoon. 

“It’s possible,” Godzilla hums before holding the blanket and setting it to the side and slipping out of the tent. He sits next to Mark, who hands him the bowl. “But I don’t remember eating anything that could have caused a stomachache,” 

Mark tilted his head in thought before giving a response, “Maybe you were hungry, and that’s why your stomach was hurting. I haven’t seen you eat much in the past couple of days.” 

“I suppose that could be it,” Godzilla stirs the porridge before he spoons some into his mouth. The food is bland porridge, but with how his stomach has been, he’s not complaining. 

After finishing his breakfast, Godzilla pours some water into the bowl and swirls it to clean up the leftover porridge. Tipping the bowl, the human-kaiju drinks the water. He didn’t see a reason to dump the water on the ground and waste it. 

Returning the bowl to the human, Godzilla sighs as he lets his stomach settle from breakfast. Looking to the sky, Godzilla takes note of where the sun is and calculates that it's around nine in the morning. He didn’t know what time it was when he had first woken up, but it seems he had at least had a good nap.

He feels the lingering sensation of sleep, but there’s the feeling of being refreshed there as well. The injury on his foot wasn’t throbbing as much as it did yesterday, but it’s going to be an annoyance once he and Mark start moving. 

He debates on when he should tell the human about the injury. He may feel fine at the moment, but once he and Mark resume their journey to the waterfall, the pain will return. He isn’t sure if any other symptoms will appear throughout the day, but the probability is likely. 

“Something wrong?” Mark’s voice comes, “You’ve been quiet. That’s not like you.” 

Godzilla lets out a small hum, “I’ll be fine. Tired is all. Having low radiation means I’m more tired than normal. I want to sleep all the time,” 

“You tend to sleep all the time,” Mark tries to hide the chuckle as a snort, “Hard to tell when you're more tired than normal.” 

Godzilla looked at the human and let out a puff of air. His pout didn’t last long as Mark says they’ll need to break down the tent and get going soon. Since it's late morning, Godzilla knows that he and Mark could make it to the waterfall and fill up the containers, then head back to the boat before nightfall. 

That is, if Godzilla doesn’t start feeling worse as the day goes on. 

After letting his stomach settle for about thirty minutes or so, Godzilla and Mark break down the tent and pack everything up before they head off. Once back on the trail, Godzilla and Mark travel mostly in silence with a few meaningless conversations sprinkled in here and there. 

The sound of Mark’s camera was one of the many things that filled the air around them. Birds, bugs, and other living critters were out and about being nosy little things. The island bustles with life, and it’s not often that Godzilla would allow himself to listen. There’s the occasional click from Mark’s camera that cuts through the sounds of nature, but it’s not in an annoying way. 

“So, how big is the island?” 

Mark’s voice draws the human-kaiju's attention, and he turns his head to look at him before answering his question, “Well, that depends on what form I’m using. As I am now, the island is big compared to my kaiju form. I’m not sure how big the island is, but I suppose you or someone can figure that out. It’s big enough to have an underwater passageway into a cave, so it has to be big enough to support it.” 

“The island has an underwater cave?” Mark turns to Godzilla in surprise. 

“How do you think I got onto the island and not have a human see me?” Godzilla raised a brow in amusement. He knew Mark would have rapid-fire questions, but he felt something from Mark and knew what the human was thinking of, “No, I’m not showing you where the cave is. It’s highly radiated at the moment, and it could kill you if you go there.” 

“Radiated?” Mark tilted his head, “What did you do? Push out ninety percent of your radiation into the cave for storage?”

“I had. Though I would say it’s a bit more than ninety percent,” Godzilla shrugs, but the shocked expression of the human tells him an explanation is needed. “For me to be in this form, I have to expel the massive amount of radiation my kaiju form carries. That is so that everything in this form functions properly. Too much and I would end up with radiation poisoning; too little and my human-like body would end up failing. It’s a delicate balancing act,” 

“And what of the expelled radiation?” Mark shifts the backpack off and slips the camera into it before placing it back on. “How radiated is the island?” 

“It stays as dust inside the cave until I reabsorb it.” Godzilla's ears twitch as he hears the sound of water and looks forward, “I have another ability that keeps the radiation from leaking out of the cave and contaminating everything around it. And I mean everything— including the surrounding islands, ocean, animals, plants, and anything else you can think of,” 

The two arrive at the waterfall and Mark sets the backpack on the ground before unzipping it. He takes the water pump out along with the water containers and the water purification tablets.

“So, what’s this other ability of yours like? How does this work?” 

Godzilla hummed as he thought over Mark’s question for a moment before answering, “When I expel radiation, I produce a shield that encases the radiation and keeps it from leaking into the environment. This shield keeps the radiation and its effects in a single place where I can easily reabsorb it when I want to change back or if I need to feed.” 

“So, it sounds like this ability keeps the radiation from contaminating everything around it. Sounds like— never mind,” Mark shakes his head. 

“Sounds like wha— Ow! Crap, that hurt,” Godzilla hissed as he had stepped towards Mark when a sharp pain shot through his foot up his leg. He had hoped not to tell Mark of the injury, but with him in pain and Mark able to feel it, the human was bound to be concerned. 

“What was that?” Mark turns to the human-kaiju with the predicted concern, “And don’t say it was nothing. That kind of pain doesn’t happen from nothing,” 

Well, it seems the cat’s out of the bag. And Godzilla knows Mark won’t drop the subject until he’s explained what caused the pain. He had hoped to return to the boat before informing Mark of the injury, but that’s now out of the question. 

“I have a cut on my foot.” Having swallowed his pride, Godzilla coughed up what the human wanted to know. 

“How long?” Mark turns the pump off and places some tables into the container before waving the other over, “I want to take a look. See how bad it’s gotten since you didn’t want to tell me from the beginning. Like after you came back from swimming and found those ammo cans,”

Godzilla wanted to be shocked that Mark had known about the injury, but he couldn’t. He knew Mark had felt the increasing pain, fatigue, body aches, and nausea as the days progressed. The stomachache incident this morning is all the confirmation needed. 

Sitting himself in front of the human, Godzilla winced when Mark moved his foot and inspected the injury. There’s a grunt from the human as he furrows his brows and his face twists into a scowl. Godzilla looked away, knowing Mark wasn’t too pleased with him about the situation. 

“It’s infected,” Mark says, “Which explains why you've been progressively not feeling well over the past days. So, what do you want to do?” 

“Huh?” Godzilla looked at the human and blinked. He had expected Mark to be disappointed in him— mad even, but all he found was that Mark had a soft expression. After composing himself, Godzilla answers, “I’m not sure. I’m not feeling that sick at the moment. I think we can make it back to the boat,” 

“You sure?” Mark raised a brow, “We can stay a night or two if you need it.” 

Godzilla shakes his head, “I’ll be fine. I’d rather sleep and recover in the boat than outside in a tent,” 

“Alright,” Mark smiles with a chuckle, “I’ll fill up the last container and we’ll head out. Why don’t you try to relax a little? It’ll take a while for the second one to fill up.”

“Didn’t take the first one all that long to fill up,” Godzilla says as a wave of fatigue washes over. The sudden feeling of wanting to curl up and sleep was very tempting, but he didn’t want to force Mark to wake him like he had this morning. 

“You’re already looking tired,” Mark comments as he places a hand against the human-kaiju’s cheek. He can feel the slight warmth coming from the other, “I can fill the container halfway, and we can head back. You’re feeling a bit warm too,” 

“How much water is there as a whole?” Godzilla inquiries through a yawn, leaning into Mark’s touch. The coolness is a welcome compared to his slightly warmed skin, “Didn’t you have a container that holds like seven gallons?” 

“I do, but it has a day’s worth of water left. It was used mostly for cleaning when I was throwing up,” Mark looks at the second container, before turning his gaze back to Godzilla. He removes his hand so he can tend to the said object. 

“Fill this one up to full,” The human-kaiju says. he immediately misses the feeling of Mark’s hand against him. But he had a feeling the human would carry both water jugs, and he needed both hands for that. However, he didn’t want to have the human carry too much. Mark’s already carrying the backpack.

“I don’t have the energy to make another trip up here, and I don’t trust you to not wander off if you were allowed to go alone.” 

Godzilla tried to be humorous, but the tiredness of his voice certainly didn’t portray it as such. But Mark must have known, since he rolled his eyes with a small chuckle. Once the second container had been filled and the tables slipped inside. Mark packed up the water pump and grabbed both jugs. 

“I can carry them this time,” Mark says before Godzilla could offer to take one, “You look like you're about to fall asleep standing.” 

“I feel like it,” Godzilla mumbles, not going to argue with Mark about the water jugs, “Not sure why I feel so tired. I didn’t do anything that would cause me to be so… exhausted,” 

As the two head off to make the journey back to the boat, Mark answers the question, “That happens a lot when you end up sick or dealing with an infection. Your body is fighting something, and it takes a lot out of you. It doesn’t matter if you’ve done something physical or not, you’ll be feeling miserable until the infection passes,” 

Godzilla hums as he looks to the sky and sees that it’s a little past noon. Even with him being slowed due to the fatigue in his bones, he and Mark should make it back to the boat sometime before nightfall. 

The sooner, the better. Godzilla would like to lie down and sleep the infection off without having to keep too much of an eye on Mark. While he trusted the human a little not to get into trouble, the human-kaiju knew Mark would be tempted to wander off and discover what the island had to offer. 

“I’d like to clean your wound once we return to the boat,” Mark’s voice sounds after an hour or so of walking in silence. The human has been keeping his gaze on the other and is pleased that they are making good progress towards the boat, but Godzilla’s injury needs to be cleaned to help slow the infection. 

“I tried to clean it, but I’m not that knowledgeable with injury cleaning,” Godzilla admits, “Normally I heal from injuries within days without issue, but this one is being more difficult than I had expected.” 

“It’s possible you haven’t eaten enough to heal from a minor cut, and it got infected. I know you think your radiation’s low, but not eating could have compounded the issue,” Mark theorized, “Might try to get you to eat more… if your appetite has left that is,” 

“It nose-dived off a cliff,” Godzilla hums, “I only ate breakfast because I knew I needed the energy. Guess it didn’t last as long as I thought it would,”

“That’s most likely due to your infection,” Mark sympathizes, knowing how the other is feeling. He was miserable not too long ago. “It takes a lot out of you, and eating only a little food doesn’t help when all that energy is sapped into fighting off an infection.” 

Godzilla hums, not feeling the energy to continue the conversation. Luckily for him and Mark, they made it to the boat in record time. Climbing up the ladder with an aching body wasn’t the best feeling in the world, but it meant Godzilla would be looking forward to settling onto the couch and getting some sleep. 

Once Mark had cleaned the wound, and most likely made him eat something. His stomach wasn’t hurting, but with no appetite, he’s sure dinner wouldn’t be all that interesting. He had focused so much on Mark’s health to the point that he neglected his own and had allowed an infection to set in. 

Once inside and everything put away, Godzilla lay down on the couch and was about to fall asleep. But the sound of a door opening and closing drew his attention. He finds Mark kneeling next to him with something small in his hand. He watches as the human unzips the small pouch and flips it open. He’s surprised to see how full the little thing is, the fact that there’s medical supplies overflowing means Mark had packed this pouch as full as it could be. 

Well, that explained why the pouch looked ready to burst at the seams. 

Slipping a pair of gloves on, Mark takes several items out and looks towards the human-kaiju’s direction. Godzilla tilted his head with a hum, wondering why the human had stopped. 

“I’m saying this now,” Mark’s expression is one of seriousness and sympathy. He hands a small packet to the other, while he sets a cup of water on the table, “This cleaning is going to hurt. I don’t have anything strong enough to completely numb the pain, so try not to kill me, ok?” 

Godzilla looks at the item handed to him and raises a brow, before turning his attention to Mark, “What's this?” 

“Painkillers… and it’ll help with your fever,” Mark motions to the medicine and the water. “You're going to want to take it. I promise you; you do not want to feel the full pain. It’s something I don’t wish on my worst enemies.” 

Normally, Godzilla’s pride would have stopped him from taking the offered medication. But with how he’s feeling now, his pride isn’t something he’s in the mood to care about. He may have a high pain tolerance, but that doesn’t mean he needs to unnecessarily suffer. 

Letting Mark open the packet and handing him the cup of water, Godzilla takes the medicine with a grimace. The pills did not taste good, and the water was a welcome way to wash the taste from his mouth. 

“I’ll wait about thirty minutes before I start. That way the painkillers can take the most effect,” Mark explains, “But it’s still going to hurt like hell.” 

“I have a pretty high tolerance for pain,” Godzilla reassures the human, “It comes in handy when being King.” 

 Mark gives a nervous sigh while laying out the supplies he’ll need, “Like I said earlier, don’t kill me.” 

“I don’t think it’ll cause me that much pain,” 

It turns out he was partly correct. The pain of having his wound cleaned and dressed wasn’t pleasant. He hissed a few times during the process, but Mark said he needed to throw as much as possible. However, it had not hurt as much as the human had originally thought. But with his wound now cleaned up, Godzilla wrapped himself in the blanket and felt exhausted, pulling him into sleep. 

Mark throws away the items used and zips the small pouch up. He turns to the other and says, “What to try to eat something before falling asleep?” 

“I suppose I could try,” Godzilla yawns, “Though I don’t feel hungry.” 

“It’s worth a shot to try and get you to eat something,” Mark muses, “I have a feeling you’re going to be feeling miserable for the upcoming days.” 

“We’ll see about that,” 

One of these days, his mouth was going to get him into serious trouble. 

Chapter Text

He tried to eat some of the canned soup that Mark had heated. His appetite was gone, and food wasn’t on his mind. But Mark had taken the time to heat some soup, so the best he could do was try.

After a few spoonfuls, Godzilla let the spoon flop into the soup and sighed. Pushing the bowl away from him, he makes quick eye contact with the human sitting across from him. 

“Not much of an appetite,” Mark stands as he takes the bowl. “What do you want to do?” 

Having seen the human motion to the bowel he’s holding, Godzilla muses over the question for less than a minute, “Throw it.” 

Mark nods and takes the discarded food to the kitchen trash can. The amount of soup in the bowl was so little that it being thrown away wasn’t something the two would blink at. It was also best to toss it, since Godzilla’s ill and he didn’t need Mark contracting it.

“Sleep,” Mark said upon his return, “You look like you're about to fall asleep at any moment.” 

The human-kaiju hums as he lies himself down, and after getting himself as comfortable as possible, he falls into sleep.

“That’s starting to hurt.” Godzilla let out a hiss of pain as the kneeling human cleans the injury on his foot. 

“Sorry, I thought the painkillers would have lasted longer,” Mark says as he wraps the now cleaned injury. “You might be metabolizing the medicine faster than a human does.” 

“It’s ok,” Leaning his head onto his arm with a sigh, Godzilla looks out to the ocean. He had woken up that morning feeling like he'd had a human building fall onto him: “I do feel like shit, so it’s possible I haven’t noticed the medicine wearing off.”

“Want to come back inside?” Mark gathers the used medical items as he stands, “There’s a light breeze that can feel more chilly, since you're not feeling well.” 

Godzilla shakes his head, “No, but would you come back up?” 

“Un… yeah, I can,” Mark blinks as he didn’t expect the question, “I can bring you something to eat, if you're up for it. You didn’t have breakfast this morning.” 

“Not feeling hungry,” Godzilla hums. 

Mark leaves with a nod, and Godzilla closes his eyes. The medicine that he had taken did dull the headache, but he didn’t want to return to the inside of the boat. At least not yet, the day’s still young, and some sun would help.

After he had woken up in the morning with an upset stomach, body aching, and a mild headache, Godzilla had found the inside of the boat too stuffy for his liking. He had planned on staying out for a few minutes to help clear the headache and to get some fresh air. But he must have lost track of time, and the minutes turned into a few hours. 

This had been confirmed when Mark had come to the deck looking for him. Mark explained that it would be best to redress the wound twice a day until there were signs of improvement. Though he had expressed worry about the amount of medical supplies available. 

With the sun’s warmth, Godzilla would have fallen asleep if not for the sound of Mark’s footsteps. Lifting his head, Godzilla finds that Mark is holding one of the folded blankets in his left arm, with the notebook the human had been writing in nestled on top. Around his neck is the camera that Mark used. 

Though in his left hand was something Godzilla had not seen before.

“What’s that?” 

“A tablet,” Mark places the item on top of the notebook, then picks both up while he extends his arm with the blanket to the sitting human-kaiju, “Here,” 

Godzilla takes the offered blanket and sets it in his lap. He didn’t ask Mark to bring it, but once in a while, the breeze does have a chilly bite. Or was the occasional shiver due to his illness? 

In truth, the reason didn’t matter to Godzilla; he had the blanket and could use it if he wanted.

“What do you need the… tablet for?” The new word felt strange to say, but it was a simple one, which Godzilla is happy about. He didn’t know if he wanted to try saying a more complicated word while ill. 

“Well, it was supposed to do several things,” Mark sits himself close by the human-kaiju and removes the camera from his neck, “But it’s mainly to store the pictures I’ve taken now.”

“Like what?” Godzilla turns half his body and lays the blanket behind himself and the human. A wave of tiredness washed over him from the small act, and a yawn slipped out. 

A nap could help. It's a warm afternoon, and the sun's radiation would be beneficial to get. Mark would be on his tablet for some time, so he knew where the human would be. And if he did move, Godzilla is sure he'll wake up.

“Well, the island I was heading to has a Monarch facility. So the tablet was supposed to be for entertainment and contacting others. But that didn't end up happening,” Mark hums, “You look tired,” 

“That small amount of movement took what little energy I had.” Godzilla wanted to stay sitting, but the spread-out blanket was looking rather inviting. 

Was being ill this miserable? 

How did humans handle getting sick all the time?

“Lie down. It looks like your arms are about to give out.”

Godzilla turned his gaze to his arms and noticed them shaking. He had not realized that his arms were having issues in supporting his body until Mark’s worried voice had crossed his ears. 

Taking the human’s suggestion, Godzilla settles himself onto the blanket and feels his body relaxing into the warmed fabric, along with the shaking of his arms stopping. He'd say he’s surprised that Mark had noticed the shaking before he did, but fighting this infection must be putting a damper on his ability to sense what is going on with his body. 

“I swear I could sleep for a year right now,” Godzilla mumbles as he tucks his arms under his head. He looked at Mark and raised a curious brow, “What’s so funny?” 

Mark stifles a laugh, “You’ve gone on record for sleeping for more than a year at a time. You’ve slept for a full five years at one point," 

Godzilla chuckled at Mark’s little statement, shifting so his body faced the human with his arms tucked under his head, “Five years is nothing compared to the hundreds or millions I’ve once slept. Though back then, time was simpler than it is now,” 

“Simpler?” Mark questions, “What exactly was simpler?” 

“A lot, but mostly it was having more of my kind around and seeing what life was thriving at the time,” Godzilla muses, “It was nice having a nest full of siblings, until they decided you were a better bed than the nest all were in. I woke feeling like a pancake more times than I wish to count,”

“You miss them, don’t you?” Mark had noticed the slight change in the human-kaiju’s mood when he had spoken. He didn’t know what Godzilla’s life with his family was like before, but it is known that he is the last of his kind. 

Alone in a way that Mark… and humanity couldn’t comprehend. 

“I do,” Godzilla had taken some time to respond, “I’ve… grown used to the fact that I’m the last.” 

Not likely had the mood had shifted, Mark decides to change the subject, “How many know of this form of yours?”

Godzilla hummed in thought as he searched his memories, “Well, Mothra and the other Kaijus are the obvious ones. The Iwi have known since I walked among them like this. It was only for a few days, but I’m not sure if they’re the ones who wrote it down. The last were the humans that worshipped me, and I did harmonize with a few of them over the years,” 

Godzilla shifts so he is angled to where he is able to see what Mark is doing. His height gives him a natural advantage even when lying down. Normally, he wouldn’t care for what the human does, but for now, he is. Maybe he’s feeling bored and is trying to entertain himself with what he can. But, something tells him that it’s not entertainment he is seeking. 

Mark looks back at him with a raised brow, but doesn’t say anything. They stay there in silence for a few minutes until Godzilla finds himself unsatisfied with his current position and completely moves. 

Now, he’s resting his chest against Mark’s upper back, and his chin is on top of the human’s head. His legs encircle Mark’s while his tail is off to the side and draped over the side of the boat. He’s able to look at what Mark is doing with the table and notebook. 

And it seems that feeling had disappeared with the position change.

“The murals looked to be Iwi made, but the texts found are not,” Mark suddenly says as he fiddles with the table in his hands, “The preserved text is most likely from the humans that worshipped you.” 

“And how much could be translated?” Godzilla asks, “You said little of the text had been deciphered." 

“From what I was told, not much. A complete line's worth was all that they had been able to translate. Monarch isn’t sure what to make of the line, so they’re waiting until the text is cleaned for more translation,” Mark explains. He had not cared for the artifact at first, but now it seems that he needs to check in. It may detail what a complete harmonized process entails, “But that was about two months ago. I haven’t asked about the text due to how busy I am. I should ask about it when I get back,” 

Godzilla lets out an intrigued hum, a smirk pulling against his lips, “I wonder, is it because the text now has some importance that you need to know. You didn’t seem very interested in it until a few moments ago.” 

“I didn’t care for the text due to it not having any importance that involved me… until now.” Mark turns his head and knows Godzilla would catch the glimpse of a mean side-eye, “We’re going into this harmonized thing blind. Any information we can get will be greatly appreciated. And I can feel that you're being a little cheeky over this as well,” 

Godzilla snorts out a laugh before rubbing his nose into the human’s hair and purring. He can feel Mark’s annoyance through the incomplete harmonized link, but the human was tolerating his actions well.

He remembers doing this with the humans he’s harmonized with long ago. The clinginess he felt then is the same as now.  Having Mark nestled in his embrace was calming. Calming to the point that he could fall asleep as they are now, but something tells him that Mark would not appreciate a being that is nearly six-feet-eight-inches using him as a makeshift bed. Though Godzilla wouldn’t have been blind to the irony of such a situation. 

“Listen, it’s not that bad being harmonized to a Kaiju. You may feel a bit strange during the first sixty days after the process has completed, but you’ll be feeling normal most of the time,” Godzilla hums as he removes himself from Mark and returns to lying down next to Mark’s side. He then curls himself around the human. 

With Mark now nestled around his stomach, Godzilla lets a pleased purr rumble. It was almost like he had Mark in the middle of a nest like his parents did when he and his siblings were young.

“Am I going to be able to get anything done with you… being like this?” Mark vaguely gestures to the human-kaiju around him. He isn’t sure if this is due to Godzilla being sick or if it's something to do with their harmonized bond. “Is this normal?” 

“From what I’ve personally experienced? Yes. Being clingy and wanting to nest is a normal thing when a Kaiju has harmonized with a human. I’ve only had complete harmonized processes, so I’m not sure how much I’ll be affected with an incomplete one,” Godzilla mumbles as he closes his eyes, beginning to feel the pull of sleep. 

“We’ll talk more about this harmonized thing after you get a nap in,” Mark hums, “You look like you're about to fall asleep any minute. You might feel a little better after getting a nap in.” 

Godzilla mulled over what Mark said before giving a soft chuckle. He had found something a bit amusing while he was thinking.

“What is it this time?” 

“It’s just… a bit funny how earlier, when sitting, I was ready to pass out at any minute. Now that I’m lying down, it seems I could fall asleep if I want.” Godzilla muses, “It’s like I have energy to spare."

“Well, that could be for any reason, but it's most likely because lying down is earlier on the body. You're not having to spend much energy lying down, so you’ll end up feeling more awake,” Mark says, following the sound of a notebook page being turned. “I noticed you’re quite chatty as well.” 

“Bored,” Godzilla shrugs, “I tend to get bored easily when I’m not sleeping or have something to do.” 

Mark hums as the sound of more pages being flipped can be heard. Godzilla had lost interest in what Mark was doing with the notebook and tablet. Now all he wanted was to lie in the sun and have the human’s presence near. 

He was comfortable enough to even fall asleep if he wanted to. But Mark’s voice comes after what Godzilla believes is ten minutes of silence. 

“I do have a few questions. If you’re willing to answer,”

Godzilla cracks open an eye and turns to find that Mark is looking back at him. He couldn’t tell if the human had his notebook open or not, but he supposed some of the questions and given answers could be written down. 

“I may have an answer, depending on the question,” Godzilla hums, “What’s on your mind?”

“Your dorsal spines,” Mark starts, “I don’t see them in this form of yours. Do you have them?” 

“I do. But, they’re so small and dull that they're considered worthless if I were to get into a fight,” Godzilla snorts, “They're so small, you can’t see them when I’m wearing my kimono. They have no purpose in this form.” 

“I see. You sound rather disappointed— wait,” Mark’s voice suddenly cuts. 

“What?” Godzilla looks at the human to find him with an uncertain look, “What’s up?” 

“You weren’t wearing a kimono when we first met, but now you are,” Mark raised a brow, “Where did the kimono come from?” 

Godzilla looked away from the human feeling, his face warming up. He was hoping Mark wouldn’t notice the wardrobe change, or had been too sick to remember the first day they had met. He had also hoped that if both had the same color and pattern, Mark wouldn’t be too suspicious if he had caught on to the change.

“Well, remember when we came back to the boat after our first waterfall trip?” 

“I do,” Mark nods, “I know I had slept for almost a full day after we came back.” 

“Well, I had taken another trip while you had slept. Originally, I was wearing my yukata when we met, but I wanted my kimono. So, I returned to the cave and found where I had hidden it. I returned to the boat and changed,” Godzilla explained while not looking at the human. 

“And why didn’t you say this until now?” Mark’s voice sounded annoyed. 

“I didn’t think it was important. There wasn’t anything on the island that made me worry about leaving you alone for a day,” Godzilla shrugged, before he turned to face Mark, “You can’t see my dorsals in my yukata anyways,” 

“That’s not the problem,” Mark sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. He’s a bit annoyed, but not angry, “You didn’t tell me where you had gone, that’s what I’m trying to get at. I get that you felt the place was safe enough for you to leave. But if I had woken up and tried looking for you, that could have caused some trouble. I don’t know the island like you do,” 

“Sorry,” Godzilla mumbles, feeling a bit of shame, “I… wanted to have something more comforting than my yukata. I didn’t think that maybe I should have waited until you were awake,” 

“I’m not mad,” Mark hums, “Just… tell me next time, you do something like that, alright?” 

Godzilla let a small smile pull on his lips, “Yeah. I’ll try to remember,”

Mark seemed pleased with the answer, “Now, are your dorsals that small that they’re not able to be seen when clothing is on?” 

Godzilla fought the urge to roll his eyes. One would know the answer from a single look, but it seems Mark is doubtful, or the human is trying to convince him to show what the spines look like. 

“If you promise not to be weird about it, I can show you.”

Said human perked up, “If you’re comfortable,” 

Godzilla snorted and lifted himself into a sitting position. He turned so his back was facing the human and undid his kimono belt enough to let the fabric fall from his shoulder and nestle around his waist. 

There’s a gasp, and Godzilla turns his head to find Mark with wide eyes. He sees the human has his hand up, but it’s close to his frame. It's as if he doesn’t know if he should touch the spines or not. 

With a soft expression, Godzilla nods, “Be careful. They may be dull for what I want them for, but they could still have a sharpness that could injure you,”

Godzilla watches as Mark nods, then reaches his hand out. The human’s fingers brush against the small spines that jet out from his back, and a shiver runs the length of his spine. 

“You, ok?” Mark’s concerned voice comes. 

“I’m fine. Not used to having my dorsals touched, so they’re a bit sensitive,” Godzilla explains, having felt the sensation of Mark stopping, “My kimono provides enough pressure that I don’t feel them that often unless they end up hitting something.” 

“Do you know if your spines are supposed to be this small?” Mark allows his fingers to brush against the dorsals again, knowing that he had not caused the other pain. The small spines intrigued the human, and he wondered if any of the Iwi or the humans that once worshipped Godzilla had the privilege of seeing them.

“Not sure,” Godzilla muses, watching Mark's movements. Having his dorsals touched didn’t hurt; in fact, it felt nice. Relaxing, even like a massage. He would have pushed into the human’s touch, but was worried about harming him, “Mothra thinks my humanoid form is immature for my age.”

“Why’s that?” Mark moves his gaze to the other’s shoulders and notices small bumps. Using his free hand, he glides his fingers over the bumps and hums. These bumps reminded him of osteoderms he’s seen on many reptiles. 

“Unlike the others, a lot of my kaiju elements are not in my humanoid form. Mothra thinks this is due to me not using this form as often as the others. She thinks if I use it more or for longer periods, I should start to have those elements develop,” Godzilla hums. “Seems you found my osteoderms, though. They're small, but I do believe they’ll come in quicker than the dorsals will.” 

“It sounds reasonable,” Mark hums, “Is it possible that harmonizing with someone can help with the development?” 

Godzilla thought over the question for a moment, but the feeling of having his dorsals and osteoderms rubbed was starting to put him to sleep. Maybe he should tell Mark that he’s starting to feel tired and would like to go down for a nap. He looked to the sun and noted that it was only one in the afternoon. 

“Not sure,” Godzilla responds, unaware that the tip of his tail was swaying back and forth in a manner that one would consider tail wagging. It didn’t help that he kept his tail under his kimono: “We’re going in this blind, so anything’s possible.” 

“Is there anything about harmonizing that you do know of?” Mark asks, having taken notice of the tail and how Godzilla seemed to be more willing to talk. An idea popped into his mind, and he wondered if it would work.

“Well, I know what happens during the first sixty days after a harmonizing is complete,” Godzilla purrs. He can feel that Mark is thinking about something and suspects the human is hoping that if he gives the dorsals and osteoderms some attention, then he might be able to get something out of the human-kaiju. 

He’s not sure what Mark would want to get out of him, but two can play at this game. Who would say no to a free massage? 

“I thought you slept through most of your time with a harmonized human?” Mark inquires with a clear interest in his voice.

“I did,” Godzilla confirms, “But I stayed awake for the first sixty days. Those days are very critical for a human and a Kaiju that have just harmonized. At least with me, I tend to be clingier and don’t particularly like what the human I harmonized with is out of my sight for too long. I most certainly don’t like others around you, but I’ll be tolerant if need be. The immediate family can come around with problems, but I can get annoyed with the extended family.” 

“Is that all?” Mark guides the hand that is rubbing the dorsals to the shoulder that he has not given attention to. Meanwhile, the hand that was on the other shoulder had slid down to take care of the dorsals. “That seems rather easy to handle if we were to complete the harmonizing,” 

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Godzilla chuckles, turning his head to face the water. He began to feel a crick in his neck. “That's what you'll have to deal with if I’m able to find a well-protected place and can have you to myself. If I can’t, then I’m more of a problem to deal with,” 

Godzilla knew Mark would not like what he had said, but he’d hoped the human would allow him to explain why. He knows that humans frown deeply on the act of isolating one from others and how it is viewed, but for Mark’s safety…

“Are you saying, you’ll isolate me?” 

“Unfortunately, yes,” Godzilla nods. He can feel that Mark is upset with the information, which he does not blame him for. He is not surprised when the human removes his hands from his being as well. He wanted to whine at the loss, but he had an explanation to give. 

“Why?” Mark gritted his teeth.

“To protect you,” Godzilla starts, “Back when harmonizing was more widely known and practiced, newly harmonized humans were targets. Especially those during the first sixty days. If a harmonized human was captured, then the group could get that particular Kaiju to do anything they wish. And that Kaiju will obey due to how hormonal they are and the only thought of having their harmonized human back safely,” 

Godzilla turned his head to face the human, “Mark, I’ve seen villages and settlements disappear in the night due to a harmonized individual being taken. The most docile and benevolent of Kaijus can turn into the most violent and aggressive beings on the planet. Now imagine what would happen if someone took the harmonized human of the King?” 

“They’ll be able to get you to do anything,” Mark says, “I’d be seen as a key— a reason to get you to do what they want,” 

Godzilla nods, “This is why you need to make sure you want to harmonize. If you do decide to complete it, you’ll be one of the most sought-after humans. It doesn’t help that you’ll be as hormonal as I will be during the first sixty days. You need to think about whether or not this is a risk you want to take.” 

“But the practice of harmonizing has been lost to time, correct?” Mark asks. He places his hands back where they were before Godzilla had explained. His movements were slow and methodical. “Most evidence for it is either buried and undiscovered or has been destroyed. If we keep it on the down low, I may not be in as much danger as I would if the practice were widespread,”

Godzilla hums as he mulls over Mark’s words. What he was true, but how long would they be able to keep such vital information on the down low? Surely something will happen, and news will spread to the rest of the humans. 

Kaijus from the surface and below in Hollow Earth would know instantly if he were to completely harmonize with a human. Which could start the practice anew. He isn’t sure if that is something he wanted to happen or deal with. 

It wasn't only Mark who needed to weigh the risks of harmonizing. 

“While you're right, I’m worried about how long we’ll be able to keep something like that on the down low,” Godzilla says, the tiredness returning and pulling him. “The other Kaijus would know instantly if I harmonize with someone. If I harmonize, they’ll likely want to do so as well,” 

“Seems there’s a lot we’ll have to discuss then,” Mark hums, taking note of the Godzilla's tired feeling. “I think it’s time for someone to have a nap. This afternoon was a bit… eventful,” 

“More tiring than eventful,” Godzilla yawns, the thought of a nap sounding rather promising. “Will, you stay until I fall asleep, though.” 

“I can,” Mark says.  

Godzilla yawns, and once Mark has removed his hands, he pulls his kimono up and loosely fastens his belt. Lying on his stomach with the warm blanket under him, Godzilla closes his eyes and purrs when he feels there’s a bit of weight against his side, along with the added warmth. 

He falls into sleep with the sound of pages being flipped and a hand in his hair.