Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/4943416. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage Category: F/M, Multi Fandom: Godzilla_-_All_Media_Types, Godzilla_(2014), Godzilla_-_Fandom Character: Godzilla Additional Tags: Drama, Triassic, Apocalypse, Rape, Angst, Underage_Sex Stats: Published: 2015-10-06 Updated: 2015-11-11 Chapters: 8/? Words: 10068 ****** Godzilla, The Crucible ****** by BrokenStride Summary The Shattering had reduced the world to ash and plunged what was left into a post-apocalyptic nightmare. Into that crucible he was born. Story takes place before dinosaurs evolved in the Early Triassic epoch following the Great Permian Extinction. The 2014 movie states that Godzilla is estimated at roughly 250,000,000. Which lines up almost perfectly with the Permian- Triassic Extinction, aka The Great Dying. The planet was nearly sterilized. This environment is real and all its animals and plants are roughly period. Warning, dark fic. Rated adult because later chapters WILL contain implied child rape, rape, and underage sex. Chapter 1 can be read as a one shot so only chapter 1 will be posted on restricted sites. 2014 AU. “Dragons”, Godzilla’s species, weren’t always so big, the largest growing no heavier than an elephant. ***** ch.1 Hell of Hells ***** Chapter Notes See the end of the chapter for notes Godzilla, The Crucible Ch.1 Hell Of Hells - - - So gray. So ugly. This world. This hell of hells... He could still remember vast, green lands and blue skies. A cool, bountiful ocean. The sun. A beautiful world full of life. Now there was only ash. Food was scarce. Even standing so close to shore the perpetual, dry wind burned. The Shattering had broken the earth. Hearing an especially loud, pained roar he shuttered. The breath caught in his throat as he held his head, on the verge of tears. Too long. This was taking far too long. The healers had taken over and thrown him out of the shelter to make room when she had started shrieking, but that had been over a cycle ago. Now the smothered sun was bleeding the western horizon for a second time. Claws dug into his scales as clenched his hands around his scalp. He should be in there with her. That they had even gotten pregnant in the first place was a miracle, but now she had to survive birthing. The choice had been hers. At her age it had most likely been her last heat and their last chance to pup, but there were risks. She was too old for this. They both were. They probably wouldn’t live to watch him or her grow into adulthood, but they had to try. There were so few dragons left. The precious few pups that had been born since the Shattering all died shortly after birth, but the world was finally calming, healing. Life was returning to the land and sea and food slowly growing more plentiful. The skies were brighter, the wind calmer, and the ocean had cooled. Just before her last heat there had been a sign she simply refused to ignore. The winds had stilled for nearly a cycle, allowing the gray sky to clear and unveil the sun for the first time since the Shattering. The horizon was graced with a golden sunset and the brilliant blue sky had blackened and shimmered with stars. They’d wept. The ancient was ripped violently from his thoughts by the sound of faint chirping and his head jerked towards the shelter’s entrance. Instantly he was marching back. They couldn’t hold him back now, he wouldn’t let them. He should have never allowed them kick him out in the first place. If they tried now he’d give them the fight of their lives. - - - In the entrance he stayed. Watching. Waiting. She lay on her side, her jaws slightly parted and tongue slipping out. With her eyes shut it almost looked as though she was just sleeping. But her chest didn’t rise. Slowly he approached and knelt by her side. She was too still and as he touched her face his tears finally fell. Fearfully he pulled her into his arms and held her close, begging for her to come back and praying that he’d awaken from this nightmare. A high pitched squeak finally reminded him of why she had chosen this. Her bright eyes stared up at him through their newborn. The infant was massive, maybe twice normal size, but he looked perfectly healthy. There were no deformities, no other abnormalities. Chirping and squeaking the pup reached for his daddy’s face with tiny hands. He was beautiful. Cradling their little miracle closer he wept. Chapter End Notes 2014 AU. “Dragons”, Godzilla’s species, weren’t always so big, the largest growing no heavier than an elephant. Godzilla was a mutant adapted to the high levels of radiation poisoning the world in a post-apocalyptic landscape and in youth had a much lighter build. Dragons also evolved completely separate from reptiles and have different traits. Warm blooded, a more mammalian style live birth, ect... ***** Ch.2 Morals ***** Chapter Notes See the end of the chapter for notes Warning, dark fic. THIS chapter contains implied child rape without details. Characters are predominantly nameless. - - - The Shattering had reduced the world to ash and plunged what was left into a post-apocalyptic nightmare. Into that crucible he was born. - - - Godzilla, The Crucible Ch.2 Morals - - - Their species was on the brink. She didn’t like it anymore than the rest of them, but they tragically didn’t have the luxury of time. The only females left were elders. Many couldn’t even breed anymore and the elder males weren’t producing. This season’s heat was likely her last and there was something different about this pup that went beyond his size. Somehow he wasn’t being killed off by the strange energy that was poisoning the world. Instead he was absorbing it, storing it, feeding off of it and growing abnormally large. Pound for pound he ate less solid food, his body partially sustained by the energy. If he passed the mutation onto his pups then their species would be saved, but with more females loosing heat or dying of old age every season they couldn’t wait any longer. They had no choice! He should be old enough by now, the others were just letting morals get in the way... - - - He was trying to balance little stones when the shadow fell upon him. The young pup looked up at the massive female that stood over him. Something was off about her. He wished daddy was here, but he hadn’t seen his father in a long time. Not since daddy got sick. She was making him nervous. Why was she staring at him like that? Slowly she knelt down next to him and pushed him onto his back. Something was wrong and he squeaked. - - - It hurt, why was she doing this to him? Was he bad, did he do something wrong? It hurt so much and he tried to get away, but she wouldn’t stop. Would she ever stop? He tried to fight back, chirping and crying and where was daddy? Why didn’t he come? The more he kicked the more it hurt, so he stopped kicking. It felt weird, he didn’t like it. Why was she doing this!? - - - Sticking around to comfort the little one after would not have been wise in her opinion. She had to remain detached. It was difficult, but she managed to block out the pups distressed chirps as she walked away, not even looking back. She’d have to do this many more times to make certain that she’d been impregnated. There was no point in going about it half-assed, it was all or none. Chapter End Notes 2014 AU. “Dragons”, Godzilla’s species, weren’t always so big, the largest growing no heavier than an elephant. Godzilla was a mutant adapted to the high levels of radiation poisoning the world in a post-apocalyptic landscape and in youth had a much lighter build. Dragons also evolved completely separate from reptiles and have different traits. Warm blooded, a more mammalian style live birth, ect... Story takes place before dinosaurs evolved in the Early Triassic epoch following the Great Permian Extinction. The 2014 movie states that Godzilla is estimated at roughly 250,000,000. Which lines up almost perfectly with the Permian- Triassic Extinction, aka The Great Dying. The planet was nearly sterilized. This environment is real and all its animals and plants are roughly period. ***** Ch.3 Her ***** Chapter Notes See the end of the chapter for notes Warning, dark fic. This chapter contains mention of child rape. - - - Godzilla, The Crucible Ch.3 Her - - - Despite their extreme ages he gave her a pup with their first attempt. And the pup was also abnormally large. The mutation had carried. Other females who’d been holding back gave in and were soon producing young themselves. The species was saved. But he never saw his first pup. Or the tenth. He didn’t even know what an infant looked like. Such things weren’t supposed to be any of his concern. He became just breeding stock to them, something to be pulled out of his corner whenever he was needed. Then they brought her. Another pup had been born with the mutation. Another miracle. She wasn’t quite as big, but size was never the issue. She too was thriving on that toxic energy. An unrelated female to strengthen their bloodlines. He could smell that she was in heat, but she was so young. So scared. He’d never questioned them before, but he’d never seen one so small. The only dragons he knew were elders, but even he knew that even for her age she was tiny. Her mother must have been the youngest of the elders. The smaller the cow the smaller the pup and his mother had by far been the oldest. The largest. He could hurt her. They expected him to breed this? It was madness to take such a risk. She didn’t even look old enough to survive birthing. And the more she looked up at him the more he remembered of his own past. Memories that he’d somehow blocked out were recovered. The pain, the fear. He wouldn’t put it past them to resort to physical force. No, he couldn’t allow this to happen. He grabbed her and fled. - - - In their desperation to avoid capture they headed straight for the Outlands, a vast, uncharted expanse of ocean that even the elders avoided. Enemy territory. This was the realm of the kraken, the only other true race to survive the Shattering. They were followed for a ways, but the panicked cries at the surface were ignored and soon faded. With any luck the elders would presume they were dead. This was the one place dragons never dared enter, but they wouldn’t survive in open ocean for long. Fear drove them on and their persistence paid off when they found a massive island with large, sheltered pools. It was too far removed from the continent for the elders to discover if the mainland was searched, but close enough that they could escape to the continent if they were forced. A refuge. It was known that in the Outlands there was prey found nowhere else. They’d have to hunt in the dangerous waters to reach it, but at least they had a safe place to eat and sleep. Life was rough, but they were free. If they were discovered they’d be forced to breed or she’d be bred to another, but the only other options were older, much larger bulls. It would be so much worse. And what about him? Would he be punished or just tossed into some dark cave until the next old cow came into heat? Fear drove them to keep going, but they were free. There was a beauty to this strange region. The winds were so much calmer, allowing them to see the sun and stars, things almost never seen back at the colony. Sometimes when they were resting they would just stare at that beautiful sky. Chapter End Notes 2014 AU. “Dragons”, Godzilla’s species, weren’t always so big, the largest growing no heavier than an elephant. Godzilla was a mutant adapted to the high levels of radiation poisoning the world in a post-apocalyptic landscape and in youth had a much lighter build. Dragons also evolved completely separate from reptiles and have different traits. Warm blooded, a more mammalian style live birth, ect... Story takes place before dinosaurs evolved in the Early Triassic epoch following the Great Permian Extinction. The 2014 movie states that Godzilla is estimated at roughly 250,000,000. Which lines up almost perfectly with the Permian- Triassic Extinction, aka The Great Dying. The planet was nearly sterilized. This environment is real and all its animals and plants are roughly period. ***** Ch.4 Emptiness ***** Chapter Notes See the end of the chapter for notes Warning, dark fic. This chapter contains mention of past child rape. Future chapters will contain underage sex. - - - Godzilla, The Crucible Ch. 4 Emptiness - - - For a long time she was so scared. Scared of the world. Scared of him. But she was smart enough to understand that something was going to happen back there, something very bad, and he gave her credit for that. She had no idea what, though. They hadn’t touched her yet and he envied her that innocence, that naivety. She knew that they couldn’t go back and she clung to him, rightfully more afraid of the world than the over-sized, angry bull pup. But he felt wrong. Sick. Once she grew comfortable around him it became so obvious that she’d been raised with other pups; the playfulness was a dead giveaway. The world had finally settled down enough that a few sickly pups had survived without their mutation and she had lived with them, but now he was her soul target. Irritating and even infuriating him were games to her. He’d never had to put up with such behavior before. It was so easy for her to get under his scales and she loved it, lived for the simple joy of driving him mad. He had no time for such things if they wanted to eat. He taught her what little he could about hunting and clashing, all things they both should have been taught long ago. It appeared that they had intended for her to be his female equivalent. Breeding stock. Nothing more, nothing less. She couldn’t fend for herself and he barely knew the basics, but in teaching her he was advancing his own scant knowledge that much faster and two pairs of eyes were better than one. He needed her as badly as she needed him. - - - Together they struggled to haul their prize ashore, almost giddy with anticipation. Spirits were so high that she’d managed to goad him into a competition, playfully growling and shouldering and thrashing their heads as they clamped their jaws and dug in on all fours. He’d never played with her before. It was so unlike him, usually he’d snap or even swat at her to keep her away. He just didn’t like being touched. These soft creatures disintegrated so fast after death, but this one had been old and weak. It must have passed just hours before they’d discovered it. It was too dangerous to stay for long and they ate fast and butchered the rest. They couldn’t take it all with them, but what they’d towed back would feed them for weeks. Now they just needed to get it on land. They needed this, needed it badly. Perhaps they could have taken more if they hadn’t been so weak with hunger. Now out of the too warm salt water it wouldn’t break down nearly so fast and there was nothing to steal it from them or to add them to the menu. They had time. They could rest. Recover. They took it far inland and filled there shrunken stomachs. He’d even let her snuggle while they’d slept. It had felt strange, sleeping against another, but sometime during the night he’d awoken to find her gone. There wasn’t anything unusual about it, she’d be back soon, but he had felt so empty. Cold inside. It reminded him too much of before. As a pup he had always been shoved away and slept curled up and alone. When she returned he surprised her by wrapping her in his arms and hugging her close. He never wanted to feel that emptiness again. Chapter End Notes 2014 AU. “Dragons”, Godzilla’s species, weren’t always so big, the largest growing no heavier than an elephant. Godzilla was a mutant adapted to the high levels of radiation poisoning the world in a post-apocalyptic landscape and in youth had a much lighter build. Dragons also evolved completely separate from reptiles and have different traits. Warm blooded, a more mammalian style live birth, ect... Story takes place before dinosaurs evolved in the Early Triassic epoch following the Great Permian Extinction. The 2014 movie states that Godzilla is estimated at roughly 250,000,000. Which lines up almost perfectly with the Permian- Triassic Extinction, aka The Great Dying. The planet was nearly sterilized. This environment is real and all its animals and plants are roughly period. ***** Ch.5 Helpless ***** Chapter Notes See the end of the chapter for notes Warning, dark fic. Contains suggestion of tentacle rape. Future chapters will contain underage sex. - - - Godzilla, The Crucible Ch.5 Helpless - - - The female always loved playing with little animals. Keeping infant prey in the pools had started as a novelty, but if they could raise the infants then they wouldn’t have to hunt the adults in open ocean. She managed to grow some to breeding size in one pool and now she was trying to hatch their eggs in another. It would be so much safer and easier to just gather crawlers for them. The idea of “breeding” their prey hadn’t exactly thrilled the bull at first, but it was hard to not be amused watching hopeful males displaying to win the fleeting affections of picky females. The breeders seemed happy, isn’t that what mattered? But they needed something much bigger than the pools if they wanted to eliminate the need to hunt. Prey didn’t breed fast enough to feed the elders, the old dragons ate too much, but it could work for them. There was the lake, but that was all freshwater and they found out sea animals couldn’t survive there. That left the coves. The smallest cove could work, it had the narrowest opening. It just needed to be walled off to trap in the animals. They had been breaking and placing stone for nearly six moons now and they still weren’t half way done. A tiny one wrapped a little tentacle around her claw and she held out a piece of a crawler as a reward for coming for food. Ever so slowly it took it from her fingers and glided away, nibbling on its prize as it slid effortlessly through the water. The infants were so cute and she loved to play with them. A welcome distraction. She hoped the bull would be returning soon. It always left her on edge when he went out alone, but he didn’t want her hunting anymore. They’d seen too many kraken tortures and mutilated corpses and he feared more for her safety than for his own. Making her stay to work on the dam was an excuse to keep her on land, but it made her so angry! She should be the one hunting while he worked on the dam! The walking tree trunk was better at breaking and moving stone and she was faster, quieter, more agile, AND smarter about picking her clashes, but did he listen!? He was always letting his dick get in the way of common sense and attacking things that were far too big, then he’d come practically crawling back, ego wounded, all bruised up, and carrying small prey because he was too injured to catch anything larger. They’d be starving if it wasn’t for the mutation. Watching him trudge ashore like he was bracing for a beating would actually be funny if it wasn’t setting them so far back. The dam could have been finished over a moon ago! They could be eating from the cove! Would he never learn? She wanted to go off hunting while he was out one of these cycles, just so when he returned she could rub it in his snout how much more she could catch in less time, but what if he came back early and she was gone? He’d probably go crazy tearing apart the island searching for her, then rush off thinking she’d been taken by kraken or elders. Actually she really didn’t want to know the horrific scenarios that lunatic could come up with, they’d probably give her nightmares. She just couldn’t put him through that. With a sigh she tossed the last piece of crawler into the pool, grinning as she watched the little tugging war that ensued. -Back to work...- Getting on her feet she started heading back to the cliff , but a distant, strangled roar chilled her blood and she looked to the shore, heart in her throat. The bull was stumbling in the surf. Mad with panic she rushed to help him, but the sight that met her eyes. There were so many deep bites and bits of his gills were ripped loose and hanging from his neck. And his mouth... he was salivating kraken blood! A shaking wreck he collapsed in her arms, too exhausted and unbalanced to move another inch. It had taken everything he had left just to reach the island. He couldn’t even sit up. Panicked and crying she struggled with his larger size and pulled him to her chest, tucking his head under her chin and holding him close, his budding spikes digging into her thigh. Weakly he tried to push her away, the poison making him delirious, but she purred to him and he calmed down. His head was so hot against her neck, a very bad sign. She wanted to check under his tail, she’d seen things torn inside out that way, but he would probably drown if she let him fall over. All she could do was comfort him and keep his head above water. She never felt so helpless. How had he escaped? He looked like he’d been mauled by a colony! -What happened to you?-   Chapter End Notes 2014 AU. “Dragons”, Godzilla’s species, weren’t always so big, the largest growing no heavier than an elephant. Godzilla was a mutant adapted to the high levels of radiation poisoning the world in a post-apocalyptic landscape and in youth had a much lighter build. Dragons also evolved completely separate from reptiles and have different traits. Warm blooded, a more mammalian style live birth, ect... Story takes place before dinosaurs evolved in the Early Triassic epoch following the Great Permian Extinction. The 2014 movie states that Godzilla is estimated at roughly 250,000,000. Which lines up almost perfectly with the Permian- Triassic Extinction, aka The Great Dying. The planet was nearly sterilized. This environment is real and all its animals and plants are roughly period. ***** Ch.6 The Old One ***** Chapter Notes See the end of the chapter for notes Warning, dark fic. This chapter contains torture and rape. Suggestion of past child rape. Future chapters will contain underage sex. - - - Godzilla, The Crucible Ch.6 The Old One - - - The sun was just starting to get a little low. He needed to get ashore before the twilight hour. Dark time was kraken time. His catch wouldn’t do them any good if he got himself killed. The hunt took too long and he’d been too stubborn to come home empty handed. -Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid!- Now he was nervously racing the sun, his claws sunk in the shark’s head and swimming belly to belly with the corpse to reduce drag. The dammed thing was longer than him, even tail included. A real trophy. He’d clashed smart for once, the proof was in his hands. But it was still stupid to not give up sooner. One of these cycles he really was going to get himself killed! -Can I do nothing right!?- Sundown was still a ways to come, but it still frightened him. He had time. He needed to just calm down and stay aware. Better to swim a little slower than to not sense the attack. Following his own advice he took up a less frantic pace, lazily pumping his gills and expanding his senses. But something was stalking him. Dread, sorrow, despair. Negative emotions began to suddenly creep into the back of his mind without reason and he panicked, dropping his catch and bolting for the safety of land. Kraken fed on the mind by terrorizing and torturing their victims on a level that went beyond the physical, but they also enjoyed committing unspeakable acts upon the body. There were survivors back at the colony who had been too damaged to think for themselves. They could grow gargantuan and the little ones had a way of tangling up their prey that could render animals so much larger than themselves helpless. It was like they were built for killing dragons. The last thing he wanted was to clash with one of those abominations. But as he was heading for the island he realized he was leading it strait to the female. He tried to think of where else to take it, but it was too late. Everything happened so fast. His ankle was grabbed before he even saw it. Thankfully the kraken was just a pup itself, only half his size, but it was still trying to wrap him up and immobilize him. He bit its tentacle and it wrapped his head, its beak raking his jaw to the bone in its desperation to escape him. He was forced to let go and it escaped, but adrenaline was pumping and the young bull lost himself in the fight, taking chase and heading deeper and further out to sea. The pain in his jaw, his enemy’s blood on his tongue, he couldn’t be more thrilled! Clashing with that little kraken had been the closest he’d ever come to pitting himself against another bull and it felt damn good! This wasn’t prey, this was a combatant! Then, FEAR It echoed in layers, building fast and nearly overwhelming him as his stomach roiled. The waters ahead darkened and his target vanished into the fast expanding black cloud. A projection! His sight was being blocked! Only older, larger kraken had the ability, but it felt like there were many. The pup had fled to the safety of its colony! Heart pounding wildly, he spun and the cloud was nearly upon him by the time he had managed to reverse course. All he could do was swim hard. The black water slowly overcame him, engulfing him, blocking his vision and other senses. He and the female had witnessed kraken torture many times, but the worst was when they were little. A squad had swarmed an old rogue cow probably visiting the Outlands for better prey. It was a cold reminder that no water was safe in the Outlands, since kraken usually stayed in open ocean and the attack had occurred at a cliff base. They’d been hiding from the cow when the kraken struck. All they could do was hide under an overhang and wait for them to leave or risk capture. The creatures had spent cycles torturing her to death from the inside out so close to them, slowly tearing up her body while her innards were meticulously removed through her shredded vent, stopping only to revive her. They had thought they’d gone unnoticed, but kraken fed on the distressed mind the way the mutation let the pups feed on that toxic energy. Seasons later they realized the true horror of their situation, that the kraken had been purposely torturing that poor cow right under their snouts just to terrorize them. Their minds were being fed upon the whole time. For so long afterwards they’d had to comfort each other through nightmares that left them crying and thrashing in their sleep and so very often she would wake him so he could wrap his big arms around her and make the bad dreams go away. They hadn’t slept alone since. As the memory of that torture played over and over in his mind something grabbed his tail, yanking him back, halting his momentum with painful abruptness as his spine was jerked. His limbs and tail were tangled as his neck was wrapped so he couldn’t bite. He twisted and writhed, fighting against them as they bent him around painfully and wrenched his body in ways it wasn’t supposed turn, his muscles and joints straining at their limits. His neck had just enough give that he could still pump water past his gills and breath, a sign that they wanted to drag it out. The projection was all encompassing. Couldn’t see, couldn’t hear. Couldn’t smell or taste. He could only feel... Smaller tentacles were worming along his sealed gill slits and trying to find the edges, but he had to open them to breath sometime. There were others though around his vent that scared him more and he found the strength to struggled harder. He felt something snap, but he couldn’t tell where. He was in too much pain everywhere to narrow it down. The ones at his neck found their way in, wrapping around the delicate bones. They quickly tightened and there was a sharp snapping, his vision turning bright red as he roared out what air was left in his lungs. As he came back to his senses he realized that one of the tentacles was at his vent, trying to get in as his tail was pulled up and he was spread out backwards to make it harder for him to stay tucked. It brought back bad memories and his mind was lost to the fear. Then a strange warmth ran along his spine and all activity ceased instantly. A low, rising hum was breaking through the projection, the black water slowly clearing. He could see them now and if possible his fear grew. His own warped reflection back-lit and bathed in a pale blue light was staring back at him from the black eyes of nearly a dozen kraken. They were so big, but the little one was right in front of him. The light was growing brighter and they seemed confused, nervous. A hot pressure was building inside of him, almost burning him, rising from his sternum to his throat and suddenly it was like an explosion went off in his chest. It released in a stream of bright light shooting from his mouth and hit the little kraken in the face, grazing at least three more as his head whipped back from the force of the blast. They let go and fled, leaving him and their pup. It had all been so fast, so horrible, and suddenly nothing. He curled in on himself, shaking hard and feeling small and scared and violated and he just wanted to die! He was back at the colony, trying to hide in his dark corner after some old, fat cow had just finished with him, waiting for the next to drag him into the light. But nothing happened. Slowly his senses came back to him and he remembered where he was. His legs and tail remained tightly tucked, but he tried to relax and calm himself. He was so tired. So weak. It hurt so much to just pump mouthfuls of water past his damaged gills. They had been ripped up badly and he could feel them flapping about like pieces had been torn loose. Slowly he gasped, breathing like a beached shark and feeling like he was drowning. As the adrenaline wore off he could feel the bites and see and smell his blood in the water. And that taste. Stupid! He’d bitten the little one! Kraken blood and flesh was poisonous! His vision was already starting to blur just slightly. Then he noticed the little kraken was still there, staring at him. Tired, fearful, wounded. He actually felt sorry for it. Felt sorry for a kraken! The poison must be getting to his brain. After everything that had just happened to him he almost wished there was something he could do. Who was he kidding, this close to its colony it would be found soon enough. The colony? He needed to get away from here! They might come back! Focusing on his own needs he turned and started to swim back, but the sight of another young dragon startled him and stopped him cold. A heavily muscled beast of a bull pup. Its neck was almost wider than its head. The other pup was also bitten up and pumping water hard, just staring, but it was making him nervous. Even wounded as it was if it wanted to clash he’d be done for, especially with how dizzy he was starting to feel. He had no time for this, he needed to get on land. But it looked so familiar... A dim memory surfaced, an ancient face coming to focus. His father! This pup looked like his father! Was this a brother? He didn’t have time for this. Or did he? He was so confused. Tired. A wave of dizziness hit him and he shook his head, but when he looked up he saw that the other pup was mimicking him perfectly. Slowly it sank in just what he was seeing and his heart nearly gave out. It was too much and his eyes tried to roll as he teetered on the edge of consciousness, his reflection briefly fading. The massive, black eye stretched more than twice his length in every direction, tail included. An elder kraken. An “Old One”. There was nothing left in him and he just watched his reflection as he waited for whatever was to come next, completely at its mercy. His reflection looked so pathetic, so scared, the ocean swallowing his tears as his mind raced with memories of all the kraken tortures he had witnessed over the seasons. He didn’t want it to ever begin, it would be dragged out for hours if not cycles, but why was the creature just drifting with him? Staring at him? The anticipation alone was tearing up his mind and he hugged his head, crying harder by the minute and pumping his torn gills frantically as he slowly curled in on himself. If this continued he was going to pass out. His mind drifted back to his time at the colony. The horrors he had endured at the hands of the elders had in some respects been very much like kraken torture. -Please,- he begged inwardly. -Haven’t I suffered enough?- - - - This little dragon was... Infected. Damaged. The more he lingered the more it projected. Bad memories. Very bad memories... This was abominable. Unconscionable beyond clemency. Sickening... He didn’t care their excuses, there was no repentance for this. Had the once- noble dragons truly fallen so far? But then, who was he to think such things... Kraken no longer seem to care for the values of old. Greedy young. Fat and full and still they gorge. No restraint. No remorse. There was no reason to kill it. Just more senseless death. More needless suffering. More, more, more... He could still remember a civilized age, when kraken traded with dragons for red land meat. Before the Shattering nearly sterilized the world. How he missed those cycles. Was he truly the last? The rogue Old One brought the wounded little kraken back to its colony, allowing the dragon pup to believe that he had gone. From afar he watched, worried that it might be too weak and delirious to reach its island home. Possibly dying. Whispered encouragements and directions kept it on course. At first it seemed confused by the foreign thoughts, the poison twisting its mind, but slowly it made its way to shore where a smaller pup rushed to its aid. These rogue pups were common knowledge, he’d just never seen them himself before. So young. Far too young to be on their own. Such a tragedy that they were safer here in kraken territory than with their colony. At first sight he had honestly believed that he was being visited upon by the young-again spirit of an old and very dear friend. Faded memories of a better time had resurfaced, carrying with them the swelling hope that the young dragon had come to guide him to the next life. The pup just looked so painfully much like its father...   Chapter End Notes 2014 AU. “Dragons”, Godzilla’s species, weren’t always so big, the largest growing no heavier than an elephant. Godzilla was a mutant adapted to the high levels of radiation poisoning the world in a post-apocalyptic landscape and in youth had a much lighter build. Dragons also evolved completely separate from reptiles and have different traits. Warm blooded, a more mammalian style live birth, ect... Story takes place before dinosaurs evolved in the Early Triassic epoch following the Great Permian Extinction. The 2014 movie states that Godzilla is estimated at roughly 250,000,000. Which lines up almost perfectly with the Permian- Triassic Extinction, aka The Great Dying. The planet was nearly sterilized. This environment is real and all its animals and plants are roughly period. ***** Ch.7 Dreams ***** Chapter Notes See the end of the chapter for notes I’m worried that the story is getting wordy and dragging. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. Warning, dark fic. Mention of past child rape. Future chapters will contain underage sex. - - - Godzilla, The Crucible Ch.7 Dreams - - - He was laying helpless on his back, staring up at the ceiling of an all too familiar cave. The air was cold, damp, and reeked of a heavy musk that chilled his blood. It felt like his skin was soaked in that stink. And his body. There was nothing that didn’t ache. The left side of his mouth hurt so much. He must have tried to resist again. Why couldn’t they just let him rest? An enormous shadow fell upon him and he choked down a sob as tears stung his eyes. Their eyes met and he shook all the harder. Cold eyes. His heart thumped heavily at the sight. He wasn’t a person to her, he was a tool to be used as needed. He didn’t move as she knelt beside him, fearful that anything he did might set her off. He didn’t want the right side of his face to feel like the left. His chest ached as his heart pounded harder and harder until it felt like it might burst and as that massive hand reached for him he chirped. With a faint gasp he startled awake, shaking allover. His eyes were wide but they didn’t focus on anything, he was still trying to escape the residual sensations left by the dream. Over and over he told himself that he wasn’t at the colony and closed his eyes as he forced himself to relax, but a few tears still slipped past clinched lids. That dream had been too real. But it was still just a dream. Just a very bad dream. As he calmed he realized that he couldn’t feel much of anything, his mind drifting in a warm haze, but gradually his senses cleared. His head, his joints, everything hurt. Everything. And it was getting worse, making it a little harder to breathe. There was a sharp pain in his jaw running along the left side, probably why his mouth hurt in the dream. The reek of old blood hung heavy. Something moved against his chest. Shaking, shifting, pressing down. Something heavy. The sound of crying reached his ears. Soft crying. But why would the female be crying? And what was on his chest? Opening his eyes again he found that they were slow to clear. The full moon was floating on a sea of stars as thin wisps of cloud drifted past like morning fog. He looked down and there, laying on his chest, was the female. The little cow was on her knees beside him and laying over him as she lightly sobbed into her arms. Why was she crying? He tried to remember how he was hurt, but just trying to think was giving him an even bigger headache and he groaned. Suddenly her head shot up with a loud squeak, eyes huge. With all her crying and moving around on top of him he was bound to wake up eventually, so why was she so startled? Letting his exhaustion and some pain surface he took a little breath and softly huffed it to ask what was going on. But she just stared back, too shocked to do more. He tipped his head to show his confusion and gave a little grunt. -What’s wrong?- She lowered her head as more tears fell, grimacing as she fought breaking down allover again. Then she pressed a flat hand over his heart and cupped and flattened the palm repeatedly in a throbbing motion against his chest. -Your heartbeat.- The throbbing slowed and her expression melted as she curled the hand into a fist. -It stopped.- And she lunged at him, burying her face under his jaw as she sobbed, absolutely inconsolable. It was his turn to stare in shock. His heart had stopped? It would explain the dream... But seconds later her crying snapped him out of the daze. He tried to hug her, but a shooing pain radiated from his left arm and he bit back a chirp, his vision turning red. For a moment he just focused on breathing as it throbbed and dulled. He did Not want to chirp now, she’d start s/mothering him. It took an effort, but he managed to lift the right arm over and around her, purring as he cupped the back of her head. She must have been so scared. The worst, he decided, was the chirping. She started instinctively chirping like a distressed infant between sobs. A primal sound pulled at the heart. That they could even still make that cry was a humbling reminder that they were still so little. Just a moon ago he’d squeaked off a few when she dropped a boulder on his foot. She’d panicked and s/mothered him, refusing to let him do anything for himself for a week. Tears soaked his neck and seeped under the slits to sting his wounded gills as she keened and chirped and pressed into him like she couldn’t get close enough, uncontrollably bawling her eyes out. It didn’t look like she was going to calm down anytime soon and he wanted desperately to do something, anything to make this better. It almost didn’t feel real, had his heart really stopped? He blinked at the thought. That’s it! That’s what she needed! Gently he nudged her and she refused to let go, grabbing his shoulders to prevent it, but a deep growl made her stop and she lifted her head just enough to look at him like she was trying to figure out what she had done wrong. He hated that skittish, just-slapped look. It was just another reminder of everything they ran from. Eyes softening he pushed at her shoulder, guiding her further down his chest. Then pushed and pulled at her leg and side to move her fully on top of him and into a more comfortable position. He didn’t want her sleeping on her knees like that. Pulling her head back down he pressed her ear over his heart. In silence she listened, finally calming as he stroked her cheek with his thumb, the sound of his heartbeat reassuring her that this was real. That he was alive and everything was going to be okay. The poor thing looked exhausted as she fought sleep, still silently crying, but so much calmer. No doubt she had been ripping her scales out fretting over him. Stretching his neck down he nuzzled her brow, purring as he softly chittered and warbled in odd pitches, calling to her. To break up the long hours of silence or help himself sleep he used to mix, twist and string together calls into whatever sounded nice, at least until someone barked at him to stop. A few would listen with this strange expression, but mostly it was a good way to instigate a beating when he was feeling rebellious. After the escape he called to her when she couldn’t sleep or had bad dreams. Slowly her eyes flickered shut as she finally passed out. He continued to call and stroke her face as she slept, guarding her dreams as she so often guarded his. Letting his head fall back he stared up at the sky. He felt so guilty as he tried to remember what had led to this. Had he done something stupid? Again? Was this all his fault? Probably. Maybe she was right about him hunting alone, but she couldn’t be more wrong about her going off on her own. He tried to tell her more times than he could count. She thought he was just being an arrogant bull using the dam as an excuse to keep her on land. But out there size really did matter. So many times he’d just barely looked large enough to deter an attack. It wasn’t just speed and agility and stealth, sometimes you needed to appear too big and tough to be worth the effort. If she only knew how many times it saved his hide... And what about all the times where size wasn’t enough? She wasn’t the fastest thing out there and she certainly wasn’t the strongest. Lately she was just assuming that he was attacking oversized prey. Well, he did. Often. But not as often as she thought and she would not have come home from half of those clashes. Just the idea of her out there alone scared him out of his mind. Maybe they should be working as a team again. At least then he would be with her and he wouldn’t have to worry anymore about her getting frustrated and running off while he was away. And a few close calls might wizen her up. It would shorten hunting trips, increase their catch, and give them more time to work on the dam together as his arm healed. But how could he keep her from hunting while he is laid up? He couldn’t! There was enough food on the island for half a moon and it felt like he would probably be hunting again long before that, but she wouldn’t dare harvest her precious breeders. He had to admit to being a bit attached himself, but their needs had to come first! At least once the cove was producing there would be too many to stay attached to them all. That little brat was going to hunt and come back waving around her catch like she had something to prove, but he already knew that she was the better catcher! It was never about the catch! It was about coming home alive! Why couldn’t she see that? He looked back down and for a long while he just watched as she slept, the moon illuminating her in a silver glow. Did she know how beautiful she was? Gently he nuzzled the back of her head, his eyes drifting shut as he breathed deep her scent, calming his own frayed nerves. He nearly died. Tears pricked his eyes as he mulled over the implications. With only one of them to feed she could have eaten from the pools until she finished the dam herself. She could have survived, but she would have been out here all alone on this island. No one to chase away the bad dreams. No one to play with. Slowly driven mad by season after endless season of absolute solitude. The headache was throbbing heavier the more he thought about it and he gingerly rested his head back, eyes not seeing. He couldn’t see much of anything anyway and he hoped it wasn’t permanent. The moon was so bright, he should have been able to tell where on the island he was, but all he could really see was her and some ferns close to by. They were nurturing and spreading plants allover the island so that didn’t narrow it down. Last he remembered he was bringing in a shark and nervous about the time. Shit, his head was killing him... And it didn’t help that the muscled up cow was sleeping on top of him. She wasn’t light as a leaf, but she was warm and safe and he wasn’t willing to give up the comfort of feeling her weight and breath on his chest. In spite of everything a genuine smile escaped him and he held back a laugh when she shifted around to get more comfortable, a cute little snort breaking loose as she started lightly snoring and drooling on him. He didn’t want to think or feel. He wanted to sleep away all of the pain and the sadness and confusion. He wanted good dreams. Chapter End Notes I’m worried that the story is getting wordy and dragging. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. 2014 AU. “Dragons”, Godzilla’s species, weren’t always so big, the largest growing no heavier than an elephant. Godzilla was a mutant adapted to the high levels of radiation poisoning the world in a post-apocalyptic landscape and in youth had a much lighter build. Dragons also evolved completely separate from reptiles and have different traits. Warm blooded, a more mammalian style live birth, ect... Story takes place before dinosaurs evolved in the Early Triassic epoch following the Great Permian Extinction. The 2014 movie states that Godzilla is estimated at roughly 250,000,000. Which lines up almost perfectly with the Permian- Triassic Extinction, aka The Great Dying. The planet was nearly sterilized. This environment is real and all its animals and plants are roughly period. ***** Ch.8 Restless ***** Chapter Notes See the end of the chapter for notes Warning, dark fic.  Mention of past child rape.  Future chapters will contain underage sex. - - - Godzilla, The Crucible Ch.8 Restless - - - Somehow he managed to feel even shittier than the last time he woke up. It felt like someone had twisted him up, crushed him into a ball, and then repeatedly thrown him into a cliff face until his outsides looked like his insides.  Damn was he sore.   Shifting his weight a little he determined that he was stretched out on his chest with his arms reaching past his head.  A typical basking pose.  Something heavy was leaning into him.  It shifted a bit too and he realized that the female was laying against him, stretched out along his side with her cheek pressed to his shoulder. Her presence was a comfort, but just how long had he been lying here...?  As if to answer his question his stomach gurgled and ached slightly.  Oh.  Great.  It must have been quite awhile for his insides to start filling with air.  He needed to walk it out, preferable downwind of the female, but there was no way he could walk and he hoped nothing too embarrassing happened with her so close by. He tried to humor himself imagining the little cow bursting forth out of a brown cloud at a sprint, coughing, eyes tearing, and cupping her snout, but he was too miserable to find humor in much of anything.  Besides, stuff like that they did to each other when they were younger.  They were more mature about such things now.  He paused at that thought.  -Yeah, mature, right...-  She would undoubtedly stink him right back if it was within her power and he couldn’t just run away.  Suddenly he imagined himself coughing, eyes tearing, and cupping his snout, laying trapped in a brown cloud as the evil brat laughed down at him.  The thought was nearly enough to get a full laugh out of him and he actually snorted.  She really would do it, too!  But the distraction didn’t last long.  He still felt like something stepped in and scraped off on hot gravel. As he became more aware he breathed a little deeper.  The air was slow and damp under his snout and his head was in the shade in spite of the hot sun warming his chilled body.  Dappled light was reaching his closed eyes.  Leaves and fronds.  She had taken him to a basking clearing in a green.  One of the patches of heavy plant growth they were nurturing. These places...  Greens.  Greens had an almost a magical ability to calm the mind and body and he took a slow, deep breath of the clean, moist air, all tension leaving as he slowly released it.  Even his pain seemed to lessen. The lake was already surrounded by trees and plants that they suspected somehow weathered the Shattering there on the island, but the island was so big that they hadn’t discovered it hidden among the rocky hills until their fourth season.  Everything else had been next to desolate.   They had been nurturing what few plants there were already scattered about the island, spreading their young and collecting more plants from the mainland.  It was amazing how much better plants did on the island than on the mainland.  Maybe it was the different types of plants somehow helping each other or the cleaner rain or the gentler winds, it could have been any number of things they could come up with, but everything began to grow so much faster and stronger.  Greens sprung up and filled out.  The air was cooler and moist, the wind tamed, they had shade.  The few mother trees already present even looked healthier, their young thriving.  They continued to spread plants to help them along, but the greens were spreading on their own now.  Little by little their home was being slowly transformed from a barren expanse of rock and dry dirt into a lush haven. Eventually the island would be covered in mother trees, but the massive, tall ferns grew so slowly that they couldn’t possibly live to see it. His stomach grumbled again and the pressure from laying on his belly suddenly turned painful.  Slowly rolling onto his back he could feel his stubby little spikes digging into the moist soil, wincing at a sharp pinch in his side and he looked to see what it was.  A leaf.  She had bled one of the tall mother trees to make dirt paste to cover an open wound.  The leaf kept it from rubbing off too fast.  They only did that when they needed to stop the bleeding.  He found more leaves.  But how had be been wounded?  He still couldn’t remember.  Was it his fault or had he been targeted?    He’d come crawling home far too many times after attacking something he had stupidly convinced himself was too old or sick to fight back.  His tail would get handed to him, but did he learn?  There was no point in deigning it.  He was an adolescence bull.  By definition a clash-hungry, knuckle-brained, spitfire who just couldn’t stop pitting himself against over-sized prey. Simply put, his dick did the thinking. -One of these cycles you’re going to get us killed,- he thought, mildly humored that he was actually beginning to think of his dick as another person.  But the way it kept taking charge, literally sending him teeth first into the stupidest, most one-sided clashes, he sometimes wondered if it had a death wish. His mouth twitched as he realized what he’d just thought.  His dick having a “death wish”.  There was enough sexual tension between him and that pretty little cow to light up a thunderstorm.  Honestly he couldn’t tell which of them was hungrier.  The looks, how she sometimes moved or positioned herself when he was looking or touched him...  A couple of times she had literally sneaked up and pounced on him.  They had gotten as far as mounting.  Many times.  But she always pinned and groped him and his stupid memories always surfaced and gave him panic attacks.  Suddenly thinking that he was being fondled by some bloated elder was a pretty effective mood killer. He shuttered.  That was just about the last thing he wanted to think about, so he looked back at the leaves and thought back to the hunt.   Resting back his head he closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath, releasing it slowly, allowing the green to work its magic.  All he could remember was bringing in that huge shark.  The sun was getting just low enough to make him nervous so he was swimming a bit frantically.  Then he... dropped it?  That was new.  Something tasted bad, then there was darkness.  A bad taste?  He looked back down at the leaves. Gingerly he pulled up the edge of one, his eyes widening and his hand shaking at the sight of the kraken’s bite.  Kraken poison.  He’d bitten a kraken.  He’d survived clashing with a kraken.  Even he wasn’t stupid enough to antagonize a kraken.  It was a terrifying thought and he twisted his tail and rolled his hips a bit, but it didn’t feel like anything had happened down there and his racing heart slowed.  He must have escaped or fought it off before it could do anything to his vent.  Or did it simply let him go?  Sometimes they just toyed with their prey for awhile and then let it go.  It explained how his gills had been ripped up without tearing off the covers.  So he was tortured and released?  It was very possible. Maybe this wasn’t his fault after all. And kraken poison caused memory loss.  Among several other little un- pleasantries, his gurgling stomach reminded him.  Their first moon they had tried to eat a washed up corpse and they both got horribly sick.  They spat it out the moment they tasted it, but female nearly died.  Before that they hadn’t know what a kraken looked like, but they had seen kraken victims at the colony suffering the same symptoms.  Dizziness, confusion, blurred vision, severe joint and muscle pain, and it stuck to your tongue and turned it black and made everything taste bad for cycles...  The list went on, but the killer was how it weakened the heart.  It explained why his heart stopped.  The effects could linger for awhile, he would have to go easy. Great, now he was even more depressed...  He didn’t want to think about this shit.  Glancing over at his would-be mate and he sighed in mild frustration.  Shook up by the constant flood of bad memories he felt an overwhelming need to feel her warmth, but she looked so peaceful.  He wasn’t going to disturb her just so they could cuddle and rolling back over against her might wake her up.  She went through a lot the other dark and he wanted her to just keep resting. Needing something to physically do to stop his head from racing around he tried to see if he could sit up, just to test his limits.  But his vision flashed red and he gingerly settled onto his back knowing that he had stupidly done some damage or at least set himself back.  It had felt like he was being ripped apart, like every joint in his body was shrieking “NO!” and he faintly chirped and whimpered through clenched teeth.  -Damn.-  He hoped she didn’t hear that!  A hand settled on his chest.  -Shit!-  He didn’t know he was crying from the pain until she was brushing the tears from his face. Nervously opening his eyes he found her staring back.  He almost wished that he hadn’t looked.  Wide, fearful, watery eyes met his. -Shit, she heard, she’s going to s/mother!- Then his stomach gurgled again.  Loudly.  His face burned with shame as he tried to hold back, but a high-pitched, long, wilting little whistle emanated from under his tail and her expression twisted up at the bizarre sound as he deflated.  It just didn’t seem to want to end, growing louder and deeper by the second as some of the pain diminished.  Maybe trying to sit was a good thing, just not next to her!  Finally it eventually petered out.  They just stared at each other for a moment.  Then, embarrassed out of his mind, he flashed her a bright, broad, over the top smile. Instead of barking at him in disgust she snorted, stared, then broke up squeaking and gasping so hard she couldn’t breathe, leaning on him for support.  He tried not to laugh, laughing hurt, but the sight of her fighting for breath with tears rolling down her face as she slid down his side was too much for him and he fell apart with her.  Tensions had been so high and he just couldn’t stop no matter how much it hurt and another little chirp squeaked out.  But then she ran her hand up his chest.  Softly.  Sensually.  It shut him up almost instantly and he couldn’t have been more grateful.  She really knew how to get his attention.   The residual giggles were still bouncing them both as they panted for breath and she leaned over him until their snouts were almost touching. She gave it a little lick, both grinning, the tip of her tongue still sticking out in invitation.  -So you want to play.-  Tipping his head he parted his jaws and she copied the action in the opposite direction, sliding her tongue against his as they cautiously interlocked their teeth.  They held each other close, raking claws over scales as they twisted and rubbed their tongues together.  Faster, harder, deeper, it wasn’t enough.   “Throat fucking” he called it and it always left him hot and hard under the shield scales, almost painfully so.  Like so many things it was discovered while innocently playing.  They were wrestling and found out sliding tongues felt good when it turned silly and they started licking each other faces.  Thinking of how the uptight adults would probably shriek over it just made it feel even better. Then a hint of blood brought an end to their activities.  Carefully they untangled.  She’d nicked his gums.  Not that he cared, but it was a limit they imposed on each other to prevent infections.  If blood was drawn they stopped, no matter how little.  Slowly they untangled their jaws, both mournful of the loss, tongues sliding as they pulled away.   They both knew that he wasn’t in any shape to try anything more strenuous.  Besides, this was too nice a moment to ruin with a panic attack.  So she settled down half on top of him, tangling their legs and resting her head on his shoulder as she pet and rubbed his chest soothingly.  If she kept that up she was going to put him to sleep, no doubt part of her master plan. He was still embarrassed as fuck and felt like complete shit.  More so after trying to sit and all that stupid laughing and he wondered how badly he just hurt himself.  But as least she wasn’t s/mothering him. He felt tired too.  He did too much too soon.  Sleep would help.  But now that she was there and warm and laying against him he didn’t really want to sleep.  It felt nice.  Taking a deep breath he unleashed along, loud, jaw-cracking yawn and she giggled, nuzzling his neck.  Softly she ran her hand down his face from brow to snout, closing his eyes, then tucked her muzzle under his jaw and went back to petting his chest.  -Sleep.- Mercifully it wasn’t long before he lost consciousness. - - - It was such a relief to watch him drift off and she listened to his breathing even out and slow.  Seeing him mindlessly stumbling in the surf and drooling black and bleeding from a dozen places had been terrifying.  But it was nothing compared to when his heart had stopped.  For three cycles she had fought to keep him alive.  She had tried to keep him calm, but he was out of his mind and didn’t know what was happening.  And the nightmares...  He was even panicking in his sleep.  She hoped he wouldn’t notice the bruises she received trying to hold down.   Her eyes teared up and her lips trembled as she slid across him so she could rest her ear over his heart, careful not to wake him.  She needed to hear it. Lately she’d been so mean and giving him such a hard time over the stupid dam and stupid hunting and, just, everything felt so stupid now!  He was just scared.  For Her!  Why couldn’t she have just met him halfway?  Together they were safer and they worked well as a team, catching more and larger prey than either ever could alone. And maybe if she was there with him he wouldn’t be laying here now.  He loved to blame himself.  Thrived on guilt.  But maybe this was her fault.   That chirp that woke her up.  It had spooked her real bad.  She’d thought he was having another nightmare and was going to start thrashing. He’d gestured once that when he chirped she didn’t mother, she smothered.  She hated to admit it, but it was true.  From then on they referred to the way she overreacted to his chirps as s/mothering. A sad little smile curled her lips as she thought of how they’d both simply forgotten everything for a moment and just laughed.  They hadn't been laughing very much lately.  It felt so good to let go.  The smile turned briefly feral and she snorted as her eyes narrowed.  Yeah, let go.  He certainly let go alright.  There was no way that she was going to let him forget that.  She’d get him back some cycle when he least expected it. But then he laughed so hard he chirped.  If tongue fucking, as he liked to so crudely gesture it, was what it took to shut him up then so be it.  She had to do something to stop the idiot from hurting himself.  What a wonderful world it would be if all of their problems could be solved with tongue sliding!  With a grin she decided that she’d have to remember to tell him that one later.  But they got carried away and he couldn’t exert himself like that.  His heart stopped just last dark.  When she snapped out of it she’d panicked and drawing blood was the only thing she could think up to make him stop immediately and willingly. At least now he was resting. She couldn’t sleep, but it felt nice to lay against him and just bask as she listened to his heart. Chapter End Notes 2014 AU. “Dragons”, Godzilla’s species, weren’t always so big, the largest growing no heavier than an elephant. Godzilla was a mutant adapted to the high levels of radiation poisoning the world in a post-apocalyptic landscape and in youth had a much lighter build. Dragons also evolved completely separate from reptiles and have different traits. Warm blooded, a more mammalian style live birth, ect... Story takes place before dinosaurs evolved in the Early Triassic epoch following the Great Permian Extinction. The 2014 movie states that Godzilla is estimated at roughly 250,000,000. Which lines up almost perfectly with the Permian- Triassic Extinction, aka The Great Dying. The planet was nearly sterilized. This environment is real and all its animals and plants are roughly period. Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!