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[Varan]

Fanfiction a friend of my asked me to post here....

[Varan]

___________
Letting it all Come Out
___________


Marlena found herself constantly looking over her the whole day after her little "incident", and the say after that, and the day after that...Waiting for some disturbing apparition or exploding friend to drive her over the thin line and into "Fucking Insane" territory. Marlena had been subject to crazy ass nightmares her whole life, but they had never been as disturbing as the nightmares she'd been experiencing for the past few week. Her friends dying in horrible and frightening ways, something huge burning the city to the ground. Herself dying in horrible and vicious manners. Eaten alive from the inside out by wolf cubs, being trapped in a tiny metal box that was slowly shrinking in on itself. Growing two hundred feet tall only to have the laws of physics take over and condemn her to a horrible death as her bones were crushed by her own weight. Nasty, insane, horrifying stuff.

Which is why she hadn't slept in forty eight hours.

Maybe not the best of plans.

She stared at the T.V. screen, bloodshot eyes wide, mouth hanging agape. She had been staring at the television for the past hour and a half, trying to understand the plot of the movie she was watching, which was difficult to understand because it was all over the place. This might have had something to do with the fact it was three in the morning and she was, in fact watching infomercial on the Sci Fi Channel. She sank her teeth into the channel changer while simultaneously trying to flip through the stations with a candy bar.

Definitely not the best of plans.

Closing her mouth and wiping the drool off her chin, Marlena pulled herself to her feet, deciding to wander around the apartment for a while. Today was monday, and she had called in to confirm she was taking Tuesday and Wednesday off as well. She should be dead from exhaustion by then. Mumbling something about Horses and Glue factories, she lumbered to one end of the apartment, turned and began to long trek to the kitchen, where she was planning on consuming every drop of coffee she could possibly make. This was going to be good for her already damaged brain cells.

Jamie stepped out from the bathroom, having apparentlyjust showered. She had gotten home around fifteen minutes ago.

"Hey, Jessica." Marlena droned as she poured herself a cup of coffee, completely forgetting that she had not yet picked up a cup.

"How long have you been awake?"

"You....are not Jessica." Marlena said, then looked down at the puddle of coffee she was standing in. "Crap."

Jamie tugged her friend on the arm, leading her to the kitchen table where they both sat down, Marlena still clutching the empty pot of coffee.

"Have you gotten any sleep?" Jamie asked.

"Uh.....No."

Jamie pouted, pitying her roommate and long time friend.

"Nightmares again?"

Marlena cast her eyes down, running her hand through her hair.

"I....should....I should clean that up." Marlena said, voice shaky.

"Are the nightmares.....really that bad?"

Marlena's entire body began to shake with repressed sobs. Her throat felt like it was swelling, she could feel tears worm their way to the surface. Oh hell, she could feel everything welling up inside her, all the grief and terror and crazy shit that had been piling up on top of her. Feel her skin grow hot and heartbeat speed up.

"This....this is no good, Jamie." Her words were twisted with sobs. "This is no good." She sniffled and wiped tears away from her eyes. "I mean, what If I'm going crazy like my dad?"

"Oh no, that would suck!" Jamie insisted. Her wits had never been sharpest, but her ability to say the worst thing at the worst time was what truly defined her.

"Ooooooh! Fuck!" Marlena sobbed. "My life sucks!" She let her forehead drop to the table with a sharp bang. "Ow."

"Hey, hey, hey Marlena, going crazy can't be that bad, I mean, you get a nice comfy room and lots of medication. And...." Marlena's bleary Jamie's met her own, narrowing in anger.

"Jamie, shut up!"

Jamie awkwardly hugged her friend, who was stifling her sobs in her arm.

Marlena was not a person for whom tears came easily. She felt things just the same as anyone else she guessed, she could just hold onto that emotion for longer than most. The last time she'd cried was when her father died, and that had to have been...

She didn't know. She was exhausted. She didn't want to sleep, but knew she had to. And Marlena Diamond knew what was waiting for her in her dreams. Knew who was waiting for her. And she couldn't stand it. The six, red and purple eyes watching her. The three purple, snake-thing tongues dragging over her, exploring her, until finally they found her--

"Maaarleeeeenaaaaaa." Something growled to her.

With no small amount of reluctance she peeled her face from Jamie's sleeve, daring to look the thing that was watching her in it's red and purple eyes. Daring to brave his gaze.

She immediately regretted it.

"Shh....shhh...." Jamie insisted, trying to calm her friend's tears.

Marlena's eyelids were growing heavy. No! No!

Marlena tried to struggle, to stand, to do anything, but she felt like someone had filled her limbs with concrete, and they would no answer her demands. Jamie's hushed attempts to calm Marlena became hypnotic. No! No! NO! NO!

Marlena just wanted to sleep....just....wanted.....


From the depths he called to her in three matching voices.


And she answered.

[Varan]

Eye to Eyes
__________


The Martian Capital was on fire.


The Capital. Of Mars. Was on Fire.


Mars. Had a Capital.


Our scientists speak of a Mars that has been barren for al it's existence. Never sheltering any life more complex than, say, a few scattered single celled organisms, living solitary existences in isolated lakes and rivers. But the reality of the situation is something more....disturbing. Our scientists would never have believed that, in the closing years of the age of dinosaurs, Mars supported a vast, thriving ecosystem. And a mighty, technologically advanced civilization that, at the time of it's downfall, was well on its way to spreading beyond the borders of our own Solar System.


They would never have believed that Mars had been visited by a entity of such malignance that it had become, over the course of it's long and wretched existence, a being who literally fed on the escaping life force of those it killed. A Being that had spent the last few millennia systematically wiping out any and all life in the milky way. A Being that existed for the sole purpose of sowing death. A Being who replaced the emptiness in it's heart with cold, tempered rage. A Being who filled the void left by grief with the pleasure of reaping destruction. The Being had known grief. Known loss. Had lost everything it held dear. And in return it vowed a terrible vengeance against the universe it felt had robbed it. And sought a horrible vengeance upon those it felt where living a life that rightfully belonged to it.


It's origins where lost in the mists of time, probably for the better, for the tale of this monstrosity's birth would be one unfit to fall upon a civilized ear. Science could not explain it, nor could it combat the foul thing which had set it's cruel gaze upon the fledgling Martian Empire. For you see, The Awful Intelligence that had set upon Mars was not simply there to destroy the Martians. But Mars itself. The multitude of life, from the smallest creeping insect to the mightiest predator. Plant life, animal life, intelligent or not. Nothing was spared by this Malignancy. This terror from the void. No weapon built by mortals could combat this zealous hatred of all life. This rage made flesh.


Not only the living things where destroyed either. Mars was once a beautiful planet, similar to our own Earth, if not a little greener. But when the The Awful Demon set upon the planet it smashed mountain ranges, scared the planet deeply,digging deep ugly wounds into it's terrain like an Eagle raking it's claws against it's enemy's flesh. Oceans, lakes, and rivers were dried up. The planet was left scarred. Ugly. Barren. It's once breathable atmosphere destroyed. Life erased.


And now, This Beast sought to do the same to Earth.


Marlena knew all this for no other reason than that The Terrible Invader wished it so. Why it had chosen her to tell it's awful tale of a galaxy wide rampage to was lost on her. All she knew was it was here. It was real. And it was close. And it was fixating on her like a missile homing in on it's target. Marlena was not quite dreaming. Or at least, not in a sense that humans could understand. Her mind was detached from her body. And currently occupied a place between the borders of reality and the Ether. Occupying an area where the thing's mind now rested. For the terrible invader was not always corporeal, it sometimes existed in the Ether, or some other sphere, and at times it even cruised the area between the many spheres. But it always returned to the material realm. The place of it's birth.


The place where it could feed.


She soon learned that this 'it' was a he.


A very, very, big he.


It....he existed now only as a band of loosely fitting energy beams, coming together to form the outline of something huge and winged. Marlena was doing the spectral equivalent of crying when He finally spoke to her.


"And now you know." He said. "So stop pestering me."


"Pestering you?" Marlena demanded, in the ether, her voice echoed and seemed to double back on itself. "You've been fucking with me!"


The thing trumpeted in fury, turning bright red and banding itself closer together, energy wings beating as though it was a bird about to take flight.


"Stupid girl! Didn't you realize? You were summoning me to your dreams. I've inflicted my will upon no one!"


"What? What are you talking about?" Marlena snapped. "How? This is just retarded-"


"I don't know how, you hysterical twit! If I knew how I would have put an end to it immediately. I should have crushed your mind and swallowed your soul, but I'll admit I was curious about how such a pathetic excuse for a lifeform could work it's flimsy will upon me!"


"Pfft!" Marlena exlaimed, rolling her eyes. Or at least, doing it's equivalent.


"You doubt me?"


"So, Hotshot, you've been getting mindfucked by a twiggy Alcoholic from Connecticut. If this is you best shot you aren't gonna get far in New York, much less the Red States, where everyones all hyped up on oxycotton."

The Great Destroyer of entire Star Systems regarded her for a moment before interjecting.

"What the Hell are you talking about?"

"Also, how did you learn english?"
"Your race is woefully mentally unprepared for a psychic assault, It was maddenly easy to scan your minds for information and adapt it into a suitable dialect--"

"You know, a simple "I read you mind" would have been good enough."

He snorted. "Pissant little ape."

"Dick head."

He snarled in rage.

"Is all of humanity so dense? Do you know what I am? I have brought races far greater than you to their knees. I've devoured entire worlds. Sent Gods and Demons alike crawling back to their whores and nurse maids before obliterating them. I could squash you like a bug without even thinking of it."

"So why don't you?" Marlena asked.

"It's not so simple."

"You just said it was."

"It would be, it just isn't."

Marlena gazed up at him expectantly.

"Answer my question first." He insisted.

"What?"

"Why don't you fear me?"

"I'm not....I'm just......you aren't scary."

"You're lying to me, Marlena."

"No, you aren't scary. You're like a man in a big tubber suit or something, it's freaking rediclous." Marlena turned away from him. Or, again, at least did it's equivalent.

"You're terrified of me." Red energy encircled her, drawing her in a cocoon of pulsing crimson light.

"What are you doing?"

"I can smell your fear. It don't even have to read your mind to sense it."

"Stop! Stop!" Marlena insisted as something gripped her head.

"What else can we find in this pretty little head of yours?" He hissed in her ear now. Suddenly her head was yanked back, exposing the flesh of her throat.

Then someone cleaved her brain in two with a butcher knife.

At least, that's what it felt like. Needless to say, she screamed. Loudly. Her cries of pain echoing throught the void.

"Ah, here's something. Born and raised in Connecticut grew up in the 'burbs'. No Siblings. Just you, your parents and good old grandma....only grandma moved in after your Dad swallowed a shotgun, didn't he?"

"No! Shut up! Don't go in there!" Marlena screamed.

"But you're a 'Yorker through and through.' You've been waiting to break into the world of fashion weren't you? But now you're just stuck in a dead end job, as a 'phone monkey' for a big bunch of fat sweaty white guys who leer at your chest when they're not sneering at your social status as bottom of the economical food chain. Poor, pathetic Marlena. You were so sure weren't you? So sure you were gonna hit it big when you left mommy and stepdaddy to hit it big in New York. But you failed Marlena. You failed your dreams. Just like you failed daddy. Oh I'm sure he could've been helped if you'd opened your fat fucking mouth, but no, you just sat there and watched your father become a suicidal maniac!"

"Stop!" Marlena sobbed. "Please stop!"

"You killed him Marlena! It might as well have been you pulling the trigger!"

"No!"

"Also, you chew your nails. Nasty, nasty Marlena. Granny would not aprove."

He sliced through her brain, reading her every thought like it was a book.

"We all know about that God Damn party habit of yours, so we'll skip that shall we? Ah Ha! Ladies and gentlemen the holy-fucking-grail, she watches Project Runway! Hallelujah, praise the lord!"

From somewhere deep in the blackness a mock choirs sang praise.

"You know, I gotta say, I've assimilated billions of different languages over the years and none of them are quiet as good for swearing as english. Be proud people of Earth, years after the last of your children have died a horrible death I was be proclaiming 'FUCK OFF' to any who stand in my way!"

"God...." Marlena whispered.

"Fave movies include, but are not limited to; almost famous blow kill bill dumb and dumber goonies requiem festival express superman one and two big lebowski detroit rock city pulp fiction the trip any cheech and chong super troopers nightmare before christmas hocus pocus cocktail. I just copy and pasted that list from your Myspace Page I have no idea what's on it. And no, Marlena, magazines do not count as books you idiot! Fail! Lulz!"

"Who's being mind fucked now?" Something hissed to her.

"Ghidras." She hissed at him.

For a moment, there was silence. The damning silence like someone had just been stabbed. At first he didn't quite understand what he was hearing.

"What?" He asked, bewildered.

"That's your son's name. And he died because you were to weak to protect him." Marlena gasped through sobs.

There was silence.

But it was soon filled up with the rage of a furious titan.

Pain and rage itself seemed to materialize in the center of the thing's form and finally lanced outward. Spearing Marlena's spectral self in a dozen places and sending her into a rictus of agony. But through the pain, she felt his rage. And beneath that, sadness, emptyness, anguish. Loss. And she found herself tugged closer to him in those moments of pure agony. Two souls, united in greif. Like him, she had lost a child. Unlike him, she had never stopped believing that there was something good out there.

His cry of fury was so loud, that at first, it combined with the fury of his assault left her deaf, until finally the cries reached her spectral ears and ravaged them with the sound of a thousand dying angels being ripped from piece to bloody piece. And when it was done he loomed above her, seething with white hot power.

"Had enough?"

Her silence meant a yes.

"Do you want to leave?"

A single, stiff nod.

"Then I bid you leave me. But first, I take back the knowledge I have granted you. Enjoy your final days in peace, Marlena."

Another nod. She didn't want it. Not anymore.

"Go."

And she was gone.

Alone in the void, King Ghidorah contemplated the girl who had dared defied him, and the race from which she had sprung. And silently, despite his heart's iron refusal to do so, he cried spectral tears.

[Magejutsu]

very interesting

[tMan930]

[Varan]

Pain of Loss

[Varan]

When Teddy finally came to, he was aware of screaming. Shutting his eyes against the light he covered his ears, trying to shut out the horrible, grating sound. Suddenly, all at once, he realized that that he was the one screaming. Something was wrapping itself around him, it was cold and clammy and seemed to be made up of a million twisting muscle fibers, wrapping around his body and digging deeper into his flesh. It forced him to his knees, pooling around his body. It hugged itself closer to him and he was suddenly, horribly aware of the fact that part of it was grabbing at his face, stretching and pulling at the flesh of his face.

Teddy Hansen continued to scream, even while it reached inside his mouth and began to crawl down his throat he screamed. He was dimly aware that it was ramming itself into his nostrils and nose. The thing, the unnatural, horrible monster from another world finally penetrated into his brain cavity, rushing into his cranium. With a squeal of exhilaration it found the wrinkles of his brain and began to probe, pushing and messaging and piercing and slicing where it found appropriate. It coated his nervous system in it's mass, slowly but surely setting up a mental link between itself and Teddy.
He was blind, the creature had interrupted his optic nerves. He was on his stomach now, gagging as he tried to vomit out the substance as it crawled down his throat and into his stomach. Finally, it's task in his nervous system done, it began to probe his memories, reading his mind and learning the entirety of his history. Finally, when it was finished consuming and processing his knowledge, the creature in turn began to pour it's own knowledge into him. It downloaded it's own mind into him, and when it was completed It….She Teddy Hansen corrected himself ….spoke to him.

"Don't be afraid." She whispered. " I want to join with you. I want to be with you. Will you accept me?"

Alone in the woods, covered in an alien substance with a mind of her own, Teddy Grant smiled slowly. No words where passed between the two. No words where needed. As the creature slowly wrapped itself around his face, Teddy Hansen bellowed in triumph, but it didn't sound like any human cry. Indeed, it sounded more like the primal scream of some huge predatory monster from the depths of time, roaring his return to his prey.

[Varan]

And now the Author of this story would like to share with you a special presentation.

In Tribute to Marlena.....

[suckaH]

An interesting read so far. Kept me a bit busy at work.

[Varan]

May 21

The drums of war beat, and all life trembles, for no war is started for the right reasons.

The cave is ancient, but the ruins carved into the rock wall are even older, older even, than the island, perhaps older than time. The small shrine standing alone before it in silent vigil is all that remains of a once rich and vibrant culture that once called the island chain home. Deep within the cave, a presence far older than the lost tribes of Birth Island stirs, a great evil has arrived, and it is the duty of the presence to stop it. She is old and tired, but not weak, she's stronger now than she's ever been, for the flame is it's most radiant right before it snuffs itself out. She knows the beast who fell from the sky, knows it well enough to know what a danger it represents to not only humanity, but to all life on Earth. Indeed, if the King of Terror has his way, the Earth itself will be reduced to a barren husk, totally incapable of ever bearing life again.

It knows the demon, and knows it's name, the beast has many names on many worlds, each one carries a weight with it so terrible that not even the most viscous and warlike races will utter it, lest it bring the Terror King down upon them. Yes, this hateful being has many names on many worlds, but few know the true name, the one bestowed upon him when he opened all six of his eyes after finally struggling from his egg. He was named Cinga Ghidra by his mother, which meant, in her tongue, "Treasure of the Skies", his followers named him "Ghidra Khan", which meant, "Sky Father". But to one he held closest to his hearts, he was simply known as "My Love". His golden scales seemed to shine at their brightest right before one, yet unborn, would call him "Father". But that was not to be, for evil to, has many faces. One of them is the mask of the mad gods, gibbering and ethereal monsters from an age long past, they only half exist now, smothering under the collective sanity of this realm's teaming life forms. They only think of release, and the only way to do that is to subject every living being in this universe to their will, either twisting their mind and bodies into maddening new shapes or forcing them to worship the cosmic horrors and twisted gods of Madness and Destruction.

They are the Lords of Cthul, and they sought to visit this fate on Mighty Ghidra and his followers and kin. They would fail to bend the warrior to their mad wills, but not before they took from him what he loved most. Evil wears many masks, evil has many names, but few evils are as bitter as those who wish to stand in the light. Perhaps even the Lords of Cthul crave redemption in the back of their wild minds, in some form or another. But in the midst of their mad crusade to damn all life to a eternal hell, they created an evil that would perhaps, one day, eclipse their own. This demon, born of tears and rage and retribution, has many names, Destroyah, Gigantis, Monster Zero, The King of Terror...few know what he calls himself, fewer know why, the female presence knows, horribly, his name, and the true meaning behind it. As he watched his family die, he crafted a new name, one so foul that it burns the mouth and the throat to speak it, some having fits and screaming in terror at even uttering those two words. Cingu Ghidorah. In his mother's tongue it means "Hell's Lost Flower".

He is lost and alone. He needs no one, seeks no companionship. Death and pain are his companions now. He feeds on the escaping souls of those he kills, he burns worlds to ashes, few stand before him, of these braze champions, none live to tell the tale, he rewards defiance with death, a death few care to even try to imagine. He still has the beauty of his home world's sky, his golden armor glistening even at night, shining with an inner radiance so blinding it's said that those who die beneath his claws and jaws die with a smile on their face. But this outer beauty masks an evil far beyond any this world has ever witnessed, a soul so corrupt, it is not simply infested with sin, this demon's heart embodies the darkness. He long ago purged emotions like love and joy from his soul. But something is pulsing away in that black heart, some seedling of an emotion he had long ago sought to purge from himself, to wash away with the blood of a trillion beings. She felt it, that spark of something more than just a demon, of someone who Ghidorah had long thought he had killed off in an attempt to purify himself.

That spark of a hero that connects the utterly Earthly presence to that Unearthly monstrosity in more ways than the seething anger between two enemies, if the female presence was given to such emotions. It was that lingering spark of something undescribably powerful. It was stronger than a power that had brought Galaxies to their knees, a power that not even The King of Terror could stand against. And it would destroy him utterly if he let it. Mothra was not given to hating her enemies, but if she or any of her ancestors had ever hated anyone, it was King Ghidorah. His very body was crafted the stolen life forces of trillions of beings. His soul was not marked, he had no soul. And he could never be redemed, he stood against against everything she and her forerunners had upheld. Mothras don't kill, it's not in their nature, but if any could take a life, it was this Mothra, and she would take his life if she could. Why then, feeling that tiny spark of warmth in the ice cold void that was Ghidorah's soul, did she wonder if, when the time came, she could slay the Void Dragon?

But when evil begins to beat those drums, only the foolish would not answer, only the cowardly, or those themselves evil, would not take a stand against the gathering darkness.

They call him "The Great Destroyer." Feh, King Ghidorah is a destroyer, but he was never great. Legends and stories tell of a great three headed demon, whose scales of golden armor and breath like lightening. An eater of worlds, and killer of gods. Killer of Gods, that was a title that the force that possessed Teddy Hansen was going to gladly put to the test. She was not yet strong enough to face the "King Of Terror" himself in battle, but she had ways. She had always been the manipulator, pulling the puppet's strings, it was more fun than simply burning a civilization to the ground, it was much more amusing to simply have them destroy themselves. Her name was Hedorah, and it meant, in her tongue, "Daughter of Decay". It was a fitting name, nothing amused her more than corrupting innocent lives, and the life she held twisted in her gelatinous, liquid body now was screaming as she ate him alive.

No matter, he would come to enjoy it soon enough, he'd feast on his own decaying flesh, and provide him with a never ending source of amusement as time went on, and relish the dark power she gave him, they always did, even after she left a planet that had either destroyed itself or had simply begun to bore her, even when she jettisoned their twisted, cackling bodies into the void of space, they power was intoxicating. She had been operating on this planet called Earth for years, and it was both easy and fun. The humans practically corrupted themselves. She was performing a service, pure and simple, she took planets and beings who were boring, and made them interesting. She was an artist really. Any big dumb brute could burn cities to the ground and eat people's souls, but what she did, to manipulate so readily, was a true form of art. She was a goddess, no one could touch her, no one could stop her.

Killer of Gods. She's sure King Ghidorah will fail the test.

But those who keeps back the eternal night, those who fight that evil, risk the chance of becoming tainted themselves. Few things are as painful as watching a hero fall from grace. And few things are as dangerous as an agent of darkness who knows the secrets of the light.

He wanted his daughter back. He wanted his mate back. He hoped, prayed, spent knight screaming and crying alone beneath the bottom of the ocean. Maybe they where still alive, maybe...

But his heart denied this lie, he knew he was alone, he had known since the moment he had awakened that he was the last, he was alone. He was once a king, now he was a wanderer, alone know, he tries to let his mind drift back to happier times, but finds that he can only go back to when he first awakened, years ago. He remembers dragging himself from the shattered stone, trying so hard to reach the surface, light was only a few body lengths away...then there was a flash of great light, a cloud shaped like a mushroom. He remembered being blinded by the blast, his eyes burning out of his skull, his tender flesh sloughing from meat and tendon, his ear membranes burst, every part of his body screamed, he so wanted to die then, as his beautiful fins crumpled and disintegrated, all this in the fraction of an instance. He sunk, the light faded, it would be a long time before he could see again, his eyes almost regenerating, but he found he could no longer revert to normal spectrum's of seeing, he would never behold the world as his kind was meant to view it, only the harshness of ultra violet light, and the sickening, whirling colors of infra red. That was not all, his skin grew back, but it was lumpy, pitted and infested with tumors and open sores.

He would never be as he once was. Would never know the world as he had loved it during his life before. And what would his mate think? And his daughter? By the shining white flowers in the night sky he could never bear to have them see him like this, then pain, then darkness. Years became decades, this time the sleep was not near as long as it had been before, and when he awoke he had a new enemy. Some...thing had found him in his sleep, great metal things scanned him and poked him and prodded him and took the blood from his body, but as he soon learned, these small metal things where directed by even smaller fleshy things, and he knew, perhaps instinctivly, that these tiny upright rodents where responsible for the light that burned him so horribly he had never recovered. They had taken his life from him, them and their great swimming machines, he promised himself, on the souls of all who had come before him, on the graves of his tribe, on the memories of his long past family, he would have his terrible revenge.

How had it come to this? How had he fallen so far, lost so much? Why was he alone?

When a hero of the light becomes a champion of the dark, all shall weep, for when a hero falls, he falls the hardest.

Marlena isn't sure why she still cries, the car crash was a lifetime ago. Or at least, it seems like a lifetime ago. Eighteen, pregnant, just married, no college for her, but she was sure she could make it, that they would make it. He had a job, he was going places, after the baby was born, she was sure her high school grades and her teacher's shining recommendations would allow someone to see past something as trivial as having no college education, after all, what difference does a piece of paper? Hindsight is twenty twenty, God she can't believe how stupid she was back then. Her hair was blond, to match his, she was so sure it was going to be all right, so sure that their little family could beat the odds. But not even their little family could beat a bad winter storm and a drunk driver. Husband? Gone. Baby? Gone. Her naivete? Gone so fast that the suction carried her blonde hair with it. She doesn't talk to a anyone about her family, not even Lily knows, after she got out of the hospital, her life changed completely, her humor sharper, maybe even crueler, her tastes...Wal-Mart was not even a word that would pass her thoughts. Her career as a horror novelist? Fuck it, fashion was where the real money was at.

College came first, then New York, she hasn't spoken to her mother since her dad's funeral, if her memory is reliable they barely said two words to each other then. Whatever, different life, different girl, losing a baby and and hudband was enough horror for one lifetime. In many ways Marlena Diamond died with her husband and her son who was she know? Who could say, why then, had these ghosts from her past crawling through her dreams at night? It was a little stupid to think she could just forget them, but now...she tries to be there for Jamie, Teddy's disappeared, nobody saying anything, no one knows anything, but it seems like Marlena Diamond is just now starting to grieve for a family lost, a road not taken, a dream not followed, a life ended by nature's callous heart and stupid drunken teenagers. So when Lily texts her, inviting her to Rob's going away party, she figures if she gets drunk there maybe she could have one night of peace. One night where she isn't chasing down an endless hallway towards the sound of a baby crying. One morning when she doesn't reach for him. And dream without six red eyes with X shaped pupils crying tears of blood.

She hopes, but she won't make herself any promises.

But when that hero awakes anew, when the light shines bright once more in his breast, then that star shines brighter than ever before, a beacon in the darkness.

[Varan]

From Chet: Clover, Marlena, King Ghidorah, Mothra, and whoever else I forgot to mention belong to their respective owners.

And yeah, I do take some liberties with Marlena and Hud's initial onscreen meeting, but I'm taking liberties with the entire movie and indeed, the whole Cloverfield universe.


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May 22

Ghidorah sleeps, but his dreams are feverish, his flesh chill, his mind racing, he desperately seeks to wake himself, but old pains eat into his mind, old scars long thought to be healed. His rocky cocoon is becoming crumbly, a manifestation of his will, it was not designed to survive for this long. No, he should have awakened and razed this planet days ago, but he's stalling. Old hatreds and rivalries and loves and joys are rising in his soul, and tonight he's drowning in a tide of the past. In some ways, in many lays, Ghidorah is still on his home planet, burning the long burnt out piece of rock, a guardian of a graveyard long fallen into disuse and ultimately forgotten. He doesn't want to be alone anymore, but he knows that by now it's to late, his soul is stained black, and it's a stain that can never be wiped clean. He wants to forget, but not even the fog of eons can completely obscure and wear away at who he was. Who he had, and lost.

And so he sends forth an avatar, a drone, completely controlled by the vast mind who animated it, a thing of pure energy, to seek one who might cast back the darkness of doubt, and make the path clear once more.

***

This party sucks. Marlena thought to herself, immediately regretting the thought. Harsh, Marlena, to harsh. But then again, she had every right to be harsh, didn't she? She half smiled, half grimaced at this guy who she vaguely remembered as she tried desperately to give him a hint she wanted no part in his testimonials. She didn't really know Rob, and frankly she had no interest in his affairs. This guy...um...Hud? Whatever, whoever he was, he so obviously had a crush on her that she was embarrassed for him.

"No, yeah I get what you're doing I just don't want to do it." She said, turning away from him.

"Oh...okay...cool." He said.

Thank God. She thought to herself. If I heard the word's "Hey Marlena!" one more time...

"Um, Hey, Marlena! I have to...uh, like get...everyone." He said, straining to look over her shoulder and down at her ipod. The tiny wooden umbrella clenched between her teeth almost snapped in half, this guy just couldn't take the damn hint. The words "No, get the hell away from me." were half formed in her mind and about to burst from her throat in a snarl when he touched her. On the shoulder.

"We'll just do a short one." Hug said over dull roar of the party.

She was about to take his whole arm off when she realized that he, perhaps in some flash of wisdom bordering on instinct, had moved out of her range and across the bar. Casting a furious glance across the room at Jamie, who was passed out, making a quick exit awkward and impossible, she swiveled on her bar stool, took at deep breath, and forced a smile to her lips, staring right into the camera lens, hoping to avoid the creepy guy's (Hud? Hug? Who the hell was this guy?) leering stare.

"Okay..." She took a really deep breath and began, what was without doubt the worst testimonial on the video. Twenty four agonizingly awkward seconds later, she was finished and was ready to leave when...

"We could, like, do...another one if you want."

No, no you could not, in fact if you touch me again... Her train of thought was cut off by a figure looming above... Whoever He Was...

And then she laid eyes on him.

"I think she would rather be left alone right now." The man said, interrupting the much shorter man.

No...

"Uh..." Came the articulate reply.

No.....

"In fact, I'm almost positive she'd rather be left alone right now." The man said again, running long fingers through his thick blond hair.

No...
"Who are you?" The cameraman asked again, swinging his camera around to face the newcomer.

NO!

"Get that thing out my face! I will not be filmed!" The man snapped shoving the camera down so that the lens was pointed at the ground and the shocked interviewer was totally exposed. "And if you must know I'm..." He tossed a glance in Marlena's direction. "Marlena's...boyfriend."

The shorter man's jaw dropped. Marlena's large eyes bulged another inch from their skull.

"Boyfriend?" Came the shocked reply.

A nod.

"Yes." More of a hiss than a than a word. "Boyfriend, Hud...do you...know Marlena?"

Hud's eye's drooped, he cast a ashamed look down. "No...I mean, yes... yes sir."

Sir? He asked himself. Where did that come from? He had never, suddenly he jerked his head upward, against his own will, and locked eyes with the man, he immediately wished he hadn't. Those eyes...burned with a fire and a madness Hud had never seen before, they flashed with a radiant intensity.

"Marlena? Are we leaving now?" The man looked at his "Girlfriend" and cast a near predatory grin at her.

Her knees buckled, this was not happening to her... Two words came to her mind, unbidden.

Aw, fuck.

Well, more like an exclamation followed by a word.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From Chet: And that kiddies, is where I'm going to cut short this chapter. And for the record, yes, I did time Marlena's testimonial in the film, and no, this is not a Ghidorah/Marlena fic.

[Varan]

Chet has decided to ax the story, but he did write this as an official ending.

In my sort time on Earth, I've become something of a student of human culture. Your tribe is a fascinating one, and needless to say, had events not unfolded as such, I would have felt a pang of something akin to hesitation before I razed your cities to the ground and stripped your pitiful planet of all life. The human mind is pitifully weak, I found it easy enough to slip in and out and gather whatever information I needed about this backwater hellhole's "defense's" (and I use that term with an undeniable smirk on at least two of my faces) I found myself under whelmed. All the same, you barely evolved vermin managed to spark something like interest. You are a violent, barbaric race, but you are no worse than most of the rest of this plane's various inhabitants. Indeed, some make you humans seem downright saintly. Yet you concern yourselves with trivial concerns such as the environment or religion or other things that have little to do with your future should you rise to meet your full potential. Unfortunate I will not be there to see you spread your message, of hope or hate, into space. Death is something I thought myself imune to, but that ***** Mothra and her new boytoy "Clover" seemed to have proved me wrong. I'm sure Hedorah would be amused if her soul was not boiling in my insides right now. I'll be sure to drag it with me to Hell. As you moronic apes say, two's company. Forgive my rambling, my impending death seems to have brought about my philosophical side.

In my long life, most of it spent as a brutal butcher and veritable God of Death, I have many times questioned what started my long path down this road. The death of my family, surely, the destruction of my people and the planet I was chosen from birth to protect, so much like Mothra. Kin, that benevolent ***** and I, is that why she weeps for me as her holy light and power crystallize my body? And when the time came when fate saw fit to lead me here, on this young planet, faced with two champions, one whom hated me on princible, and the other because instinct told him too, it was this young human who proved to be my downfall.

'Twas Beauty killed the Beast."

Indeed.

I am a monster of the highest caliber, my deeds are legend, I have killed trillions of sentient beings, committed horrors so great even Dread Cthugrosh pales in horror. (In so many ways, he is more a father to me than my real one.) By the very laws of probability, her story is so much like the one of so many billion upon trillions of young mothers before her. Robed of a family before it even began, she crafted a new identity for herself. Marlena Diamond died with her husband and her unborn son, the rest is just detail. Indeed, her story is so like mine, there was a time when I would have been shocked by that. Eons of slaughter and death jaded me, as to be expected. But I never expected to connect with another living being in the way I did with that foolish child, but I did. I don't know why, I will never know why. I cannot say I am feeling guilty about my various crimes, although I do feel as though my grief may have caused my little galaxy wide rampage to be somewhat...excessive.

But I am what I am, despite my all of my power, I cannot change my past sins, and I can never atone for them. Even as I sacrifice myself now to ensure that Mothra's power, so foolishly unleashed by that child who will one day be called Clover, will not consume this planet, my sins far outway this one act of selflessness. To put it into terms that painfully limited fool Hud could understand, it would be like a mass murderer trying to apease the justice system by pulling a small cat from a tree. Your planet is not yet a very significant one I'm afraid, and so I leave this mortal coil with my karma still somewhat tainted.

I am rambling again, and time is sort. Marlena is a unique creature on Earth, she hid her fear rather poorly during out first encounter, and yet, despite the utter horror and revulsion she felt in my presence, she defied me, even though she knew what I was capable of doing to her should I have chosen to. Lukily for us both, I didn't. She wasn't devoid of fear, she was stronger than it, it was this that bound us together, and is currently the reason I'm now dying a somewhat agonizing death. A pity, if I could have elevated her to my level of being, she would have made a truly terrifying monster, together we could have wiped known space of all forms of life, but I have seen every part of her mind, I know her better than she knows herself. She would have never consented to such a union, besides, then I would be forcing her to live my life, and I believe that anyone who had any insight into the situation would have found death to be a preferable alternative, myself included.

Many times since I realized my life was ending (around three seconds ago, I would venture to imagine) have I wondered if I had triumphed over Mothra and her lackey, what would have become of that simple and yet complex creature? One hundred years is not enough for her to reach her full potential (I'm being generous in my estimates, chances are she will not survive the night, should I be unable to control the energy explosion that will probably result from my death). These humans are so short lived, dying so soon after their birth, their small and fragile hearts beating so quickly that they shut down after only handful of decades. I wouldn't call myself saddened, but if I was still capable of that emotion it would perhaps be apropriate. I suppose they'll have to be content with "disapointed".

Marlena. Small. Insignificant. Rather stupid (By my standards) Marlena. What more is there to say? I confronted her with the reality of my situation. She knows what I am and what I've done. She knows I am a damned thing, totally beyond anything close to redemption. And yet...like all humans, her mind is painfully easy to read. She feels for me. She is pained that I am leaving her and I will never return. Is it love? No, I don't think so, that honor is reserved for the boy who died so long ago, and, perhaps, should fate smile down, on that insufferable idiot called Hud. It is the comfort of closeness, we are kindred spirits. We are soul mates, her heat might belong to another human, but we are linked in a way that no two mortal creatures could ever be. There is a completeness in our bonding, something in our bodies and souls move to the same rhythm. When I am gone, she will remember me, she will be incomplete and grieve for me and it will hurt her for a long time. It's strange to think I, King Ghidorah, Heart of the Black Star, King of Terror, will be missed by a creature such as her.

Perhaps that is my redemption.

I deserve nothing more.

[?Sander]

Love the Lizzy Caplan picture.