Author: Harley Jameson

A large map of the world dominated the center of the Kaiju Prevention Network’s main building. It wasn’t a digital map, but a physical one. Splayed across a gigantic table and decorated with various colored pins, highlighter markings, and even a few drawings drawn as a joke by some of the workers. From there it branched out into various make-shift offices, storage spaces, computer banks, etc. There were electronic methods for tracking and mapping various monsters across the globe but everyone knew how fragile technology could be when a giant monster came crashing in. It was slower, but doing everything the old fashioned way was the only means to make sure they could stay in operation. It was also why they were near the outskirts of the city, rather than in the heart of it. Kaiju very rarely went to the more rural parts of town.

For Julia Kane, it meant having to make sure her penmanship was legible as she sat at her little desk and wrote out the most recent report for a Kumonga sighting near South America. One of many fresh-faced kaijuologists graduated from universities across the globe, her specialization with learning about kaiju behavior and psychology made her an ill-fit for G-Force, but perfect for the KPN’s services. She just wished that she could use a keyboard for her reports, setting her pen down to flex her hand to prevent it from cramping up.

She leaned back and took a sip of her lukewarm tea as another member of the KPN walked over carrying a couple boxes of papers and folders to be sorted. A big burly man with a big black bushy beard and a kind smile. “Heya Julia, how’s the report going?” 

She shrugged, brushing her hand through her dark red hair to keep it out of her face. “Almost done I think, mostly just trying to succinctly explain the correlation between Kumonga and tropical environments. What about you Ken, you need any help with those boxes?”

Ken thought for a moment before nodding. “Actually yeah, that’d be nice. This is getting pretty heavy, ‘specially since I’ve been hauling them all day.” He visibly relaxed a little when Julia stood up and grabbed a box off of the stack and his load had been lightened and together they headed off towards the storage room. “Whoof, thanks Jules. You get that time off you asked for approved?” 

Julia nodded happily, bumping open the storage room door with her hips and together they set both the boxes down. Ken flexed his shoulders a little and sat down on a table to catch his breath. “I sure did! And Robin got their time off approved too.” She grinned ecstatically. “So there’s nothing stopping us from finally taking a long overdue honeymoon.”

“Not even Godzilla?” Ken joked, but chuckled and clapped his hands together as he stood back up. “Nah, I’m only teasing. You deserve that time off, you’ve been working your ass off.” Hands in his pockets, they left the storage room and off towards the little kitchenette breakroom. “Where you two going anyway?”

“Somewhere in North California. I wanna see the redwood trees and be somewhere a little quieter, removed from so many people… and somewhere where I don’t have to put on a bunch of sunscreen, I burn way too easily.” She chuckled to herself as she picked up a leftover chocolate muffin from one of the many boxes of goodies left on the countertop. “I tried to convince Robin that we could fly since I double checked known Rodan locations and patterns but they want to make it a cross-country road trip.” There was a fond little smile as she took a bite of her muffin and smiled. “Gotta admit, I’ve never been on a road trip like that before.”

Ken let out a laugh, shaking his head a little. “You’d think Robin would be used to flying considering the big beast they pilot. Ah well, I gotta get back to hauling. Have fun on your trip Jules.” He raised his cup of coffee in salute and she returned the gesture before leaving her alone in the breakroom.

She sighed and kept snacking on her muffin for a little bit, pulling out her phone to check if Robin or anyone else had texted her, then started scrolling through her various social media apps until her phone buzzed and she smiled knowingly. Speaking of the devil, she thought as she swiped her thumb. “Hello?”

“Hey Juliet, I’m not calling at a bad time am I?” Her spouse’s voice was warm over the other line and Julia found herself smiling. 

“Nope, taking a break actually. What’s up, Romeo?” She was aware of the irony about calling themselves ‘Romeo and Juliet’ considering how infamously tragic their love story ended but when Robin had explained it was a more subtle way to tell her about what gender he was feeling like, she found it growing on her. 

On the other side of the city, Robin Kane was sitting in his personal little quarters in Mechagodzilla’s hangar. The perks of being one of its pilots, he supposed. He leaned back on the cot, legs crossed casually. “Just checking in to see if there’s anything I gotta pick up when I get off work before we head out? Any more snacks or drinks or necessities?”

He could almost hear her affectionate eye roll and he allowed himself a little smile while fixing his glasses. “I’m pretty sure we have everything we need hon. If we really need something while on the road that’s what we saved up for isn’t it?” 

There was a slightly embarrassed laugh from him, his hand fiddling with the zipper of his uniform. “I know I know, I just want to make absolutely sure y’know? I’ve never really taken this big of a vacation before. Guess I’m a little nervous because I keep expecting something to happen at the last minute.”

“Which we planned for, yeah? Your superiors and my boss allowed us to move our vacation time in the event of a kaiju attack and we have to cancel. Hopefully you won’t even need to head out in Mechagodzilla anyways.” 

“Not unless Godzilla himself shows up. I’ll let you get back to work baby, love you.” 

“Love you too, Romeo. See you at home tonight.” 

Setting his phone down on his chest, he rubbed his eyes with his fingers and sighed a little. No matter how positive he tried to stay, there was something in the back of his mind that told him that things were going too well. That something was bound to happen and ruin it. 

Maybe that was something he ought to tell his therapist about next time they had a session. She was pretty encouraging to Robin about taking a vacation. Away from Mechagodzilla, away from life or death combat. Just focus on his Juliet, closing his eyes and imagining her radiant smile as they cruised down the highway towards California.

The rest of the day went by smoothly for both of the Kanes. Ironically Julia was usually the one who had to stay later at work than the actual military personnel, so when Robin got home he set to work making them dinner. The rich smell of hamburgers filling their modest little house when he heard the front door opening. “Heya!” He called out chipperly. “Dinner’s on the pan!”

Having set her things down and shrugged off her jacket, Julia entered the kitchen to hug Robin’s waist and kiss at his neck lightly. “Smells good. Burgers huh?” She rubbed her fingers into his back, raising an eyebrow. “Still feeling a little anxious?” She kissed the back of his neck again. “What’s up?”

“I…” He hesitated for a moment, flipping over the meat and casually set the cheese on top before grabbing her hand and squeezing. “Guess I just can’t shake the feeling that something’s gonna happen. Feels too good to be true y’know?” 

There was a long sigh from his wife and she nodded. “I can’t deny that I’m feeling the same way a little, but that just tells me that we really should take this vacation. Having a week without having to worry about kaiju and all that entails will be good for us.” She tilted his head and gave him a gentle kiss. “Smells real good.”

“Me or the burgers?”

“Why can’t it be both?” She peeled away from him and pulled out some plates and the jug of milk from the fridge. “Get yourself some hamburger scented bodywash, I’m sure that’s a thing that exists.”

He couldn’t help but laugh at the idea, wrinkling his nose. “Aw gross babe, that sounds nasty. I don’t wanna smell like hamburgers.”

“Why not? You have a lot in common with them. You both smell great, you taste great, a little cheesey.” She cackled at the face he pulled as she pulled out the honey mustard and ketchup out of the fridge.

Plating their meal and applying their condiments of choice, Julia hummed happily as she took her bite. “God, you are the best at this sweetheart, you know that?”

Robin couldn’t help the satisfied smile as his wife scarfed down the food. “Thanks babe, I know that Baron and Johnny think so too. They’re already badgering me about 4th of July plans.”

Julia shook her head a little in teasing exasperation. “You should’ve never fed them, babe. Let them go hungry.”

“And have them bring snacks in Mechagodzilla’s cockpit? No thank you. I am not cleaning crumbs again.” He still remembered the ass chewing they all got after Johnny had air-ordered McDonalds for them all and got salt and crumbs into the instruments. Never again.

There was another cackle from his wife and the rest of dinner went by smoothly, mostly the two of them chatting about their day and then doing their evening rituals. Robin put on one of his podcasts as he showered and Julia was already in bed reading her latest book. 

Robin settled down next to her and kissed her cheek, resting their head on her shoulder and closing his eyes before drifting off to sleep. It wasn’t uncommon for them to be the first to fall asleep considering the rigorous schedule he often needed to adhere to as Mechagodzilla’s lead pilots. Instead Julia just kissed his head, slipped his glasses off his nose to set them on the nightstand, and lowered the brightness of her tablet so it wouldn’t disturb them. It wouldn’t be another few hours until Julia set down her tablet and was finally able to get some sleep. 

Only for a few hours. At around 3 AM a loud and terrifying roar jolted them both awake and it was quickly followed by the house rattling and someone pounding in their door. Robin was up in an instant, glasses on and sprinting over to the front door while Julia staggered her way after them. She didn’t even reach the front door when Robin nearly slammed into her and held her tightly, wide awake and ashen faces. “Julia, I gotta go okay? The big guy’s here.” 

There were the loud sounds of missiles screaming and explosions in the distance. The whole sky flashed bright blue before a beam of pure radioactive energy cut through the air and cleaved through one of the nearby skyscrapers, causing it to tumble in on itself and collapse to the street below. 

Julia held onto Robin’s hands with hers and squeezed tightly before nodding. 

Robin squeezed her hands back and pulled her fingers up to kiss the tips. “I’m coming home, Romeo. Got it?”

“You better, Juliet.” Reluctantly letting their hands go, Robin sprinted out the front door and into the waiting G-Force convoy to take him back to where Mechagodzilla was undoubtedly waiting for her. Julia stood there, watching the truck scream down the road and into the blackness of the night. She held on tightly as Godzilla’s roar shook her to the core and she tore back inside the house. She had work to do too, grabbing her phone to call her boss at the KPN and slipping her shoes on. “Jenny, it’s Julia. Do you want me to come in?”

“Only if you can do it safely. I don’t want you risking your life with Godzilla rampaging around.”

Julia mentally calculated how clogged the streets would be with cars and buses trying to evacuate the city as Godzilla waded further in…. and how far it would be to walk there. She waylaid her shoes and grabbed a pair of hiking boots from her closet, uncaring about the rest of her clothes as she began pulling them on. “It’ll take me a bit to get there, I’ll have to walk. I should be there in about an hour though. What the hell happened? I thought Godzilla was somewhere off in the Mediterranean.”

“In that case don’t bother, just get somewhere safe okay? And as for Godzilla… that’s what we thought too, but you know how damn difficult it is to track him. You’d think with how much radiation and how famous he is that he’d be easy but he’s always been a ghost. I’m serious Julia, just find somewhere safe to hunker down and wait for G-Force to handle things. I’ll talk to you when this is over.”

“Easy for you to say..” Julia huffed to herself as she grabbed a pre-prepared overnight bag and slung it over her shoulders. “Your wife isn’t the one going out there risking her life for us all..” As she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, Godzilla let out a hellacious roar and she flinched as the atomic breath soared across the night sky above her head and more jets screamed overhead. 

Assuming G-Force barged its way through any clogged traffic to get Robin to Mechagodzilla’s cockpit, it would take mere minutes for one of their mightiest superweapons to launch onto the battlefield. G-Force was frighteningly effective when it came to this sort of thing. Her phone went off again and she picked it up without even looking at the Caller I.D, power-walking down the sidewalk. “Hello?”

“Julie! Oh thank god you’re alright. It’s Tessa, where the heck are you?” Julia breathed out a small sigh of relief. “Talk about waking up in the middle of the night, huh sis? Couldn’t Godzilla have picked sometime later to show up?” Julia could only chuckle a little as her step-sister groused about the situation. It was funny how something so fantastic could become so mundane after getting used to it for so long.

“I just left home and on my way to the nearest shelter. Are you alright Tess?” Julia watched as cars screamed past her in all directions in a panicked attempt to flee as the ground shook from Godzilla’s continued advance. 

“You just left?! Hang tight, I’m gonna come pick you up. I’m not that far from where you live and I know you didn’t take the car with you.” Damn, her step-sister really knew her. “But I’ll be just fine, truthfully I’m more worried about Robin.”

“That makes two of us…” Julia said darkly, stumbling and nearly falling into her neighbor’s lawn as Mechagodzilla slammed down in front of Godzilla, giving a mechanical war cry towards his organic original. She found herself unable to look away as Mechagodzilla engaged Godzilla, firing his mega buster directly into Godzilla’s chest to force the King of the Monsters back.

No matter how many times she would see it happen, the mighty sight of Mechagodzilla in all of its mechanical glory was never a comforting sight for her. All she could imagine was her dearly beloved behind those bright yellow eyes, clinging on for dear life and her eyes fixated on the task.

Godzilla’s atomic breath slammed into Mechagodzilla’s chest and the war machine didn’t even flinch. Julia was mesmerized, knowing just how hard her Robin worked to fight for all of their sakes. They had talked about this when it became clear they both wanted the relationship to be more serious. They talked for days and days and over the years together Julia thought that she had come to accept the risks of Robin’s impossibly dangerous job.

Yet time and time again, whenever Mechagodzilla stepped in front of any kaiju, that faith was shaken to the core. Everytime Robin promised Julia they would come home and everytime Julia wondered if this would be the time that promise was broken. Was this what their lives would be? Forever chained to a never-ending war?

A warm embrace jolted her violently out of her stupor. “Hey Julie, m’here.” Tess. Julia wrapped her arms around her step-sister and squeezed her tightly. She was being led to Tess’s car. “C”mon, let’s get going somewhere safe.” 

Numbly, she slipped inside and buckled up before burying her face in her hands. A few sobs ripped through her body, unwillingly leaving her mouth as tears spilled down her face. The sounds of battle between Machine and Monster faded away into the background. “Why can’t I be stronger?” She asked aloud. “I want to believe she’ll make it, I want too so badly but I just can’t.”

Tess glanced at her step-sister, a heavy frown on her face. She reached out, taking one of Julia’s hands and squeezing. “You are being strong Julie. I think you’re the strongest girl on the planet right now. Because you’re staying safe.”

“What does matter if I’m safe when they could be dead tomorrow? Mechagodzilla gets ripped apart and explodes and they either can’t find the corpse or it’ll be so soaked in radiation that they’ll be buried in a lead coffin.” Julia hiccupped, feeling the weight of years of anxiety and fear overtake her. “They’ll have their name carved in some rock and then they’ll move on. I can’t live like that, I-I can’t live without them I-“

“Hey hey. None of that. Look at me Julia.” Tess reached up and forced Julia to look at her as the car got stuck in some evacuation gridlock. Julia couldn’t even see her step-sister’s face clearly through her tears. “We both know that’s not what Robin would want, and I sure as heck aint gonna let my sister follow him down. I won’t let you be like the actual Romeo and Juliet.”

Julia wiped her eyes and nodded mutely. She knew, or perhaps more accurately, she desperately hoped that she hadn’t meant any of those words. It was just the fear talking. “I’m sorry Tess, for just. Breaking down like. I probably don’t sound very good, talking like that…”

“It’s alright. I get it, yeah? Well, sort of.” Tess gave her an empathetic look in the mirror, sighing a little. “I’m just as scared of losing Robin as you are. But for you… well, it’s worse isn’t it? Sure, they’re my sibling but I’m not their wife…” She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. “Mind if I give some unsolicited advice?”

“Go ahead.” Julia sniffed, wiping her eyes on her sleeve.

“Sounds like you just… reached the breaking point. I dunno if I can put it any better than that.” 

Julia wiped at her eyes again as she mulled over Tess’s words. In a way, her step-sister was right. How long had she been carrying these doubts and fears with her? She had dedicated herself to studying kaiju and their minds but that usually meant she was far far away from any real danger. And Godzilla… he was unpredictable on the best of days. A being so complex or perhaps so simple that he just continually slipped through everyone’s fingers like the water cascading down his body.

Unlike Robin, who was doing the bravest thing humanity could ever ask for. He was a hero, dedicated to stopping Godzilla no matter what, even if it meant his death. Could she ask him to walk away from that for her sake? Did the wants and needs of one girl match up to the expectations of his position?

Julia and Tess stayed close to one another as they were finally forced to abandon the car and walk the rest of the way to the shelter. Julia was glued to her phone, watching a broadcast of Mechagodzilla and Godzilla’s fight, noting with horror the black scorchmarks and damage on Mechagodzilla’s body.

She shouldn’t have been that surprised. What facts were concrete about Godzilla is that he was infamously stubborn and very rarely backed away from a challenge or forfeited a fight. This seeming lack of self-preservation was prevalent to some degree in all kaiju but in Godzilla especially it was the most apparent. 

Godzilla’s atomic breath fired again and Mechagodzilla was too sluggish to move out of the way. Instead the beam slammed into one of the machine’s arms and cleaved it off entirely in a shower of fire and sparks. Julia’s grip on her phone tightened, silently begging the giant protector to stop and the crew to evacuate. Perhaps this would finally be Romeo and Juliet’s final hours.

Mechagodzilla’s eyes dimmed and the machine stood motionless. Julia wondered what Godzilla must be thinking at this moment. Is this a trick? A ruse? Should he destroy his opponent utterly?

After a long moment of silence, Godzilla let out a loud roar of victory and turned away to head back towards the sea. Why had he come ashore and began his brutal assault of the city would ordinarily concern and fascinate her to no end but she was just relieved it was over at long last. A few minutes after that, she received two lone words from a familiar number. “I’m okay.”

She felt everything leave her body and she leaned her head back, eyes shut. “He’s okay,” she repeated to Tess, who breathed out a sigh of relief. “He’s okay,” she whispered to herself.

But are you? She asked herself.

No, she told herself. I don’t think I am.

What will you do about it? She asked herself again.

I’m going to stop being Romeo and Juliet, and make sure that we get to live. She told herself firmly. 

All she had to do now was wait.

Once they were allowed to leave the shelter, Julia had fallen into a restless sleep when she got back to Tess’s car. Luckily her home was far enough away from the disaster zone that even Godzilla’s highly dangerous but short-lived radiation wouldn’t go near her home. It would still take days for the radiation to pass, and even longer for things to resume back to normalcy but none of that mattered to her at the moment. Tess adamantly refused to leave her alone after her worrying outburst last night. “At least until my stupid sibling gets home and fixes things.” She said with a playful wink. “Besides, all of the radiation probably killed off the flowers and it’ll be a while before we get back on our feet, so I’ve got free time.”

Despite her sister’s very welcome company, it was still difficult for Julia to get back to her old self just yet. It was like something had been broken beyond repair inside of her. She still ate and showered like normal, but couldn’t find the energy to really do much else.. because she was constantly going over and re-going over the fact she was going to have the single hardest conversation in her life when Robin finally got home.

Robin had still sent her small little updates, mostly just letting her know that they’d be stuck at G-Force’s medical for a few days to make sure nothing was wrong, that they were just banged up from the fight and nothing more serious, and that they loved her very much.

After four days, a G-Force call rolled up to the house. Thanking the driver, Mechagodzilla’s lead pilot stepped out of the car and towards their home. Robin was eager to see Julia, but also knew that they were going to have to talk about what had happened.

Robin had their own alone time to think about everything that had happened. It had been quite some time since Mechagodzilla had lost that badly, but after one of its arms got blown off it became clear they weren’t going to win the fight. He had taken a rather big risk in assuming that Godzilla would stand down and leave after the drag out fight they just had and wouldn’t just continue running amok in the city after he gave the order to power Mechagodzilla down and evacuate. If he had been wrong, then who knows what kind of damage and chaos would’ve happened. 

All they did know was that if the evacuation order hadn’t been given, they and the rest of her crew would’ve died that day. As they sat in their hospital bed, they found themselves lingering on that. From day one of joining G-Force, they had accepted that their life could end at any moment thanks to a kaiju attack. Be it attempting to repel them, fight them, or simply work with evacuation staff, the threat of death was constant. As Mechagodzilla’s pilot, he had suffered far worse injuries on the frontlines and pushed Mechagodzilla far harder. What was different this time?

Their thoughts drifted to Julia. Their sweet, beautiful, wonderful Julia. The one who would be crying over their tombstone if they had died, who would be all alone in a house for two. Not even a proper chance to say goodbye, just a broken promise to come back home. A true Romeo and Juliet.

That stark realization hit Robin at that moment. He had always revelled in the delicious irony, that an actually happy and loving couple would call themselves “Romeo and Juliet”. The idea of laughing at the tragedy. Funny how the tragedy nearly happened anyways.

Thus it was with a happy heart but a stone in her gut as Robin opened the door and declared themselves to be home. Julia threw herself at her spouse, the two holding tightly onto each other in a silent, loving embrace. Robin’s not surprised when their sister was there and pulled them in for a hug, nor surprised when a whisper only they can hear is said. 

“Don’t fuck this up.”

Tess left after saying her goodbyes and giving Julia a hug in return. She had faith that they’d be able to get things right, they were made for each other. 

The two lovers looked at one another, leaning in for a slow and tender kiss. A kiss that promised the world, the stars, and everything in between. A shared promise that both made the other without even realizing it. Romeo and Juliet would be no more.

“We have to talk,” Julia said quietly.

Robin nodded, hands taking hers. “I know,” they said, placing their forehead against hers. “I know.” 

Their hands intertwined and they went to their bedroom and sat together, close to one another. Neither spoke for a while, simply enjoying being in each other’s presence.. and also unsure how to even start. “I…” Julia began, but then fell silent. “I wish this wasn’t so hard.” She whispered.

“Me too,” Robin whispered back. They held each other tighter.

“I. I had a bit of a breakdown last night. I said some worrying things I didn’t really mean and freaked out and I probably freaked Tess out too. I thought that this would finally be it, that you’d die and have your name carved in some rock somewhere as a memorial. And I’d be alone. I don’t know if I can keep going like that, being so afraid and thinking I’m going to lose you.”

She took a shuddering breath, tears pricking her eyes. “But at the same time, I don’t want to ask you to step away. Not quite G-Force entirely just… stop piloting Mechagodzilla. You’ve dedicated so much of your life to that machine, to stopping Godzilla… you’re a hero. Can I really ask you to give that up?”

Robin buried their face in their wife’s hair, kissing her temple. “…I hesitated last night, you know. When Mechagodzilla’s arm got blown off and Godzilla was staring us down, I knew that if I had fought on I probably wouldn’t have made it out alive. I was trained to fight until the bitter end, I told myself I would lay down my life in the line of duty. But in that one moment… I thought about you. How I’d leave you alone… how we’d really be Romeo and Juliet if I died that night… so I backed down.” Their eyes stared off into nothingness as they spoke, holding Julia tightly. “I couldn’t bear the thought of being away from you and hurting you like that.”

“It seems no matter how hard we try, no matter what machine we use… Godzilla overcomes us all. I can’t even remember the last time we’ve gotten any sort of meaningful victory over Godzilla. To walk away from a fight you can’t win… isn’t that meant to be smart?”

Julia stroked their face softly, shifting herself so they were sitting in Robin’s lap. “I don’t want you to die.” 

“I don’t want to die.”

“Then please. Please. Step away from Mechagodzilla.”

“And let someone else bear that burden? Let someone die in my place.”

Julia reared away like she had been hit. “T-That’s not… That’s not what I meant.”

Robin sighed and rubbed her back soothingly. “I know my love, I know. I’m sorry.. but that’ll be what happens. If I step away, someone will step in to fill that spot. And one day they won’t be lucky.”

“Is that your way of telling me you aren’t going to do it? Some delusional sense of responsibility and honor?” Anger tinted her words now, hands curling into fists.

“No. I…I just think that’s something I’ll have to be okay with.” Closing their eyes, they shifted Julia a little and stroked her hair. “It’ll be hard giving up something like that… but I think it’s for the best I do.” Cupping her chin, she gently pulled Julia’s gaze up to hers. “I love you so much Julia. I’ll give up anything for you.” 

“Robin…” Julia cupped their face. Both of them were starting to cry now. “You know I’d put up with any amount of pain for you.”

“I don’t want you to be hurting, my love.”

“And I don’t want you to think you’re giving up either, beloved.”

They leaned in and kissed each other. Slow and passionately, letting their tears fall free as they clung onto each other for dear life. When at last they parted for air, Julia sniffed. “I’m sorry, I feel like I’m not being supportive of you.”

Robin wiped her eyes, then theirs. “Don’t be sorry, you’ve been supporting me so much. You’ve put up with so much for my sake. I’m sorry for hurting you so much.”

“Now it’s my turn to say don’t be sorry. I knew what this kind of life would be and I… I accepted it as best I could. I feel like I failed.”

“There’s only so many times you can watch me stick my neck out before you can’t handle it anymore. Once we get back from our vacation, I’ll ask for a transfer.” There was a small, amused laugh. “You know, before she left Tess told me not to fuck things up.”

Julia snorted through her tears, letting out an amused little laugh. “I think you’re doing a good job so far.” She leaned in and kissed them again. “…But I think we should stop calling ourselves Romeo and Juliet.”

“Agreed. I’d rather not turn the irony into reality…”

“I love you, Robin.”

“I love you too Julia.”

The couple embraced again and laid down with one another. They were tired and exhausted, but in each other’s arms they fell into a blissful sleep.