Wild Child AU
is an AU of the MonsterVerse starting after Godzilla's battle with the MUTOs in Boston when he discovers Madison Russel among the ruined city. Believing that she is an orphan and unable to find any nearby humans he could entrust her with, Godzilla takes her away him, resulting in the two forming an unconventional family bond before the threat of "Monster Zero" leads Madison to return to the human race.
Wild Child AU contains examples of:
- Ambiguously Human: As a result of spending prolonged time with Godzilla on his island, Maddie experiences subtle mutations from exposure to his radiation. While her learning how to communicate with Godzilla and other Titans could just be a matter of time and patience, she is also able to absorb a degree of radiation without harm (although Godzilla still acts to protect her from direct exposure to a nuclear bomb), and she can even survive underwater for prolonged periods. On a physical level, Madison eventually manifests scales and bioluminescent freckles. By the time she learns that the Russells are alive, she is comfortable with the decision to be legally classified as a Titan rather than a human.
- Beware the Nice Ones: When Madison is briefly abducted by a group of soldiers with the idea of selling her to Titan enthusiasts, although she escaped on her own she was subsequently discovered by Mothra. When Mothra learns what just happened to Maddie, she causes the kidnappers' helicopter to crash, the usually benevolent Titan outraged that those humans dared to harm Maddie.
- Energy Absorption: Maddie acquires the ability to do this after spending years in proximity to Godzilla. While she would still be vulnerable to something as large as a nuclear explosion without Godzilla’s protection, spending time exposed to the background radiation of Godzilla’s island home alters Madison so that she can enter Godzilla’s underwater temple without any problem where a normal human would have been dead after a few moments of exposure even in a radiation suit.
- Gentle Giant: Godzilla notes that part of the reason he took Maddie away after the battle with the MUTOs was because he recognized that he’d caused so much collateral damage already that he'd just cause more if he tried to go further inland to find more humans to leave Maddie with (operating on the assumption that her direct parents were already dead).
- Happily Adopted: After spending a few years with Godzilla, Maddie has come to consider him a father figure, although she calls him "G" because both acknowledge that it would be weird to actually call him "Dad". Likewise, while Maddie never explicitly calls Mothra any kind of maternal term, she clearly considers the Titan Queen a mother figure and Mothra reciprocates the affection.
- Heel Realization: Emma turns against Alan Jonah and his associates when she realizes that Maddie is helping Godzilla against Ghidorah, the sight of her living daughter forcing Emma to acknowledge that her actions are wrong.
- Jungle Princess: Maddie is essentially a downplayed version of this; she tends to dress in clothing Godzilla "stole" for her rather than making her own attire, but she is respected by the other titans as Godzilla’s "pup", making her essentially their princess if Godzilla is the Titans' king.
- Limited Social Circle: Maddie spends the better part of five years on an isolated island with only Godzilla and some local animals for company. Even after Mothra takes her to Monarch after Ghidorah awakens and nearly kills Godzilla, Maddie finds herself uncomfortable around crowds, although she makes it clear she wants to spend time with Mark and Andrew even if she’s not ready to return to the human race full-time.
- Little Miss Badass: Having grown up on Godzilla’s island, Maddie has trained with home-made weapons such as spears, and is even shown killing a shark.
- Raised by Wolves: Madison is basically raised by Godzilla since she’s seven years old and all but explicitly declares him to be her father figure by the time she’s ten, with Mothra accepting the role of a mother figure to Godzilla’s "pup" when she awakens. Once Godzilla introduces Maddie to other Titans, they’re all willing to accept this human as the child of the King of the Monsters even if Maddie clearly isn’t a natural Titan.
- Role Swap AU: Essentially applies as far as the wider world is concerned, as Andrew Russell remains with Mark and Emma while Maddie was declared dead after the destruction of Boston, save for the fact that Maddie survived and was just taken away whereas Andrew genuinely died in canon.
- Rules Lawyer: Maddie admits that she's not ready to return to the human race after living with Godzilla for years even if she wants to spend time with her father and brother, so Doctor Serizawa and Andrew Russell each propose a suitable compromise. As Andrew observes, since "Madison Russell" is still legally dead since the battle against the MUTOs, all Mark has to do is leave that declaration valid so that Madison can choose to live where she wants. For Serizawa's part, he points out that the changes Madison has gone through due to prolonged "exposure" to Godzilla mean she can be legally classified as a Titan, putting her under Monarch’s authority.
- Socially Awkward Hero: Spending five years on an island with only Godzilla for company leaves Maddie feeling uncomfortable and enclosed when she reunites with her father and spends time in Monarch’s airship. She’s able to interact with people well enough, but she’s not used to human gestures of comfort after receiving support from Godzilla.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Andrew Russell survived the MUTO attack on San Francisco.
- Super Not-Drowning Skills: Maddie’s mutations include an enhanced ability to survive underwater, but while she has a superior ability to cope with the pressure, there is no sign that she’s grown gills or anything similar; she’s just good at holding her breath.
- Swapped Roles: An unexpected minor variation features in Godzilla’s final battle with King Ghidorah; with the reprogrammed ORCA broadcast keeping both Titans disorientated, Maddie for once has to essentially protect Godzilla, as she’s able to yell instructions to him so that he can fight through the transmission and avoid Ghidorah's attacks while unleashing his own.
- Take a Third Option: Having learned that Mark and Andrew Russell are still alive, Maddie is left torn about what to do next, as she doesn’t want to leave Godzilla but also wants to spend time with her biological father and brother. Doctor Serizawa suggests that Maddie doesn’t have to choose; since "Madison Russell" is still legally dead and her current state means that she can be legally classified as a Titan, she can be declared a Titan and allowed to come and go as she pleases under Monarch’s supervision.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Even after Maddie meets her father again, she never seriously wants to go back to living among other humans, although she does want to spend time with Mark and Andrew.
