Warning: Sorta spoiler for The Giver and also it gets a bit dark in the beginning of this chapter.
Let me know if I should up the rating of this fic and/or if I should even put warnings for chapters. (Don't really like doing it because it ruins the suprise factor but I don't want to trigger anyone!)
Anyways, enjoy!
I was playing in a forest with a bucket which I used to collect various earthly materials, mostly soil. I was running to a cabin… my Uncle Zaius' cabin. It looked like it but when I peeked into the window to see the inside… well it was nothing like his cabin.
As I opened the door, I was greeted by my father who lifted me onto his shoulders. I squealed, happily. I knew this was a dream but I didn't care. It was great knowing that my parents would always live on in my dreams. They would always be in my heart as well as my subconscious.
A hoot caught my attention, I looked to the couch and saw Zira sitting next to my mother. The latter was fashioning a bracelet for the female ape. "Zira!" I gleefully called out causing my father to set me down. I ran to the two, sitting in between them.
Zira asked what I collected from the forest and I grabbed a white rock from my yellow plastic bucket. She smiled telling me that it was a pretty rock and then passing it to my mother. She gave me a kiss on my head, telling me that those were her favorites because of their pure color. The loving smiles my biological mother and my adoptive mother gave me made me feel as though everything would be alright because they loved me so dearly that nothing could destroy our bond.
Then I heard it. A gunshot that was accompanied by fearful shrieks from apes outside. My father was the first to check it out, Zira and my mother soon followed. I looked out of the window and saw Zira crying over Milo's body which was in a pool of blood. Tears began to well up in my eyes, soon overflowing down my face.
"Colonel! We got apes here!" I heard a young man shout. His leader only told him to kill what wasn't on their side. My mother screamed out in pain causing me to run outside to her.
Before, I was able to get to her, an explosion engulfed her in flames. My father screamed, cursing in spanish at the people who blew her up. He ran at them but was quickly shot dead.
Zira suddenly grabbed me, taking me to the safety of the trees. The forest was on fire! All I could smell was smoke and burning flesh. I gagged at the horrid smell.
The polluted air was starting to affect Zira. Her breathing was becoming heavy and she wasn't swinging as fast. Next thing I knew we were falling. The female bonobo broke my fall but the pain wasn't over yet.
A man walked up to us, he wore a hood so I couldn't see his face. He grabbed my neck, squeezing it tightly. The mysterious figure brought something up to my face, I screamed thinking it was a gun.
It was a mirror. He forced me to look into it and there I saw five-year old me. My face was covered in soot and dirt. It was moistened by sweat.
I felt so small and helpless.
The man suddenly threw me hard onto the ground, knocking the air out of me. He laughed maniacally before saying, "You see that? You're worthless. Useless. That's who you are. You think your new family is gonna be around long? Nah they ain't, dumb bitch. They're gonna die like your other two families. All because of you. You're a harbinger of death. Ha, you're a murderer too! Ya killed ya own uncle! YOU KILLED ME!" He took off his hood and I now knew who it was; Uncle Zaius. "If you wouldn't have gone to town, you wouldn't have picked up that damn monkey disease! You fucking brat!" He kicked dirt at me.
I was all out sobbing at this point. Yes, I went to town. I was looking for a way to punish my uncle for killing Bentley and for verbally abusing me. I ran out of that small town when I noticed people were rioting and there were bodies on the floor, many of them with blood coming out of their facial orifices. One of them had some laxatives which I took back to the cabin. It wasn't supposed to kill him!
"I'm sorry, sir! I swear I didn't know they were contaminated!" I desperately begged for forgiveness.
"Doesn't matter. Point is you didn't feel remorse until years after my death. Why is that? Because you're a monster. You're a worthless, no good degenerate that deserves nothing but pain and suffering."
He walked up to me, bringing his gun out of it's his holster. Zaius looked at the sky then said, "Looks like your friend wants you to wake up," He pointed the gun at my head. "Let's not keep him waiting."
...
I sat up on my bed, the gunshot still echoing in my head while my ears rang as if it actually happened. I panted as I sweated profusely.
Something suddenly nudged me causing me to yelp and jump away. I huddled close to the wall near my bed. I looked into the darkness and saw that it was Blue Eyes. I let out a sigh of relief.
"Why are you here?" I asked him, trying to sound calm. He looked concerned for me as he said, "Couldn't sleep. Came here to see if you were awake. Found you thrashing in sleep." He spoke quietly. His youthful yet husky voice sent shivers down my spine.
I exhaled loudly. "You want me to finish reading the book, don't you?"
He nodded.
"With what light?"
The ape grabbed something from the ground. I heard a click before a bright light hit my face. "Blue! It burns!" I whisper- yelled.
Blue Eyes only laughed at my reaction as he took the light out of my face. "Sorry."
I grabbed the book and began to read it to him. Blue Eyes held the flashlight, directing its glow onto the pages. As I read, the Ape Prince began to lean closer to me until I could feel his breath on my shoulders. I shuddered causing him to distance himself slightly. He eventually rested his head on my shoulder, closing his eyes.
"Better not fall asleep until the story is over." I warned.
He smirked before saying, "I'm listening. Trying to picture what you're reading in my mind."
"Mmmhmmm." I teased.
We soon got to the final two paragraphs of the book: "Downward, downward, faster and faster. Suddenly he was aware with certainty and joy that below, ahead, they were waiting for him; and that they were waiting, too, for the baby. For the first time, he heard something that he knew to
be music. He heard people singing. Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps it was only an echo…" I finished reading.
"Well what an ambiguous ending. Am I right?" I gave a playful smile to my ape friend. He looked conflicted.
"Do you think they made it?" He looked into my eyes as he signed.
"Hm, I don't know. I hope they did especially after all they went through. I guess it's up to the reader to decide." I told him.
"It makes me sad, not knowing. I like happy endings." Blue Eyes looked disappointed.
"Life doesn't always have a happy ending." I muttered sadly. The ape frowned at me, raising his hands as if to sign something to me but I guess he decided to keep it to himself.
The teenage chimpanzee looked at the ground before asking me, "What was your dream about?"
I grimaced, not really wanting to answer that but I decided to anyways since Blue Eyes was my friend. "About my family, human and ape. Then it turned bad and there was gunshots and fire everywhere. They all died. I was the last to get shot." I left out the part about Zaius because I didn't want to remember that crap. It gave me so much stress and anxiety.
"I had nightmare too." He informed me. He sighed.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." I reassured Blue Eyes. He only looked at me before looking away again. I sighed, nudging his shoulder. I signed once he looked at me, "Sleepy now?"
He shook his head. Same.
"Well what do you wanna do?" He shrugged.
We just sat on my bed in silence, the flashlight began to flicker until it shut off and refused to turn back on. Now I complete darkness I spoke, "Well I guess reading isn't an option now." Blue Eyes let out a small hoot of amusement.
"You are part of Koba's family now?" He suddenly inquired. "Koba raised me with bad stories of your kind. Didn't know if I should hate you but I now know that I shouldn't and I don't. Like you. You are good and strong." He looked at me and I could barely make out that his eyes were a bit watery. Why did he want to cry?
"I like you too, Blue Eyes. You are a good friend." He frowned at my response.
"What?" I asked, defensively.
"Nevermind."
We sat there in silence for a little while until I saw Blue Eyes' head dip as if he was about to fall asleep. He soon did, laying down on my bed. He curled himself into the fetal position. Cute.
I felt tired too so I decided to sleep as well. I didn't mind sharing my bed with him. It was big enough for us both.
A loud grunt woke the blue eyed ape. The teenager opened his eyes to find Koba towering over him. Koba called out Nina's name. She woke up with a loud yawn rubbing her sleepy eyes. Blue Eyes thought she looked even more beautiful in the morning. What?
"Good morning, you two." She greeted, sleepily. It was very early in the morning since the sun was barely starting to rise. Blue Eyes asked the bonobo why he was here this early in the morning.
"Question is: why are YOU here?" The elder spoke, a smirk on his face when the teenager gave him an embarrassed look. "Just kidding. I am here to tell Nina that Ari wants to see her."
The human got up but looked at her still sleeping children then back to Koba. "I will watch them until you get back." He reassured her.
As soon as she was out the door, the interrogation began.
"You and Nina friends?" He asked while walking around the home. Blue Eyes told them that they were friends.
"Sure just friends?" Blue Eyes began to fidget. Did his uncle want him to confess?
"Yes." The young male stated firmly.
Koba only grinned deviously before continuing, "Koba not stupid. Know you see her as more than just a friend."
Blue Eyes' jaw dropped. If Koba knew, who else did? Probably the whole colony. Shit.
The bonobo hooted before signing, "When will you tell her?"
Blue Eyes began to panic. "Never!" But he knew that was a lie. He told her the previous night but she didn't interpret it the way he wanted her too. The prince was happy she didn't since he regretted telling her afterwards.
"Don't be mad. Will not pursue her as mate." Blue Eyes was afraid that Koba would prevent him from being around Nina because of his feelings for her. He didn't want to lose her.
Koba told him to calm down. "I am not mad. Do not care that she is human. I would rather she take an ape as a mate than a human. You may pursue her." He rested a comforting hand on the lovesick teen's shoulder.
Blue Eyes sighed. "Do not think she likes me back. Think she only sees me as a friend."
Koba rubbed his chin in thought. He moved to sit next to his nephew and began to groom him as he spoke, "Koba will help you."
Blue Eyes turned around to look at the bonobo's scarred face. Koba wanted to help him get a human mate? Kobs; the ape who told him that apes should hate humans because they were cruel and repulsive. What the fuck?
But the teenager wasn't about to voice his thoughts. Instead he thanked his uncle for deciding to help him. Blue Eyes knew he needed help. He thought about telling Ash but decided to wait.
Ash would tell Nina in a heartbeat if the prince did confide in him.
The two apes groomed each other until it was time for the young ones to go to school. Charlie came along with them. Maurice didn't mind the dog being brought to his class. The canine actually helped nake sure the children were paying attention to their teacher.
Blue Eyes said 'bye' to the class and Koba as he bounded off to Ash's home. It was time to to fishing.
He wondered what Ari wanted with the human teenager.
Cornelia groomed Ari as they waited for Nina to arrive. The two female apes wanted to have a word with her about a certain male.
Cornelia knew Blue Eyes had the hots for a female as he always had this content look when he thought no one was watching him. She didn't know who until Caesar had told her their son's concern over the female human. It didn't take long for the Queen to figure out his son was crushing over the girl.
In all honesty, she didn't care that Nina was human. As long as she made her son happy, she didn't mind having her as a future daughter-in-law. She knew Caesar wouldn't mind either. After all, he had compassion for the humans. Cornelia knew her husband was raised by them and she understood why he had that compassion for them.
Caesar's wife sighed happily. Her son was growing up fast. She was proud of him. Pretty soon, he'll be taking his father's place as Ape King. But until then, the young male had a lot to learn. Starting with talking to a girl he liked. The Ape Queen laughed.
"What's so funny?" Ari asked.
"My son."
The bonobo nodded, laughing as well.
Ari was one of Cornelia's closet friends. She was happy that Ari finally told Koba how she felt. Though, she knew the female bonobo didn't do it on her own. Thanks to a certain human, her best friend had a mate and would soon have a children.
Nina finally walked in. "You wanted to see me?"
Both the apes nodded, gesturing for the human to sit in between them. Nina obeyed.
They began to groom her hair, making a flower crown for her as well. Ari was the first to speak, "Thank you for helping me with Koba."
"You're welcome." Nina sighed contently as she stared off into the distance. Cornelia smirked. "Thinking about my son?"
"Yeah…" Nina blushed as she realized what she just answered. She tried to fix it. "I mean no. Not that he isn't wo-rth thinking about or a-anything." She hugged her knees close to her chest, trying to hide her face ss she groaned in embarassment.
Cornelia felt a bit bad so decided to reassure the embarrassed teen. "Do not feel ashamed. We wanted to talk to you about Blue Eyes."
At that, the girl finally brought her face out of hiding. "What about him?"
Ari smiled warmly. "We know you two are close. What we want to know is if you know he likes you."
Nina looked shocked, but soon a gleeful smile formed on her lips. "He… like me?"
Both apes nodded.
"Do you feel the same way for him?" Cornelia asked.
Nina sighed. "Yes but… it confuses me. I've never felt this way about anyone before and I can't shut out the part of me that says I should only feel this way for a human male. I don't want a human male, or any other male except Blue Eyes. These feelings are new and strange yet wonderful. It scares me."
"It is okay." Ari reassured her family member. "We will help you be with Blue Eyes if that's what the both of you want."
"I do want that." Nina stated.
"Okay then we will help." Cornelia informed her.
"Thank you. For everything." Nina gratefully told the two.
Cornelia only gave her a compassionate smile while Ari had an excited grin on her face.
The apes walked out as Ari informed Nina to meet Koba at the school.
See told you more Blue Eyes would be in this chapter. ^-^
Anyways, well there is going to be another time gap next chapter so yeah. (maybe not sure yet)
Just a heads up: I start summer school on July 5th and get out August 3rd so I don't know if I'll be able to update as frequently as I do now. Hopefully I can but if I can't, please be patient with me. Thanks! :)
Anyways goodnight everyone. (Its night where I am lol)