Born To Lead 2 Chapter 9
"Ash!"
Eyes snapping open Willow gasped shooting up in her nest, soaked to the bone seeping through the skin in a hot sweat and coated the fur. Hyperventilating she placed a hand over her pounding heart. She rapidly blinked her eyes in order to erase the blurry delirium from behind the eyelids, a hand involuntarily traveling to the throat.
Vibrations in the ground caught her attention. Turning Willow saw a shadowy figure stealthily approaching from behind. In Willow's incoherent state from the lingering side affects of the nightmare she fully believed she was still trapped in the dreadful reality of that world. Fearing Koba was about to rid Willow of her life just as he did Ash's she twirled around reeling on her knees fully prepared to take him out. Balling her hand into a hard tight fist Willow swung with all her might for the assailants face, but was intercepted mid-swing by the persons own hand. Snarling in a frustrated rage Willow went to wrench her arm free from the vice like grip only to have the mystery person cup her cheek in their palm.
"Willow, wake up!"
The sound of Caesar's commanding voice caused Willow to freeze, lifting the remaining fog from her consciousness.
Instead of Koba's visage Willow saw Caesar standing in front of her. Behind him stood Blue Eyes his eyes brimming with concern. Further back into the nest Cornelia was sitting up in the moss, leaves, branches, and bracken gazing at her daughter in sadness. Cornelius remained sleeping undisturbed by the common created from his elder sisters nightmare. Cornelius was deaf to the world, his own childish dreams peaceful and untroubled. He drowsed beside his mother, exhausted from the night's boisterous activity's. All the food he consumed from the potlatch sent Cornelius into a food coma. His round distended stomach was proof of that.
It was then Willow remembered she was no longer in San Francisco fleeing from the towers explosion and Koba, but was home safe and warm with her family inside their private chambers.
Willow's breathing remained erratic and if it wasn't stopped soon her body may go into shock. Having experience with working through these nightmares before with Willow, Caesar already knew exactly what to do.
Engulfing Willow in his strong arms, comfortingly, Caesar said "Don't be afraid, Willow. We'll slow this down together. Feel my chest moving in and out. Breathe like me. Come on."
Willow had her ear pressed to Caesar's chest over his heart. Willow struggled to follow his instructions trying to regulate the pace of her own heart and breathing at the same time, but an painful ache formed in her chest.
"I know it hurts, but it'll pass," murmured Caesar, rubbing Willow's heaving back soothingly.
Caesar was definitely correct. The deeper Willow inhaled and exhaled, mimicking Caesar, the faster her breathing returned to normal with her heart shadowing it. The pounding of the cascading sheets of water from the waterfall that formed the far wall of the chamber was a big help.
With her body now relaxed Willow smiled in appreciation at Caesar gratitude shining in her eyes.
Gently caressing Willow's temple, Caesar said "There we go. That's my girl."
Sniffling, Willow sobbed "I couldn't hold onto him, Father. I couldn't hold onto my Ash."
Caesar softly shushed his daughter rocking her back and forth in his arms.
Sauntering around their father Blue Eyes took Willow's hands in his and led her to his section of the nest. His intent was for brother and sister to sleep together to curb the nightmares from plaguing her again the remainder of the night. The moment he got her settled Blue Eyes climbed down from the nest walking to a shelf close to the fire warming the room.
As Blue Eyes did this Cornelia hooted softly to get Caesar's attention. When she had it, Cornelia asked "Another nightmare?"
Caesar nodded soberly.
Cornelia gazed at her daughter in sadness, signing "I thought the nightmares our daughter was having were done and over with."
No one outside immediate family knew this, but Willow had been frequently plagued by nightmares since Ash's demise. Willow tried to hide them, but her episodes were sometimes so loud she couldn't conceal her torment from the family. In recent months they'd slowly begun to fade happening only a few nights a week before stopping completely. The fact they suddenly resurged now was quite irking and tiresome.
Suspecting he already knew the cause for the reoccurrence of these night terrors, grim, Caesar signed "I think I know why."
The seeds of the past make the youth group up so fast. Some hurts never go away. And the fact Willow had finally accepted a new male into her life was probably the root of the problem. The seeds as they grow, this she can't let go. All tied to her one true love.
Understanding and regret filled Cornelia's eyes. She felt accountable for Willow's pain because she was the one to convince her to receive pain, but pushed the guilt aside. It had to be done. All Cornelia, Caesar, and Blue Eyes could do now was help her through this and hope for the best.
Blue Eyes returned after selecting an object he knew could alleviate his twin's torment. Carried in his palm was Willow's music box. Sitting down Blue Eyes opened the lid and the sweet tranquil melody permeated the air. A couple of seconds into it Willow commenced to drift off into a dreamless sleep while holding her brothers hand and pillowed her head on his legs.
Blue Eyes glanced at his parents and was met with proud approval for his actions. He patiently waited for the song to end before placing it at a safe distance where neither would roll onto the music box and accidentally crushing it. Then Blue Eyes curled up with Willow and went to sleep with Cornelia doing the same.
Caesar was the only one to stay awake. When Willow had her nightmare he was in the middle of reviewing the map Blue Eyes and Rocket had portrayed, considering all possible routes out of the woods to this new haven and whether is was worth the risk. As he carefully evaluated all the available options whimpering from Cornelius drew his attention. He stroked Cornelius's forehead instantly quieting the toddler and moved on to his wife. Caesar smiled observing them sleep, but whatever happiness and serenity he felt vanished when he saw faint speckles of bright green lights cross over their fur.
Caesar looked at the falls in time to see three blurry and barely perceptible shapes drop passed the opening and out of sight from the naked eye. Cautiously Caesar rose from the nest striding to the roaring water.
Caesar's departure from the bedding awakened Blue Eyes. Blue Eyes peered at Caesar's retreating form with bleary eyes and woke his sister well aware Willow would knock him silly if he didn't notify her what was going on. She stirred and Blue Eyes gestured to their father conveying an alert that something was not right.
Reaching his hand into the cascading water Caesar felt around for anything out of the ordinary. He ended up getting far more than he bargained for. Retracting his arm Caesar yanked out a taut length of nylon rope. This was a climbing rope.
Caesar's heart skipped a beat in horror as he realized what this meant. Caesar spun on his legs and saw the twins kneeling at the bottom of the nest for him to tell what he discovered.
A finger pressed to his lips commanding for his children to not make a sound, urgently, Caesar signed "Stay here, Son. Protect your mother and brother. You too, Willow."
The twins nodded in assent and Caesar stalked out of the dwelling to deal with the intruders who dared disturb the sanctity of his home and eliminate them ahead of any damage they would inflict. He left Cornelia and Cornelius in what he believed to be very capable hands.
Caesar should never have left them alone.
Willow and Blue Eyes swiftly woke Cornelius and their mother. The twins quickly explained the circumstances and they all hid. Despite his age the gravity of the situation was not lost on Cornelius and it had subdued the active child. Cornelia and Cornelius lowered themselves flat on the next with Blue Eyes taking a defensive stance in front of them wielding his spear. Willow was concealed on a ledge atop prepared to act if Blue Eye's hiding place was exposed.
From the main entrance a human soldier did a sweep of the interior methodically. as the person stepped into the light Willow identified the human as the female soldier called Lang she'd convinced her father to spare that very day. Looks like her plan didn't exactly have the desired effect as she'd hoped.
Lang reached the edge of the nest and Blue Eyes pounced. Lang wasn't given any amount of time to react and she was dead by Blue Eye's spear and fists. Blue Eyes stood victorious and Willow gazed at him with satisfaction along with infamous respect, infused with pride.
That all changed when Willow saw the emerald beam of an assault rifle trained onto the back of her twins head. From the hall the woman exited a second soldier was well camouflaged and set to strike.
Not again! No! She wouldn't lose anyone else.
Shrieking in aggression at the soldier and as a warning for her family Willow leapt at the adversary. But the human didn't falter even as she slammed into him head on. He fired his gun and Willow could only watch as the bullet speed toward its target.
After leaving his family Caesar had located Luca and he called the gorilla guard members that were currently out on patrol. They then searched for Rocket and found him standing over the body of a human soldier he'd quickly killed.
"Rocket," breathed Caesar, rushing to Rocket's side. "What happened?"
"I heard him talking," signed Rocket, disconcerted. "The Colonel is here!"
A voice sprang from the deceased soldiers headset, but it was so muffled none of them could make decipher what the person on the opposite side was saying. Handing the torch he was carrying at present to Luca, Caesar held the soldiers headset to his ear.
"99, target acquired. Repeat. King Kong is dead. Let's go. We can get out from here. Get here quick! I need back up! This female's giving me no end of trouble! I repeat. Get your ass here now!"
Terror ripped through Caesar's heart in an icy grip. These humans had come to murder him, but if they'd assassinated another chimp by mistake that left a single frightening conclusion. The female avenging that apes death was more than obvious.
No! His family!
Authors Note:
Surprise! Happy Halloween!
Although it's not going to be a good one for our favorite family.