The sun had risen past the high reaches of the tree canopies, signaling to the near breathless orangutan that the villagers may be stirring very soon, and that he should conclude his explanation/confession. Throughout his entire story, the boy's had barely even uttered a peep as they aimlessly seemed to stare awestruck into the center their Uncle's very heart. Sunlight continued to shine solely centered on the red ape, similar to a spotlight upon a wide, theater stage.

Maurice felt sick to his stomach, nausea and worry swirling like a never ending cyclone in the pit of his gut. The simian had very great deal and reason to be this nervous to the point of vomiting when his very place in the colony was at stake. If Prince Blue Eyes rejected his Uncle for his traitorous actions against the colony once he understood the true nature of the creature they encountered, and it reported to his father... Maurice feared he could very well be facing banishable punishment!

The teacher exhaled deeply through his broad nostrils with knitted brows, finishing the last handful of words with slow, fluent, cautious hands. "This is why I confess to you, and no other ape. There is no one else out here that will help her, and the place from where she came is much, much too far to travel in her condition. It's almost certain that that girl would die before getting there."

Blue Eyes and Ash stayed deathly still and quiet, not taking their eyes off of him for a second. Their expressions were a well blended combination of sorrow, concern, and bewilderment, and Maurice could sense that behind their eyes they wanted to say something, but couldn't find the words to say.

Maurice sighed with a heavy heart, rising his low, soft, saddened eyes to meet theirs after several moments passed, and none had the courage to speak their mind given the chance. "All in all, the point that I'm trying to get across is..."

He briefly paused, feeling that same feeling again creep into his heart. He could feel it wedge a knot in his mind in mid sentence, halting his signing hands abruptly, and letting them gently fall to his sides. His train of thought temporarily derailed when he acknowledged the feeling's presence, feeling like something was wrong. The children before him tilted their heads perplexed at the sudden, unnatural break in the middle of his concluding statement. The orangutan was frozen in his own little dreamland as the feeling took over his conscious, contemplating it once again for what felt like the millionth frustrating time.

What did Sarah mean to him?!

With no movement or understandable mutters grumbling from the teacher, Ash was the first to cautiously place a concerned paw on his thick, hairy arm, giving Maurice a small hoot to which he acknowledged immediately, breaking his mind from his own hypnotic prison. He curiously eyed his smaller, soot-furred nephew with puzzled eyes; as if he completely forgotten what he was doing.

He met the child's chocolate coated orbs, and gave a small smile of assurance before patting one of his sausage-like digits on his delicate, petite cranium apologetically. He purred solemnly, finishing his thought with little reluctance, and with his own voice that seemed to touch the children's young, and compassionate little hearts.

"She needs me."

Going unnoticed by the two other apes before him, something could be seen changing in the prince's statue composure. His expression faltered once his Uncle's words reached his perked ears, and his icy, reflective eyes filled with deep, weighing regard seemed to thaw at the warmth of his voice, and his tensed up body started to melt once his irreproachable statement drilled into his mind. The events from yesterday replayed over in his mind once again, reminding the young royal of the selfless and courageous act the young creature did.

Human...Maurice called her a human.

Something suddenly struck the sky-eyed child, forcing him to recollect a memory of a time where he had heard that word once before...

...Uncle Koba.

"But wait!" he thought, the light bulb flicking on in his head, "Didn't Uncle Koba say that all humans were evil, and merciless?"

The young Prince was confused. Everything that he said had now been put to test. The human must've known that she was putting her own life at risk when she jumped into those waters...didn't she? Blue Eyes gritted his teeth lightly together, chewing on the inside flesh of his cheek. "Of course she would've" he thought again, "No sane ape or animal would freely dive in without knowing the obvious danger of the rapids."

Blue Eyes felt very conflicted, starting to have doubts about his scarred and mutilated family member's word. What was true, and what was purely fiction?

Or perhaps...who was right, and who was wrong?

"Blue Eyes?" he heard, breaking him from his trance. Looking back up to his friends, they must've been trying to get his attention for a while now from the way they longingly stared at him. He blinked, taking back in his surroundings and compiling his thoughts back together. Maurice took a small step forward in his nephew's direction, holding out a compassionate hand. "Are you well?"

Blue Eyes didn't know how to respond. How could he when his young and fragile mind was being unintentionally probed at by this. If the human girl saved his life, wouldn't that be enough to sustain her safety? If what Uncle Maurice tells him is true that her very life could be in danger if somebody else knew about her, then Maurice would be shrouded in suspicion if bystanders began to realize a sudden hoarding of survival needs when it clearly wasn't necessary, thus making a foreign presence somewhere in their territory a realization.

She needed more help than what only one ape could provide for her.

...

Blue Eyes' eyes lit as an idea sprang into his head. That's it!

In answer to his patient Uncle's concern to his troubled state, the young Prince lifted his head high in a swift, sudden motion that caught the inquisitive orangutan off guard, and had his darker-colored cousin sparked with interest. Blue Eyes took a step forward, locking his eyes with his future mentor as a hopeful smile spread across his smooth, round snout. "We can help you!" he energetically signed.

At first, Maurice was a little taken aback by this bold request. The clear spark in his youthful eyes was unmistakable, and didn't go unnoticed by either of his two companions. Blue Eyes beckoned Ash to his side, and repeated his offer to the giant red ape. "Sarah needs all the help she can get. If we let Uncle do this alone, not only will he get into big trouble very quickly, but then the little human will not get better."

Ash was struck back by his royal brother's daring scheme, as was Maurice. It was a viable option, but one thing didn't sit well in the younger chimp's weakening stomach. "What if we get caught? Won't we be in same amount of trouble as Uncle? We could be grounded for the rest of our lives!"

Maurice agreed. "Grounding probably won't be the worst of it, young one." he warned the reckless boy, purring cautiously to try and get him to reason. Blue Eyes let out a rough snort with a jerked shake of his head, punching a firm, determined fist into the hard, forest floor, unmoved. "I don't care!" he exclaimed with a tenacious grunt, surprising the unsuspecting orangutan.

"Sarah save my life...so...so Blue Eyes will save Sarah!"

A life for a life.

This was no ordinary debt.

Maurice couldn't find the words to say in return to this selfless and bold demand. Stepping a cut above discriminating, and the hatred he was supposed to feel after hearing the story of the generation-long blood feud humans and apes had triumphed through to where they are now, this young, fearless, heir to the simian throne wished to extend a hand in friendship, not five years after breaking from the chains of slavery and confinement his own people had to suffer, back to a human.

All because of personal gratitude for his rescue.

Maurice was astonished to see how far this one act of kindness could take his people. Although Blue Eyes may not understand or realize it's potential, but it could be a giant step to his people's liberation, and a huge leap for recovering from their mental, and emotional scars if one small child could prove that ape and human could work, and aid together.

"'Sarah.'" he thought to himself, a warmhearted smile spreading across his bearded lips, "Her name is 'Sarah'."

What a beautiful name. It left a good taste on his tongue, and sounded like music to his ears.

The feeling returned as he got too deep into the thought, partially distracting him from what was occurring, disabling his attention to the intense emotional display growing in his young nephew's heart. With no answer from his day dreaming Uncle, the young Prince's expression started to quiver, and his bold patience was starting to wain and wilt. Maurice stared right into the little boy's eyes, dumbstruck and without thought. It was starting to insult the royal chimp when no answer was delivered, and a strong wave of discouragement washed through his cowering body when it seemed to him that his undaunted, chivalrous decision was being ignored.

"It must be because Uncle thinks I'm too young, isn't it!" the child snarled in his head, jumping to a premature conclusion. "That I can't choose for myself, or do anything to help!"

Blue Eyes could feel his temper grow with each second that his hypnotized Uncle spent in his dreamland, making his body tense and tremble with growing frustration. Ash could see something ill develop in his brother's eyes, and when he attempted to quell his enraging attitude by placing a cool, comforting paw on his heating shoulder, just when Maurice was recovering from his daze, and was ready to answer...it was too late.

The Prince had had enough.

In one swift movement, the chimp ground his heel into the earth as he spun his body around, and made a sharp, unexpected leap, flying towards the door. Both Ash and Maurice cried out in surprise when small pebbles of dirt came flying at them in their friend's angered dash, covering their faces with their arms and hands. Once the orangutan reopened his eyes, and called out for his young nephew to wait...Blue Eyes had already fled the hut...and was gone.

Maurice felt his heart drop. "Oh no."


Ripping through the skin veil doorway, blinded by the sole frustration and resentment that coursed like an angered serpent in his veins, the passionate young Prince's calls fell on his deafened ears, and he tore his way through the dense foliage ascending the steep hillside. He felt his hands dig deep into the skin of the land, filling the undersides of his nails with dirt and grime. Leaves were shredded, and bushes were emasculated with holes. Blue Eyes could feel the slaps of plants on his face and arms, but he didn't care in the slightest. All he cared about was getting out of the same room as Maurice, at least for now.

The more that the thought of rejection replayed over his head, he could feel his eyes well up further with tears.

Why didn't Maurice understand? What did he have to prove to let him see the help he could provide?

Blue Eyes hauled himself up the vertical path of dangling roots with breakneck speed, and hugged his body to the wall like a security blanket as he ascended to the crest of stone that beckoned his name above him. He pulled his body over the edge of the wall, rolling to his feet once on level ground again. He was back at the edge of his village, directly beneath his home tree. The courtyard was still vacant of villagers, but he could see some faint, scattered activity of cooking fires flickering high in the forested hillside estates, far out of sight.

He was completely alone in the empty plaza. This gave him the flexible amount of space he needed to let-off some bottle up steam that had accumulated over his Uncle's absentminded shock, and he used every bit of it to his advantage. No longer caring to stifle back sobbing hiccups, Blue Eyes cried out, and drove his fists into the ground.

"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" he lashed out, throwing wave after wave of punches to the innocent terrain, leaving no tell tale marks against the sturdy, grey stone. His breaths came hissing through tightly clenched jaws, grinding his teeth like they would turn to dust. He screamed again and again, muffled through his tightly shut lips, trying to keep his noise to a minimum as to not draw any attention to himself. Even though he was furious with Maurice, he still knew that that girl's safety was resided within them.

They were all she had.

Blue Eyes didn't care about the consequences he would be risking.

He didn't care if he would be looked down upon and thought lowly of.

He didn't care if Maurice would let them work together!

Blue Eyes punched his fist into the ground with a mighty grunt, feeling the tenacious power ripple from his body and though the rock. If that was going to be the case between him and his overprotective friend, then he would find another way to assist his savior...without him.

"Blue Eyes? Is. That you?"

Suddenly at the startling sound of his own name being called, Blue Eyes jumped from his absentminded pacing, and snapped his head towards the hidden, gruff voice. Out of all the huts that surrounded him, only one showed signs of life. Along the farther end of the row of homes, a doorway hide had peeled back, and a very tired looking bonobo was lethargically shuffling out into the sunlight. The child's eyes widened, and a sheepish frown tugged at the corners of his lips. He immediately recognized the ape without a second glance.

Koba let the flap of skin fall gently behind him as he wearily marched towards his distressed nephew, rubbing his good eye with a sleepy yawn. Blue Eyes couldn't move his feet to stray away, a growing sense of urgency building in his chest. His mouth went dry, and his stomach involuntarily churned into a bouquet of knots, growing tighter with each advancing step. A ghostly chill raked across his spine, and the warnings from Maurice's story echoed like the tolls of empty, decaying funeral bells in his head.

This didn't look good.

Closing the distance between the two, Koba tilted his head with an inquisitive gleam in his eye when he saw his nephew's state, slack-jawed with interest. "What are you doing out here?" he signed giving a quick scan of the empty property, "Is everything OK?"

Blue Eyes didn't know how to respond. Feeling as if time had slowed, it left the concerned bonobo patiently waiting. The young Prince didn't even wish to look the honorary family member in the eye in fear he would know something wasn't right in his heart. Blue Eyes sniffled back an oncoming drip of snot, wiping his snout with the back of his fur-less hand. "N-Nothing is wrong" he lied, struggling to hold himself together.

Even Koba, being the half-blind ape that he was, even he could see through his Prince's deteriorating "brawny" masquerade. He could see his boy was damaged, and practically marinating in a vengeful broth. Blue Eyes could feel himself falling apart the longer his Uncle stared at him. Yet still, he could not look away from his compassionate gaze. He stood tall, and tensed his body stiff with a vigorous power; firm and powerful like his General Uncles. Forcing himself to put on a reassuring smile, the young boy's cold stone mask had started to crack, and his delusional shell was falling away...his state of mind with it.

Blue Eyes started to break.

Koba immediately fell to his nephew's side once tears began to flow, gathering him up in his arms, and holding him close against his sturdy, solid chest. The child cried out, muffled within the scars and ebony fur of Koba's body, burying his face in-between the underside of his bicep, and broad surface of his pectoral. The boy's body trembled with each shuddering breath, making Koba all the more worried and perturbed for him.

The scarred bonobo lifted his royal nephew off of the ground, continuing to embrace him against his torso, and turned back towards his humble abode. He rubbed the back of his head in slow circular motions, trying his best to calm his quivering ward as he walked. Luckily, no one else around him was disturbed awake, and he swiftly ducked back into his hut with a swished shutting of the buckskin drape.

Blue Eyes clenched tightly onto his Uncle's shoulder, feeling the muscles flex and ripple with mighty strength under his curled fingers. Slowly, he could feel himself being gently set down once inside on something plush and soft, his bottom sinking in a few centimeters. Reopening his eyes, he could see he was no longer outdoors. Feeling his seating, he saw that it was some kind of large, fluffy pelt from an animal that blazed a rich shade of orange, sporting a white-tipped tail, and black stockings.

Uncle Koba had his back turned to the weeping boy momentarily as he began scrounging around through his collection of jars and bowls, the sound of clinking and rattling clay and wood filling the room. Blue Eyes was hiccuping with short sobs by this point, his brilliant pair of sapphires puffy and spotting a light shade of itchy red.

When his Uncle turned back to him after several moments, he had a small wooden bowl clenched in his left paw, and a cup of water in his right. He set it down gently on a stone table before his distressed guest. Blue Eyes saw that the bowl was filled with an assorted variety of appetizing looking fruit and nuts, and with a hesitant shaky hand, he took a small palm-full of blueberries with a nod of permission from his generous host. Still continuing to hiccup, Blue Eyes took a single berry in between his finger and thumb, and nearly missing his mouth, sucked it through his lips to his chattering teeth, chewing slowly. The splash of flavor was welcomed to the boy's agitated mind, but his chest was still deprived of care; feeling it twist and ache in sorrow.

Koba felt a little relieved that his nephew was responding to his gesture, but it wasn't nearly enough. Pulling up his own seat of a decaying log, the scarred bonobo leaned into his Prince, and placed his hands together in between his knees. With a troubled glower, he knitted his brown together. "Does Blue Eyes feel OK with telling Uncle Koba what is wrong?"

The young boy continued to nonchalantly chew on his food, his eyes glued to the ground, and head hanging low like it was made of heavy lead. Tears continued to spew from his eyes, sliding down the length of his eyelashes like beads of dew, and dripped like raindrops on the soiled ground. There was little signs of life coming from the child, only the occasional hiccup, and the shallow, almost nonexistent breathing. Koba was grew further anxious for his friend, feeling almost utterly useless to him.

Koba grasped the boys shoulder with very little force, as if he would crumble and fall away like brittle shavings of ice, and grunted softly. The Prince sniffed, lethargically raising his gaze, and meeting with his Uncle's. Koba had a serious expression etched into his wrinkles and scars, his authority and strength seeming to radiate off of him to Blue Eyes.

Blue Eyes immediately felt the urge to calm down, and show that he could be just like him too...but it was much easier said than done.

He felt pathetically weak and childish. It was shameful to not address an ape of higher standing, and just plain out rude. Even though he outranked Koba in the hierarchy, the amount of valor and honor this one warrior sustained was beyond fathomable to him, following him around wherever he went like a prideful cape...and it made him feel like a mere shadow in his presence.

No wonder Koba was one of his father's second-in-commands.

Blue Eyes felt low...but he needed to know something. If there was anybody to ask for advice for, aside from the certain orangutan he didn't wish to see, the young Prince felt that that somebody would be the powerful, true-hearted soldier before him.

He sniffled once more, finishing the last of his berry with a shy gulp, and raised his hands. "If you wanted to help somebody that needed help, but nobody else liked them...does that make you a bad ape?"


OMG I LOVE HOW THIS CHAPTER TURNED OUT! :D

So many FEELZ!

So Koba needs to make a decision on how to answer this. Little does he know about who his nephew is talking about. Who knows, maybe later on, depending on how he answers, it could really come back to bite him in the ass!

Will Blue Eyes ever be taken seriously, and would things have gone better if Maurice's "feeling" had stayed at bay till he could've answered instead of freezing up like an idiot?

STAY TUNED! :D

APE NOT KILL APE!

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!

APE NO KILL APE!

ALL HAIL CAESAR!