Blind

All bodies were stiff and staring around the council room, the silence stifling the thick air. Even the fire seemed to lack the will to utter any kind of sound.

Blue Eyes couldn't feel his body, all manner of strength drained completely out of him. He could do nothing but stare like those around him. Riley, the girl who he had traveled with for days, the girl who he had led himself to trust as a friend, the girl who had helped him ebb the terrors of his own mind, was standing before him, hard as stone, with a gun aimed at his father's chest.

He tried to blink the image away. This was just an illusion. Yes, a figment of an overactive imagination. He couldn't have been this blind. She couldn't have…

Luca tried to make a small movement forward and she jerked the gun tighter. "Nobody move or this thing goes off," her voice was cold and distant, like it was coming from an entirely different person.

Alex's terrified heaves of air drove his eyes down. The boy had fallen back onto his injured shoulder. His whole body was shaking from the pain and shock, mirroring Blue Eyes' own astonishment in his dark blue eyes, "Ri…R…Riley…wha…?"

"Shut up, Alex!" she growled, unmoving.

Maurice was the next to try and gain her attention, giving one of his comforting, throaty rumbles to attempt to calm her down. She answered by clenching her eyebrows, re-cocking another bullet in the chamber, and raising the barrel to Caesar's head.

Blue Eyes' father didn't flinch at her movement, and was the only one in the room who didn't show any outward sign of surprise or fear. Instead, he stared down the girl with a stern scowl and rose to his feet, chest and head high with the stature only he could achieve.

"Why?" he said, eyes narrowing even more.

Riley's eyes shied away from Caesar's intimidating stare for an instant before returning with dedication, "Because it's what I was ordered to do. My only job was to seek you out and execute you. Nothing else."

Blue Eyes noticed the tight clench in his father's jaw as he repeated the question, the shade of a growl trailing the single word.

There was a hint of her distinctive, sarcastic attitude before the stone returned, "Because Fremont's scared, the colony's scared, everyone's scared. After what's happened over the past eleven years and with what happened last year…"

"You kill me…apes…will attack humans."

"I know. It's what he wants."

Blue Eyes could sense the growing irritation beneath his father's calm façade as shortening breaths started to puff out his cheeks. "What about you?" Caesar motioned to the few apes around them, bodies poised to seize her at any sudden movement, "Other apes…will not let you go." It was clear to all that if Caesar fell, so would the girl, if not by those in the room then it would be by the hundreds awaiting her outside.

She held firm, "I wasn't meant to get out of here. Fremont chose me because I had no one to loose and because I was willing to do what needed to be done. My life was forfeit the second I left the colony."

"What…about Alex," Caesar glanced down at the boy who still shook on the ground, clutching his shoulder.

Her eye twitched, "He…he was my way in. Fremont knew if someone you recognized and trusted was with me then it'd be easier to get in. Meeting your son helped me even more. They…"

"Riley, please!"

"I said shut it, Alex!" she turned the gun down to the terrified boy then dashed it back up to Caesar's chest before anyone could move.

It was only for an instant, but Blue Eyes saw something that shattered him out of his frozen stupor. In that second she took her weapon off of his father and aimed it at Alex, her hands shook. She was hesitating.

Something inside him clicked.

All of the emotions he saw over the last few days weren't just a cover. They were genuine. The times she yelled at them, the times she laughed with them, the times she let the hard walls of her armor fall away, all of these emotions had been real. It didn't matter what her orders were, they were nowhere near strong enough to block out what he saw with his own eyes. Alex was not a means to and end and neither was he.

Without thinking, he washed all feelings of fear from his body then slowly stepped in front of his father and locked eyes with her. Her reaction to his icy stare was instantaneous.

The color drained from her face and her breath grew short and fast. The hard bearing she held for his father melted into dread that began to shake her once steady hands.

"Blue…move," the words were almost inaudible through her gritted teeth.

He wrinkled his nose and clenched his own teeth, if not but to hold back his emotions, "No."

"Blue…get out of the way," she bit her lip and readjusted her grip on the gun, "I will shoot through you if I have to."

Blue Eyes stood taller and shook his head, "No you won't," the resoluteness in his voice made her tense.

He didn't know where this strength was coming from, or even how he knew she wouldn't follow through with her word, but somewhere in his gut he knew she couldn't do it. He knew she couldn't pull that trigger, on him, Alex, or even the one she was sent for. If they had never met she could've done it. She could've ended his father's life without a second thought and sentenced herself to death and them to war. But Caesar was his father and she had lost her own. She'd know what would happen to him if the trigger was pulled.

"Riley," his faltering words were barely above a whisper, "Please…don't take my father from me."

Her next breath came as a sputtering whimper, his words crumbling what was left of her shield into nothing but a shaking red shell. Blue Eyes felt what he saw, the heat rushing underneath his skin, the breath hitching in his lungs, the daggers of pain behind his eyes and in his heart.

It was when her arms began to falter and her eyes hazed with tears that Blue Eyes abandoned his place in front of his father and climbed down to her. She tried to stabilize her aim at him through her sobs but lacked any form of will power, and when Blue Eyes' hand wrapped around the weapon and lowered it down, her legs crumbled beneath her and she fell to her knees. It was then that air returned to his lungs, filling them with gaping breaths that threatened to break into sobs of his own.

"I…I c…can't…" she wept, "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry. I…I…"

Blue Eyes crouched and gave her a soft huff to draw her eyes, but she refused to look up, covered her drenched face with her hands, and fell farther back into herself. He began to raise a hand to her shoulder but one fell to his and stopped him. He turned and found Maurice and his father beside him. Both apes held deep, knowing stares, though each showed their contrasting shades of respect in ways only they could achieve.

Maurice squeezed his shoulder and smiled, easing Blue Eyes to the side. He obliged as the orangutan then sat in front of Riley and stealthily handed the gun to Heston who began to disassemble it immediately, all-the-while cooing to ease her tears.

With the movement of the weapon breaking Blue Eyes' stare from her, he finally looked over at Alex. Luca was helping him to his feet gently. The fear still stiffened his lean frame, but a shared glance between them eased it out of his eyes. Words were unnecessary, for the relief was palpable.

True to form, Caesar took lead of the situation, signing orders to the others while keeping them from taking any drastic action on the girl at their feet. Blue Eyes understood the worry. Riley had just threatened their leader's life. Who wouldn't be shaken up after that?

Once silent orders were given and Heston, Andy, and Luca had left, his father returned to his side, "Are you alright?" he signed softly.

Blue Eyes nodded then turned his eyes back to the still weeping girl.

Caesar saw through the lie and looked down at Riley as well, "You…trust this girl?"

He glanced at his father's questioning eyes then back to Riley, unsure. Did he still trust her? Should he trust her? After what she had just done, the answer should've been a resounding, no. But even as her tears began to slow, the shame remained on her face and in the sag of her body.

Another glance at Alex asked the same questions, and, strangely, both came up with the same answer, "Yes."


Whew, this one was hard guys...real hard :'(

We'll see how emotionally wrecked I am after I go see War for the POTA tomorrow...

Till next time ;)