Adventure of the Planet of the Apes
Disclaimer: I still don't own anything and I still have no money. I am dirt poor! Actually, I don't own any dirt either… Hum. Barlow Girl: I love all your songs so I had to put them in this story 'cause Never Alone is such an awesome song!
A/N: I just realized what a repetitive title I have for this story: Adventure of the Planet of the Apes. That is a lot of 'of the's.
Jo March95- Yippee for driving! So much fun.
Goopy Goo- Don't you dare stop reviewing my story. If you do I will go hunt you down and force you to review. Lol. Me are a gud righter. Cuase I is getting a lot betr wit spelling. You are no flamer! Your opinion matters to me and I take your advice on a lot of things. Thank you so much for saying that my writing style is improving. Now that I am seven chapters into this story I have finally started to really connect with the characters and they are almost writing themselves now. And those things (") are called apostrophe's. Yeah! The nose is much better, thank you. My toe is the only thing that gives me any pain now. Summer definitely helps with getting things written up and posted faster. In two weeks I will be leaving to visit my new baby cousin so I will try to write an extra chapter so that your need is fulfilled. I love your reviews.
Pippin- Hehehehe! I don't see you for a week, have fun! Did you have a good time on your vacation? Thanks for the review, but I will password protect all my stories if you even try to read them ahead of time. Lol. Bye, love you lots. (not in that way… pervs.)
Chapter Eight: Dinner
Thade, my father and I all went into our large dinning room and sat down as Bon served us. Her brother, Trival, was out with some of the other humans, trying to find apes who would want them as servants since my father would not allow me to keep them all. When I had found out that Thade was going to be over for dinner, which wasn't that uncommon, I had asked Bon to prepare his favorite dishes. Since none of us are extremely religious we didn't bother to pray to Semos, even though Thade is a direct descendant.
Dinner was a quiet affair, neither Thade, my father or myself knew exactly how we should act around each other now since Thade and I were officially engaged. Engaged! The thought of marrying my best friend in the whole world made my heart leap within me. I looked over across the table at Thade, he was practically glowing with happiness; a blush crept up my cheeks. Papa didn't seem to notice, or if he did, he didn't let on. For the first time since my mother died I actually felt happy and complete.
During the middle of dinner Trival came in and announced that they were home before curfew. He helped Bon serve the rest of the time during dinner. Finally after what seemed like forever my father excused himself, saying that he needed to catch up on some Senatorial work and left Thade and I by ourselves. "How is your army training going, Thade?" Even though I personally hated the ape army I knew how much it meant to Thade, and I would support him.
"It is going well. We hardly ever have to rage war against the humans anymore. Maybe you are right, they seem to be learning that we are their masters."
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"Trying to understand my point of view. I know how you and your father think of humans."
"It is hard to forget all that I was taught when I was young, but for you I would do anything."
"Anything? Even if it meant giving up the position of general?"
"Even that. I never want to cause you pain."
"Shall we go into the living room? It is more comfortable than here." I didn't want to mention that it was also farther away from my father's study. Not that I mind my father knowing all this, but there are some things you just want to keep to yourself.
"If you'd like." Thade hooked his arm around my waist and we walked into the living room. I liked the feeling of being close to him. He made me feel safe and protected. Not the way that my father makes me feel safe and protected, a different kind of feeling.
"I love you." Those words never sounded so sweet as when Thade said them to me right then, for the first time.
"I love you too, Thade." Butterflies once again flitted around in my stomach as I heard myself confess my love for him. I knew that I would be happy to say those words again and again. Gently he cupped my face in his hands and placed a slow and deliberate kiss on my lips. As I returned the kiss it grew into the sweetest thing I had ever experienced.
"I'll never stop loving you, Ari. Never. I promise." My heart was lost to him, as it had been since the first time I met him.
Flashback
"Ari, your father and I are going over to meet General Zanam. Would you like to come with us?" Little Ari looked up from the doll house she was playing with.
"Does he have someone I can play with?"
"You would have to ask your father that."
"Okay, momma, I'll go ask Papa." Ari quickly abandoned her toys and ran to find her dearly beloved father. "Papa, Papa!"
Sandar grabbed his daughter and swung her up over his head, then brought her safely back to rest in his arms. "What is it that my little daughter wants?"
"Momma said we is gonna"-
"Are going to"- interrupted Sandar.
"-Are going to go see some general person and I wanna know if there will be anyone for me to play with. 'Cause I can stay here and play with Nova." Nova, was Ari's favorite doll, a human doll.
"Actually, General Zanam does have a little ape boy about your age, maybe a little older. Galen met him the other day and liked him very much."
"Then I don't wanna go."
"Why not?"
"If Galen liked him then he'll tease me and be like Galen."
"I doubt very much if he will treat you like a little sister."
"Why?"
"You'll find out when you're older."
"When is older?"
Just then Sari came down the stairs, with Ari's coat in hand. "Are you coming with us?"
"Yes, Momma. Can I bring Nova?"
"May I bring Nova. And no you may not bring her."
"Why?"
"Because little apes should not ask so many questions!" Sandar started tickling his daughter.
"Sandy, please, she is wrinkled enough as it is. We must be going or we will be late."
"And you must never keep a host waiting. Always remember that, Ari," her father advised her. Sandar, Sari and Ari all walked along the busy streets of ape city and reached the back gate. The soldiers and the post all knew Sandar and his family and let them pass without a care. This was the first time Ari had ever been out of the city before and the world seemed very big to her.
Sari sighed, "It is nice to be out of the city for a while. I can see why General Zanam chose to build out here."
"Seems a little to wild for my taste."
"That is because you were born in the city."
"Weren't you born in the city to, Momma?" Asked Ari.
"No, darling, I was born out in the jungle to a poor ape family who could not afford to live in the city. But when I started going to school in the city I met your father and we fell in love."
Ari just rolled her eyes. Why did grown ups always have to talk about falling in love? She was never going to fall in love because all the boys she knew were yucky and annoying. "I'm never gonna fall in love 'cause I'm gonna marry Papa."
"Look! That is General Zanam's house."
"That's a house?" It was the biggest house Ari had ever seen. Really, it was more like a mansion than a house. "It's so big." Sandar smiled at his daughter as the family approached the large house.
As they walked up to the door they were greeted my a servant ape that lead them into a comfortable sitting room. "Welcome, Senator." Ari turned around to see a powerfully built chimpanzee enter the room. He wasn't wear clothes like normal apes did, but rather, he was wearing armor. "It is an honor to have you at my house."
"Thank you, General Zanam, for inviting us to come. It is an honor to be able to dine with such a famous general." Zanam nodded his appreciation. "This is my wife, Sari, and our youngest, Ari."
"You have a lovely wife, Senator," General Zanam bowed and gracefully kissed Sari's hand. "Your daughter seems equally as lovely."
"Thank you, sir. I treasure them both."
"Father, you didn't tell me we were having company," said a young ape, a few years older than Ari, appeared from behind Zanam.
"And this is my son Thade. Thade, this is Senator Sandar, his wife Sari and their daughter Ari."
"Nice you meet you, Senator," Thade said as he shook Sandar's hand. "You are the image of beauty, my lady," he said with a flourish as he bowed and bestowed a kiss on Sari's hand. "But, your daughter rival's your beauty." Thade tried to kiss Ari's hand, but she pulled back and tried to hide in her father's senatorial robes.
"Ari, that is no way to treat your host."
"Papa, I don't want some icky boy kissing my hand!" She exclaimed indignantly.
General Zanam chuckled graciously, "Come, let us sit out on the patio. Thade, you may take Ari and show her the playroom if she would like."
Little Ari looked up at her parents for permission. "Go," Sandar gave his daughter a little shove, "we won't be very far away."
"Come on, I wanna show you my stuff." With that Thade grabbed Ari's hand and lead her off to his playroom.
"Wow!" remarked Ari when she stepped inside Thade's room. "You sure have a lot of toys. Do you have to share?"
"With who?"
"You don't have any brothers or sisters?"
"Nope, I'm an only child. I don't have to ask you because I already know that you have two older brothers. What is it like having people around to play with all the time?"
"Horrible! You never get to do anything by yourself and you momma and papa always make you share things. I wish I were an only child too."
"No you don't. It gets boring because sometimes there is nothing to do and no one to play with."
"I still think I'd rather play by myself, or with Nova."
"Nova?"
"My doll."
"Is she a chimpanzee doll or what?"
"She is human."
"Human?"
"Yes. She is my best friend."
"You're strange, Ari, but I like you. One day I'll marry you."
"I like you too, Thade, but I'm never gonna get married 'cause I love my papa too much."
"Just you wait and see. But let's just be best friends right now. Okay?"
"Okay."
End Flashback
"You were right."
"About what?"
I smiled at Thade, "about me marrying you."
"I know. I'm always right," then he flashed me that crooked smile of his.
"Are you really?" I couldn't let that remark go. "I seem to remember quiet a few times when you have been wrong."
"Me? Wrong? As a descendent of Semos, I am never wrong."
"Really?"
"Really."
I quickly reached behind me and grabbed the nearest pillow and hit Thade over the head. "That is what you get."
"Oh, you did not just do that."
"Oh… but I did." I snatched another pillow up in my other hand and soon a full fledged pillow fight broke out. After about five minutes of laughing and hitting each other will pillows Thade and I were out of breath. We were laying on the floor side by side when Thade leaned over me.
"Ari, you're the most beautiful thing I have ever seen."
"You have to say that."
"I know, but it's true. You mean more to me… than almost anything."
"Anything meaning that the army will always come before me."
"Don't speak that way."
"But it's true." I sat up. Why did he have to go and ruin a perfect moment.
"Thade sat up and sighed. "What would have me do? I know that you don't want me to quite, because you're not a quitter either. Tell me what you want me to do and I will try to do it."
"When your father- because we know he will- gives you the title of general, don't take it. Please, Thade, I cannot stand to see anymore humans slaughtered. They are learning to behave, you said so yourself."
"But there will always be those who will not behave and need to be taught a lesson."
"Like who?"
"Like, that girl you brought home this afternoon. She doesn't respect apes. It is obvious in the way she acts. I don't know why, but she hates me."
"She doesn't hate you."
"It is too wonderful of a night to spoil it by having this conversation. I'll not try to convert you if you will not try to convert me."
"All right."
"I love you."
I closed my eyes and let those three simple words flow over me. "I could listen to you say those words forever and never grow tired of hearing them."
"Then I will keep saying them to you for as long as I live. I love you." Thade wrapped his arms around my shoulder, I held onto him, as you would try to hold on to someone if you were drowning. The feeling of his arms around me made me feel safe and protected, but not smothered. I raised my face to his and smiled up into his clear piercing blue eyes, which are very uncommon in apes, and admired his handsome features. Finally my eyes came to rest on his lips, and I could feel his chest going up and down a little more rapidly. Our lips meet and his sent almost overwhelmed me, but it was a beautiful moment. The clock chimed that it was eleven o'clock, thirty minutes past when I was suppose to put the humans to bed.
"Oh dear, I didn't realize it was so late. You had better be getting home or your father will be worried about you."
"And you had better be getting to bed to catch up on your beauty sleep."
I walked him to the door, just to be able to spend a few more seconds in his company. "Good night, Thade."
"Good night, Ari." The way he said my name made chills run up and down my spine. With that he walked off into the night, the soft glow of the moon illuminating him till I could no long see his silhouette. I made my way into the kitchen where I could hear a voice still talking. When I walked in I found Taylor sitting on the floor in front of all the other humans, telling them a story. It was a story I had never heard before, detailed with strange names and places. All the humans were hanging on every word she said. They didn't even notice I was there till Bon caught sight of me and gasped. Taylor swiveled around to face me. "All right, she can continue the story tomorrow night." With that all the humans stood up and went to their sleep cage except Taylor, she looked lost. "You may good upstairs." She unsteadily stood and made her way up to my room while I locked everyone else up for the night.
She was sitting on her pallet when I walked into the room. "Where did you hear that story?"
It took her a few seconds before she answered. "I heard it the first time when I about ten years old. My mother told it to my when I was recovering from an illness. After I heard it the first time it quickly became one of my favorites!" It looked and sounded like she could barely contain her enthusiasm.
Was she ill often? Why had she been sick? "Are you ill often?"
Taylor gave me a strange look before answering. "No." There was definitely something she wasn't telling me.
"Does this story have apes in it?" How could a human think up a story that didn't contain apes as masters? They possess no creative abilities what-so-ever. She made a slight sign of annoyance by rolling her eyes, but I decided to ignore it.
"No, it doesn't. The only characters are Hobbits, Elves, Wizards, Dwarves and men." I could tell by the way she emphasized the word 'men' that she was trying to get a point across.
"Why no apes?" Such insolence! I would let her get away with a few small things, but when she blatantly scorns her masters, that is a different matter all together.
"I guess the author didn't want to put any in. Truly, I can't say why." Author? Someone had written this story down? The author didn't want to put apes in the story. Hum… now that was interesting. Did this mean that a human had written a story? But, that is impossible, because humans can't read never the less write!
This girl was very different, strange and a tad bit weird, but I liked her. "You are very different, Taylor. Most humans wouldn't be able to carry on a conversation with an ape or dare tell a tale where humans are not ruled by apes."
"I guess those rules just don't apply to me." She looked down at her hands and seemed to be lost in recollection for a few seconds. I started to go back to what I was doing when she asked me a question. "May I ask you something?"
I was very surprised and couldn't react in time to keep the expression of surprise off my face. "Yes," I agreed, somewhat hesitantly. Then I realized that the human had said 'May…' instead of 'Can…' like most humans would. It was probably just an accident though, nothing to worry about.
"Could you- I mean- would you help me to learn to be a little more subservient? I have an attitude problem and it needs a big adjustment. Trying to fix it by myself is am impossible task. I hate asking for help, but please… help me." Taylor seemed to let her guard down for just a split second and I was able to see through her tough exterior. Inside she was broken and helpless, lost in a friendless world. I realized for the first time why I had always wanted to help humans, even though most of my race scorn them. They are fragile creatures who cannot live in the world by themselves, and we apes take advantage of that.
"You don't talk like a human." I hadn't meant to say that, and I didn't really know why I had.
"What?"
"No human would ever say 'subservient'." I realized that I had wanted to let her know that I could see that she was not normal and that I wouldn't treat her just like I would any human. "I will help you."
"Why?"
"Because you're unusual."
"Thanks." With that she laid down and went to sleep. I quick changed into my sleeping clothes and climbed up on to my bed with my journal, ready to start writing where I had left off from when Thade had interrupted me that afternoon. At the though of Thade my heart skipped a couple beats.
It was, as it usually is, much brighter outside of the city than it is on here. The air seems much more breathable and not quiet so closed the wide openness made my heart soar! I made my way into the forested area without looking over my shoulder. Trees swayed over head and a gentle breeze blew my hair into my face and swirled the leaves along the forest floor. Soon a giant tree loomed in front of me, its branches spread out giving it the appearance of an umbrella, this is my tree and I love to go there and just sit in its arms forever. The first time I ever went there was when my mother was taken from us about seven years ago…
I continued to write after I reread what I had written that afternoon-
Well, as I was saying before memories and Thade interrupted, I had gone to the tree when my mother had died and my father and brothers were too caught up in their grief to take much notice of me. One day after I had come home from school with Galen and Nat my father was sitting in his study and I went in to see him…
Flash Back
"Papa, Papa!" Little Ari raced in to her father's study as soon as she got home from school. It had only been a week since her mother had passed away.
"Hello, Ari." Sandar looked up from his work and smiled at his daughter. "How was school?"
"Oh, it was boring. Can we go visit Thade today?" She jumped up on her father's desk to better see what he was doing.
"No, I'm sorry, but I'm very busy right now. Maybe we can go sometime later this week. Why don't you go see what your brother's are doing, I need to get these papers done by tomorrow." With that Sandar gently set his daughter on the floor and started his work again.
Ari sighed as she left her father's office. Nat and Galen were always too busy with their friends, homework or projects to take notice of her, but it was always worth a try. As she made her way upstairs a thought struck her head. Why did she just go to Thade's by herself? She had been there many times and she was sure that she would be able to find her way. First she would see what her brother's were doing, just to make sure that they were busy. "What 'cha doin'?" She popped her head into Nat's room.
"Oh, hello, Ari. Sorry, I can't play right now, I have to get my gear fixed up for tomorrows big game. There are going to be some scouts there, and if I do really well they might offer me a scholarship to play with a professional team! Maybe Galen will play with you."
"Yeah, maybe he will. Good luck, Nat. I hope you win." Despondently Ari went to find her other brother, with very little hope that he would play with her, but that was fine with her since she wanted to go see Thade.
"Galen?" She poked her head around the corner.
Galen spun around with a scared look on his face. "Good, it's just you. I thought maybe it was papa or Nat." To Ari it looked like Galen had been crying.
"Are you all right?"
"Why would you ask that?"
"It looks like you have been crying," Ari pointed out mater of factly.
Her brother made a face. "And what's it to you if I have been? Get out. Go find someone else to bother."
"I just want to help"-
"But you aren't helping. Go away."
Ari felt hurt at the way her brother was treating her. Even though she didn't really want to play with him, it still hurt her to think that she wasn't needed. Oh well, she would go see Thade and he would never not want to play with her. After grabbing a coat she headed out the back door and silently slunk away from her home for the first time without an adult. The sky was becoming heavy with rain clouds, but Ari didn't take any notice. As she raced through the streets she found that she had gone the wrong way, and towards the senatorial building instead of the back gate. She decided that she might as well have a look around, and maybe explore a little bit, which was just as good as going to play with Thade. Ari tried to stay in the shadows so that none of the other senators or temple workers would notice that she was there and take her back home. With her back to the wall she felt her way along and all of the sudden! Her foot tripped over something and she fell backwards into nothingness. It was very dark where she had fallen. One hand of the wall she tried to feel where she had fallen, common sense told her to go back, but her curious nature drove her onward towards the unknown. Finally she came to some type of wooden barrier, which was a door. She groped about in the dark till she found the handle and the door swung outward out of the city. Freedom! Ari's heartbeat quickened as she took one last look over her shoulder and bolted out of the door into the open area. The air was clearer and she found it easier to breathe now that the door was closed behind her and the forest loomed in front of her.
All her life she had been told stories of the humans that were wild and lived in the forest, and for some strange reason Ari had always longed to meet one of these creatures even though she was suppose to be their enemy. Now that she was alone without family to protect her Ari was beginning to feel small and helpless, but very determined. With purpose in her stride she set off towards the forest with every intention of not going in very far, but far enough to be able to see if the rumors about wild humans were true. As she flitted in and out of the trees she lost all track of time and was soon quiet a ways into the forest, then all of the sudden a giant tree loomed in front of her.
TBC…
A/N: I decided to give you all a nice long chapter since I probably won't update for another week or two since I will be gone. But I have inspiring music- all about the Planet of the Apes- that I have found. Lol. It is pretty funny if you ask me… but I hope everyone likes this chapter and remembers to review. Okay, thanks a lot! Okay… I am a lazy bum and I thought I would have this done before we started off for vacation, but I don't. So here is a long chapter with a cliffie, that was not done on purpose this time.
