Haley could've sworn she heard the sickening pop of her shoulder dislocating when the ape holding her had finally tossed her to the hard ground – however, she was still quick to kick away from the apes and scrape her body through the mud to the point where she was close enough to their looming fortress to gape up at it and then attempt to dash as far as possible in the opposite direction – but now, as her wrists were tied above her head to a mossy and dead wooden pole like she was a prisoner, with her butt resting in unwelcomed mud and her only pair of pants soaking up water like a sponge, the adrenaline wore out of her system enough that the pounding in her shoulder made it quite clear that something was wrong – though, it wasn't urgent. Thus, as she waited for a supposed hunting party to return with their leader, the apes never realizing she was able to understand every gesture they made in their discussion, she decided there were more important things and grew nervous – she didn't want to see Caesar again, not with how their last encounter ended. She was deathly afraid, maybe even terrified, at the idea that when he sees her, he would turn his back her way, like she had done towards him. That was why she had been so scared to venture into the woods in the first place; she knew she'd run into him eventually. 'Then again,' she wondered and gazed down at herself, 'would he even recognize me?'
Her bright blonde hair has grown all the way to her abdomen from their past rest on her shoulders, and has slowly been crystallized and dyed a nauseating brown from all the dirt and dried blood she unwittingly collected over time. Her skin was covered in hardened mud and hundreds of scratches and bruises that were aching to heal, easy to see thanks to the oversized shirt and sweatpants that struggled to cling to her shoulders and hips, the latter tied to her slim frame by a thick, braided rope that folded the material in odd and annoying places. Her previously bright and beady honey-colored eyes have become hard and cold, like a rusty shade of dirt to balance out with the layer of earth that already covered her face. The only thing that hasn't changed much about her was things that should have grown in her teenage years, but no, she remained like the curve-less and flat-chested kid Caesar knew way back when. Luckily, she's been too occupied with survival to really care – so why did she feel self-conscious now? She merely shook her head at the thought and shifted to make herself more comfortable in the puddle, which seemed pointless when a giant suddenly crashed onto the ground in front of her, making the Earth rumble and her butt shake back out of place. Stiffly, Haley gazed up at the stranger and felt her jaw slack into a gape the higher she looked. Standing right in front of her, his body nearly four times her size, stood a gorilla that was purely made of muscle and strength, his leathery face contorted into a ghastly scowl. "No, get back!" She screamed on instinct as the giant gorilla unexpectedly stepped towards her, pressing herself back against the wood to keep the distance between them, but as he (she assumed it was a 'he') reached over her head, she unwillingly begun to calm down.
"Get… back?" She tried again, seeming unsure, and watched his dark hands in dismay as he leaned to the pole behind her and banged his fists down on it a few times, forcing the wood to bury deep enough into the ground that he could pull the rope around her wrists up and slip her ties over the pole's top, freeing her without her even moving an inch. She dropped her hands onto her lap immediately and pulled the rope off of her wrists before massaging them to relieve the strain, all while keeping her shocked eyes on the ape that freed her. Shakily, she flattened her dominant hand and pressed the inside of her fingers to her lips before motioning the same hand his way gracefully. "Thank you." She signed discretely, not wanting the others to discover her little secret, and naturally, she had assumed that the apes couldn't understand human speech. She watched in confusion as the giant unexpectedly froze and stared at her in disbelief – and Luca, he just wondered why she kept her ability to understand sign language to herself – but any further thought from either of them was interrupted.
Suddenly, all the apes fell into a pleased uproar, some hooting while others gibbered and screeched, and when the gorilla finally stepped out of the way to join the others in their welcoming of the hunters, Haley's heart sank. He was older, taller, and more mature, his eyes darkened just like hers, if not more, but she recognized him instantly and paled at the sight. What broke her even worse was the fact that, even if she hoped for it, she saw no recognition in his bright green eyes when they met hers – not even a glimmer or flicker of familiarity. She could feel her body shaking with an odd sense of trepidation and it took grabbing the tiny patch of grass beside her for her body to settle.
At the sight of the young woman, however, Caesar had a very different feeling that flickered to life inside of him: anger and disappointment. Disappointment for a human finally invading their sanctuary, as he always dreaded one would, and anger for an ape bringing her there. Unlike what Haley saw, however, he did feel an odd sense of familiarity when he gazed into her dark brown eyes, his brows furrowing by that fact.
Haley watched as her old friend turned to the ape beside him, her gaze darkening at the mere sight of that specific ape. Unlike the other apes, his fur wasn't nearly as slick and strangely well-kept as the others'; fur was barely seen on his pale grey skin, dating him much older than the others, and his permanently-frowned face and natural underbite were completely nude. She couldn't help but note how much shorter the ape seemed to be than Caesar, but soon wondered if it was just the heights that both of them held themselves in. Just then, Haley looked around and realized something she, in a way, already knew, allowing her to gape in disbelief: all of them kept themselves low around her old friend… Caesar was their leader!
"What's human doing in camp, Rocket?" She watched Caesar sign, him clearly looking a bit annoyed, and shifted her attention onto the ape, Rocket, next to him, almost like she was watching a tennis match and waited for his response. He hooted apologetically in response to his leader's unsuspecting annoyance, his chipped lips pulling back and unintentionally showing Haley his threatening canines before he signed, "Found her close and thought Caesar wanted to know, so brought her."
"Hah!" Haley mocked without thinking, but didn't bother to stop when all the apes turned her way, knowing she can't exactly take it back – the best she could do was explain her reasons, "Brought me? You practically kidnapped me! My shoulder still hurts, and so do my ribs!" In any other circumstance, she would have felt a tug of amusement from their confused faces, but she knew their confusion didn't mean good things for her; luckily, the gorilla, still in front of her, took it upon himself to explain. "She knows sign language." He signed.
With that, all other subjects seemed to get dropped, Caesar's eyes narrowing as he begun to move her way – she knew it was strange, but oh, how she missed seeing that apish limp he had, it being one of the odd things she saw everywhere after he was taken out of her life. On that note, she quickly paled, remembering the fact that she didn't want Caesar to recognize her, despite how much that hurt too, and how getting too close to her could definitely shatter that hope. And so, she quickly ran her eyes over the towering, spiked walls around the village and found what she was looking for. Against her better judgment – that is, if she took the time to think it through – she suddenly shot to her feet and dashed towards the giant tree next to them, assuming that, just maybe, if she could reach it, she could swing from its branches and leap over the wall beside it towards safety. But alas, she didn't get far before the same blasted pair of arms wrapped around her and halted her escape – even though, this time she quickly felt the arms loosen around her once she stopped, compelling her to glance over her shoulder to the captor in shock. Was he actually paying attention to how she said he hurt her?
"How many?"
With a cliff-like plummet, her thoughts were dropped into an endless void of pure, unadulterated dismay, her eyes shooting huge immediately. She could've sworn she heard her stiff neck creak as she turned her head back to Caesar, studying him with such intent that he felt impossibly exposed, all the way down to his soul. He couldn't have, she thought in disbelief, her legs and arms growing heavy and unmoving in their place, as if wanting to keep her there until she was certain she heard what she heard, did he speak!?
"How many humans left?" He grunted in an attempt to question her again, his voice so gruff and deep that it made her flinch back into Rocket. Still, despite him repeating his words, she couldn't answer – she couldn't speak at all. From only her shock, her throat has turned dull, dry, and tight, as if a lump of lead had gotten stuck. He can speak, she admitted despite what her brain was telling her to believe, how…?
Eventually, she noticed the crowd of his people was growing restless at her insolence for not answering his question immediately, forcing her back to her senses. "J-Just me." She croaked weakly and quickly cleared her throat to speak more clearly, "It's just me," she said again, "I haven't seen another human in over a year now."
"Human lies," she saw another ape interrupted with a screech, and cowered a bit when other apes echoed his exclamation, "should follow to find others – make them leave."
While Caesar gave the new party a conflicted look, as if he wanted to agree with him but couldn't, Haley took her chance to study the other and gasped immediately – just like Caesar, she recognized him instantly. His scarred face, blind eye, and leer made it impossible for her not to, even if she had only seen him once. Again, the ape somehow sent a shiver down her spine without even bothering to try. "I am not lying!" Haley protested pass her fear when she finally processed what Scar told the ape leader, seeming a bit hesitant despite her volume, "My family died many years ago, when I was still a child."
At that, Caesar gave her the same uncertain look he had given his follower before he attempted to limp towards her again – this time, no matter how much she suddenly thrashed in Rocker's still-binding arms, she couldn't avoid Caesar looming over her, and the moment he did, she gulped against her growing nerves – 'please, don't recognize me.'
"Then how does human sign?" He signed, as if testing her to see if the previous time was a fluke.
"My close friend's father once taught me." She hummed, technically still telling the truth, and lowered her head, "My friend could only sign."
"And them?"
She paused, "The father died of the Simian Flue a few years after mine did. I went to see him once, but only to find him and his wife's corpses holding each other on the couch – only his son survived." She could feel her heart stop for a moment in dread when she realized her slip-up, her mouth growing dry.
"Survived –" He spoke with a furious growl that made her head shoot up in alarm, but strangely enough, she didn't feel panicked, "—so humans do lie."
"I… never said the son- that the son was human." She admitted with a hopeless and miserable breath, her legs suddenly going numb underneath the anxiety that burned through her body – so much for attempting to hide her identity, she thought, she just painted her name across her forehead herself. It took a few minutes of eerie silence and her only staring into Caesar's eyes with sympathy and a silent plea for understanding before his frown faded into disbelief and she officially knew he realized who she was, the bright honey-colored flecks in her dark gaze unmistakable. At once, she dropped her head and bared her teeth in an attempt to bite back her tears, her body finally falling slack in Rocket's arms as guilt officially overwhelmed her, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed without a sound. "I'm sorry." She let slip pass her lips as the arms around her pulled back, their hands grasping her upper arms and guiding her down onto her knees, as if Rocket was suddenly afraid to touch her in her state. "I'm so sorry!" She only cried louder when she was let free, her hands quickly covering her eyes when salty tears spilled down her nose, cheeks, and chin and dripped into the puddle of mud by her knees, "I'm so sorry! My father," she sniffed and hiccupped, "I wanted to help you, but he – and when I heard you were gone – I am so sorry!"
She could hear what sounded like a shaky sigh of relief coming from Caesar, but only continued shaking with agonizing sobs. She couldn't see as he, too, sank down to his knees and placed his leathery hand behind her neck before he pressed his forehead roughly against hers, shutting his eyes in content, which only made her cries turn louder and morph into wails. Yet, he never let go. Way back then, when Haley turned away and left with her father, he had seen how she was unknowingly dragging her feet and gave her true choice away, so when he was gazing out of his charcoal-excuse of an attic window in his cell, he was imagining those times where they used to make funny faces to each other when she couldn't visit him – the entire time he was there, he missed his friend, and when he was forced to assume she had been killed by the virus like so many others, he was tormented by the assumption. "Welcome home." Caesar whispered to her, and watched with slight amusement as she jolted back in shock, her tears and sobs halting immediately – that's one way of calming her, he thought. Only then, however, did he finally look around to find many apes looking extremely uncomfortable with what had happened, glancing between each other for answers, and felt thankful that they couldn't hear him welcoming her to the village.
Haley, still struck with disbelief at his words while her heart pounded in her ears, watched as Caesar rose and turned to address apes, but before he even had the chance, Scar seemed to put some pieces together for himself, the fact that she knew Caesar somehow clicking something in his memory. "Human tried saving Caesar." He signed in quick and firm movements, not seeming too happy by his own words – words which startled every single ape, even Caesar, himself, "Came to Gen-Sys, asking to help Caesar."
/ "I…" She croaked in some attempt to explain herself, but instead, her words were lost to her as her gaze wandered to the cages next to her. "I wanted to—" She tried again, but this time cut herself short with a childish gulp when her eyes fell on a nasty ape, his scarred face scowling at her and his one blind eye boring into her soul.
"What's this?" Jacobs interrupted finally, glaring at the crowd of scientists around her, "There can't be kids in here!"
"I'll take her home." Will said quickly and rolled the ape to the side of the room before he shooed the team to their positions and motioned Haley to the door. Unfortunately, it was only for her to quickly skid out of reach.
"B-But I want to help get Caesar out!" She yelled, her face crunched up with such determination that it was almost possible to forget how oblivious her statement seems to any grownup, reminding Will for a moment of a child's face when parents tell him or her that they set the goldfish free. /
Haley felt oddly bashful when Caesar glanced her way to confirm the ape's statement, but still forced herself to nod through her embarrassment. "Human is ally," She watched Caesar announce, her heart soaring at his words, and saw him exchange an agreeing look with a large orangutan, who stood, unmoving, next to the wall at the edge of the village, "and is the last human close – she'll stay here."
Even Scar seemed to want to protest, despite him having given Caesar the leverage to voice his decision in the first place, but it didn't seem to matter as Caesar turned back to his old friend and helped her back to her feat, leading her away without an explanation. Confused, Haley still followed and merely glanced uncertainly to the troop of apes behind her as the two of them ascended the odd spiral around the tree and made their way to the tree house at its top. She only hesitated once they reach the doorway and Caesar motioned her inside – she didn't know why, but the sight of the entrance made her heart clench with a sense for impending doom. Only when she slipped inside and gazed upon the beautiful female ape, a young ape attached to her chest, did this ache amplify to the point where Haley was petrified against her will, her body running cold.
"Wife and son." Caesar signed the words with a delight that made the pain even worse, "This is—"
"Cornelia." Haley cut him off with a single, strained breath, "I know; your father… he tried saving her."
To her luck, the horror and inner agony she felt was mistaken for shock as she was made to explain what she meant, but while she spoke, she reminded herself how happy she should be that Caesar found love and wondered:
Why does my heart hurt so much then? So much that the pain is worse than dying. Please, don't tell me that I... towards Caesar...
THIS. GOT. LONG. (o.o) But it was their reunion, though, so I couldn't help it!
Anyways… I feel the need to thank you all (FallWindWhispers, megascopstrichopsis, Estrella, Sabri, Mauryn, mackenzierae04, and Ant) for the support you've given me so far. It means so much and I truly feel blessed to know you're all doing this with me. Just a warning, too: my updates may get a bit slower now, now that college was kicked back into gear. That's right... I am a adult. Yuck, right? Lmao, kidding.
