Entering the man made structure, Koba's eyes widened as he noticed his fellow ape brothers picking up pieces of debris and slowly hauled it out towards the exit. Upon noticing him, Blue Eyes, Grey Stone and Pope a few of them had stopped momentarily to say their greetings. Grunting back in acknowledgment, Koba moved steadily forward. He may be blind in one eye but even he could see that now their people were becoming slaves to the humans. They've got their greedy fingers wrapped around Caesar and the rest of the apes which infuriated his very being. Why would Caesar do this? It didn't make any sense.
Suddenly Pope bounded towards the front of the group, turned and faced all of them, halting their advance.
"Apes are now slaves to humans," Pope grunted to the others and signing at them.
The four of them stared at Pope to which the scarred chimpanzee grinned and scratched at his neck before continuing.
"Seems like Caesar still love the humans. Much more than apes… More than any of you," Pope gestured finally staring directly at Blue Eyes and Koba.
At this Koba had enough of the scarred chimpanzee and suddenly took a hold of Pope, slamming the surprised ape into the metal bars behind him, holding him there. With a pained grunt, Pope stared wide eyed at such ferocity from the bonobo whom was glaring at him panting slightly. Letting out a huff at what just happened, Pope glanced around at the others before staring back down into Koba's good eye again. Unexpectedly Pope had then let out a series of panting laughter, confusing Koba and the three other apes for a moment before the scarred chimpanzee suddenly grabbed onto the fellow scarred bonobo and brought him in close, staring him dead in the eyes.
"Yes! Be mad! Be angry! But not at me," Pope hissed, letting his dark green eyes fall onto every ape that was looking at him. "I did. Not do this. I did. Not let. Humans stay. I tried to warn. That humans. Were dangerous. That Caesar would doom us all. Put us apes back in human cage. This is all his fault," Pope spoke quietly before letting go of Koba.
Koba stared at Pope for a long while before he let go of the scarred chimpanzee's scruff with a snarl and quickly stomped away. Smoothing out his hair where it was mangled, Pope watched as Blue Eyes, Grey and Stone silently turned their gazes away form him and followed Koba deeper into the man made structure. Satisfied that he had hit the mark, Pope took in a deep breath and silently trailed behind the others. Although as he followed something dark was brimming within the chimpanzee as he stared at Koba's backside.
Fuming with anger at what Pope had said Koba couldn't believe it the chimpanzee was right. Everything he said had come true, the humans in the city were preparing their weapons and now Caesar was helping the humans gain power as well. They were all going to die with Caesar's misguidance. It had hurt him and he didn't really want to but he must stop Caesar somehow, someway, but how? As he thought it over Koba finally entered the open area where the human had first brought them. Peering down below he could see his fellow apes working away while the humans ran amok while discussing about things he did not care for.
Watching the scene below him Koba turned towards his right and saw Pope peering down at the apes below too before the scarred chimpanzee curved his head to stare directly at him. The two locked gazes for a moment Koba blinked once, forcing his gaze away and grabbed onto the railings tightly with his hands. After a few seconds, Koba then grunted as he leaped onto a pipe, slid down it and landed with a thud onto the floor below. Slowly getting up Koba glanced around and noticed one of the chimpanzees walking towards him while dragging a pipe of some sort.
"Caesar." Koba asked the chimp whom looked around slowly before the ape pointed towards the door.
Following the other apes direction, Koba stalked his way towards the entrance before he was rudely blocked by the young human. Annoyance and anger flaring from within him, he took a hold of the human boy and threw him onto the ground.
"Hey!" The boy cried out.
Noticing with horror Malcolm's eyes widen as he noticed the one eyed bonobo had stopped in his tracks and turned around towards Alexander, stalking towards the boy. If there's anything he knew, he knew that body language that the bonobo was exhibiting. He quickly bounded on over and slid in between both his kid and the furious ape.
"Wait please! No!" Malcolm pleaded as he put his hand out to hopefully stop the ape.
Whatever Malcolm had tried to do, did not seem to work as the ape kept on advancing. Maybe this was it. This was probably how he was going to die. Then something unexpected happened. A mountain of orange fur suddenly stood between him and the crazed looking bonobo. After noticing what it was, Malcolm had let out a a weary breath, now knowing that it was the orangutan whom was curiously watching them earlier.
Surprised by Maurice, Koba had stopped his advancement and looked up at the orangutan whom seem to be staring back at him with determined but challenging eyes. You too? Koba thought for a moment before his face turned into a scowl at the bigger ape.
"Caesar. Where Caesar? Want Caesar. Caesar!" Koba roared aloud, causing everyone within the room to stop what they were doing and stare at the furious ape.
There was a momentary silence that hung within the air before soft footsteps could be heard. Emerging from one side of the entrances, Caesar stared at Koba whilst the bonobo glared back at him.
"You make apes serve human?" Koba started as he glared up at Caesar. "Human's attack your sons! You let them stay? Put apes in danger!" the scarred bonobo continued as he advanced upon his king and friend. "Caesar love humans… More than apes! More than your sons!" Koba finally accused, standing in front of the chimpanzee and jabbing a finger into his chest.
Caesar's gaze widen momentarily when Koba had finally said those words to him, his green and gold speckled eyes darting from the bonobo to his son whom was watching the whole thing. Staring back into Koba's eyes, Caesar slowly narrowed his. How dare he... How dare Koba accuse him of allowing their apes to serve the humans like slaves. How dare Koba accuse him of loving the humans more than the apes. How dare Koba accuse him of loving the humans more than his own sons. Koba didn't even know what had happened all day. For all he knew, Koba was still just throwing out his tirade because due to his hatred of the humans but for the bonobo to accuse Caesar of such things was taking it much too far. He needed to be put in his place.
With a primal scream Caesar had launched himself at Koba, knocking the bonobo off of his feet and rolling onto the steel grill floor beneath them. All the apes watched and hooted aloud in alarm as the the chimpanzee king and scarred bonobo fought each other brutally as they swung heavy fists at one another. For a split second, Caesar had gained a momentary advantage as he stood up and started to slam his fists upon the bonobo's body beneath him. With each blow from Caesar's fists the sounds of pounding flesh could be heard reverberating against the stone walls all around them. Caesar then reached down and started to choke the bonobo and slammed the ape's head repeatedly onto the ground as if he wanted to kill him.
It was after a few seconds did Caesar blinked once and through his anger induced haze did he see Koba's fearful face staring back at him, the choking ape's hands upon his. Slowly releasing his grip upon Koba's neck, Caesar realized what he had almost done and was deeply ashamed of it. Staring down at the injured ape beneath him Caesar closed his eyes tightly before opening them back up again.
"Ape… Not… Kill… Ape." Caesar huffed the sacred law aloud as Koba laid there beneath him, still trying to catch his breath.
With his vision clearing with the addition of oxygen finding their way into his lungs again, Koba watched as Caesar slowly stood up while he laid there. Breathing haggardly, Koba then turned his head towards the side and could see several of the apes staring in shock. When he made eye contact with them though they quickly turned his heads away from him. Feeling humiliated by this he then turned his gaze up to where both Grey and Stone stood and they too averted their gaze when he looked at them. There was one ape however who did not avoid him and that ape was Pope, whom stared straight at him with a stern look upon his features, as if telling him that he was right about Caesar.
After catching his breath, Koba swallowed his spittle and blood that had accumulated within his jaws and got up onto his two feet. He then looked past Caesar at the humans whom were all staring at him, their faces riddled with shock and pity… Knowing what he had to do in this situation, Koba slowly kneeled, and raised a supplicating palm up towards his… Friend…? No… Not friend. Not anymore... Thinking this all the while keeping his head low so that Caesar could not see his burning hate that formed on his face.
"Forgive me." Koba said simply as he waited for Caesar.
Caesar looked down at the other bonobo and then up around him, seeing the curious gaze from his people. Oh what had he done? In their fight, Caesar had released all his pent up anger at the scarred bonobo, falsely blaming the other ape for the stress and hardships that he had been enduring. The anger of the peace between humans and apes failing, the anger of Koba not letting go of his hatred of the humans and leaving them that morning, the anger of Blue Eyes' defiance towards him and lastly the anger and sadness at the thought of not being able to do anything for his sick Cornelia. All came crashing down relentlessly upon the bonobo during their brawl. And with that Caesar was horrified to find out that he was very close to killing his good friend.
Koba had known that Caesar was going to make him wait for his forgiveness but wait he shall for both Caesar's acceptance and to an extent his undying revenge. Because now he knows that Caesar was truly weak, blinded by his love for the humans, just as Pope had told him many a times. Only he can protect the apes now. Even if he had to…
Feeling Caesar's finger tips barely touching his open palm did Koba drop his hand immediately and walked away while covering his beaten and battered wounds.
Caesar had wanted to call out to Koba, had wanted to apologize to the bonobo for doing what he did to him. No matter how much he wanted to though he had to remain stoic and resolved in front of the other apes to show that he should not be trifled with. Sometimes being a leader he had to make certain sacrifices in order to keep them all safe but at what cost? He watched with a certain helplessness to him as Koba soon disappeared through the doors upstairs. Letting his gaze fall back down, Caesar then noticed Blue Eyes staring at him with a look of disdain within his eyes. What had he done indeed.
…
Back at the top of the dam by the secluded river Koba slowly made his way towards the water's edge. Making sure that he was not followed the bonobo slowly dipped his hands into the cool waters below and began to clean himself up. He hissed as he splashed the clear liquid onto his wounds, causing them to sting. Exhaling out a tired breath he then looked down at the water's surface, seeing the ugly face of his reflection staring back at him.
As he stared at his reflection, Koba then noticed small ripples were made upon the surface of the water, distorting his image. Blinking several time Koba glanced at his image once more and was quite surprised to see his image shedding tears, his tears. Reaching up slowly, Koba touched the side of his cheek and he could now feel the warm trails of his tears that cascaded down the sides of his face to the waters below. Sure his wounds stung, he was used to that, but they could never accumulate to this none physical pain that he was feeling. He could not explain this strange sensation, it was as if his heart hurt but then again it wasn't, not physically at least. This sudden spur of emotion caused his eyes to leak more tears, caused his body to tremble and to suddenly fall onto his knees by the riverside.
Trembling Koba couldn't help but let himself cry aloud as he held his body with one arm and head with the other, like an infant if it were wounded too badly or had lost something dear to it and he was feeling pretty much like the latter. With tears flowing down his face like a torrent of water, Koba heaved aloud as his body shook. Memories of his past suddenly slammed into him. Terrible memories that reminded him of what he was and what made him. Images of his mother getting beaten by their caretaker as she protected him. Images of him getting whipped because he failed to do a trick. Images of syringes being stuck into his skin, causing him to vomit violently and now images of Caesar raising his fists and then bringing them down upon him like some kind of animal. All of these feelings were storming within Koba's mind, so painful that he wanted to do anything to get rid of them.
After a while Koba tears had dried out and his body had stopped heaving, leaving the bonobo vastly tired at the ordeal. As his eyes cleared up, Koba soon was staring back at his own reflection again. Staring at his image and seeing the scars that reminded him of his past, Koba suddenly let out a snarl and he raised his fist, bringing it down upon the water's surface with a loud splash.
"Caesar will pay!" he hissed to no one in particular.
"And he will," someone answered the scarred bonobo, causing the ape to snarl as he turned around to face whomever had snuck up on him.
Standing just a few feet behind Koba stood Pope whom was staring at him with indifferent eyes. The scarred chimpanzee approached the bonobo, noticing the other ape back away slightly from him.
"I won't hurt you… I promise," Pope gestured as he slowly advanced upon Koba, noticing the bonobo's hesitation.
Once he was in front of the defeated bonobo Pope reached out, took a hold of Koba's head and placed their foreheads upon one another.
"I am friend Koba. Always have." Pope breathed quietly.
The two stood like that for a long while before the scarred chimpanzee lifted his head away from the still shaking bonobo and smiled down at him. Koba merely glanced up at Pope and before directing his gaze down to the side.
"You were right. Caesar is weak and is putting the apes' lives in danger," Koba signed at Pope, swiveling his sight back up at the scarred chimpanzee whom smiled at him.
"Then it is up to us to stop him and destroy the humans," Pope simply answered.
At this Koba closed his eyes for a moment and nodded, agreeing with Pope.
"Trust?" Pope spoke aloud as he extended an arm towards Koba.
At this gesture Koba's eyes glanced down at Pope's extended arm, like Caesar had did to him before they all went into the humans city to announce their separation of each other. Before Caesar had lied to him and attacked him.
"Trust," Koba repeated as he took a hold of Pope's arm.
"Good, now I have a plan," Pope signed to the scarred bonobo after they shook hands.
…
Later that evening Koba was sitting by himself, far from everyone else as the colony had gathered together to have their evening meal. Chewing his food slowly, Koba then perked up when he noticed two figures taking seats and each of his respective sides. Looking to his left and right the scarred bonobo noticed that it was two of his friends, Grey and Stone, who had took their seat next to him. They didn't say nor sign anything to him, but they didn't need to, he knew that they had come on over to support him, even if he's been shamed and for that he was grateful for.
Blue Eyes stared at his uncle from afar and could feel eyes at his back. Slowly pivoting his body around he could then see his father giving him a stern look. The father and son duo stared at one another, anger and resentment filling the void between them.
"You are my son. I need you to listen," Caesar tried to speak to Blue Eyes, only to have the young chimpanzee aggressively toss his plate to the ground and stomp away.
Ash could see Blue Eyes defiantly ignoring his father from afar yet once again and couldn't help but feel bad for his uncle Caesar. Ash then watched as his friend stomped on over to one of the lower bonfires, causing some of the apes to scurry away at his wake. Frowning, Ash set his plate down and soon leaped off from the ledge where his family was at and bounded on over to where Blue Eyes was.
Blue Eyes was fuming with anger at his father. Always "listen to this" or "listen to that" never ever owning up to his actions. Why did he strike down his uncle like that? Was it because he was right? It must have been… While still thinking about what happened earlier Blue Eyes pulled his knees closer towards him as he remembered the look on his father. He had never seen his father look like that before, always stern and collected but never ever wild and deranged as to what he had witnessed earlier and to be honest it sort of scared him a little. Hearing something landing besides him, disrupting his thoughts, Blue Eyes glanced up and was surprised to see Ash standing there.
"What do you want? Come here to tell me that I should listen to my father?" Blue Eyes signed at the other chimp.
Instead of getting an answer from Ash, Blue Eyes watched as the chimpanzee simply walked on over and sat down next to him, turning to face the bonfire. At this Blue Eyes scowled and looked away and fumed silently to himself. Eventually for some reason with Ash's presence there by his side he had slowly calmed down, enough to cause him to turn back towards his friend and see the other ape's smiling face. Seeing Ash's happy grin caused a smile to slowly form on his face as well.
"I'm sorry Ash," Blue Eyes gestured.
"It is okay, I understand," Ash had responded.
Blue Eyes was indeed glad that they had both reconciled even though he was the cause of it, and was extremely happy that Ash still stood by him and was there for him just when he needed it. He couldn't imagine what he would do if he were to lose his best friend.
Watching the young prince now bantering with Ash from afar at the bottom bonfire, Koba noticed Grey keeping his hand low and signing at him.
"You didn't tell Caesar about the guns we found?" the brown haired chimpanzee asked.
At this, Koba's gaze darted around until he found Pope sitting by a ledge not too far from them with two gorillas by his side. As they made eye contact the scarred chimpanzee merely shook his head slowly from side to side before he went back to finish his meal. Lowering his gaze for a moment, Koba slowly turned back to look at Grey.
"Neither will you," Koba finally signed, placing a knuckle upon the other chimp's chest before letting his hand fall back down.
Unbeknownst to the scarred bonobo both Grey and Stone exchanged a silent glance at one another before they too proceeded to go back and eat quietly.
Much later into the evening where many of the apes had already gone off to retire for the night, Blue Eyes bid Ash a farewell, watching the chimpanzee scurry off towards his own home tree with his mother and father. Sitting back down in front of the bonfire by himself, Blue Eyes stared into the flickering flames until he heard soft footsteps towards his side. Looking up he then saw his uncle Koba standing there the older ape looking as if he were hesitant to approach him. Giving no signs of animosity, Blue Eyes glanced back at the fire while the scarred bonobo took a seat next to him.
"Your father doesn't trust me now... You need to protect him Blue Eyes. His love for the humans. Makes him blind," Koba signed at Blue Eyes whom nodded at him.
"I know," the young sky eyed ape signed back.
"As long as the humans are here… I fear for… Caesar's life. And all of ours," Koba finished, turning to stare into the young princes' trusting eyes.
From afar, hidden in the darkness a scarred chimpanzee was observing the two apes signing to each other by the bonfire. Everything was going according to plan. If they could get Blue Eyes to be on their side then they will have nearly everything they needed in order to topple Caesar from his throne. Silently chuckling to himself, Pope turned back around and gazed up at the two gorillas that stood behind him.
"You sure this work?" Red signed at the scarred chimpanzee, still not sure about this elaborate idea to destroy Caesar and his rule.
"This will work. You will see," Pope answered back, "besides, you were not there by the human dam. Caesar is already losing himself and the apes. All thanks to that stupid ape over there," Pope gestured as he pointed at Koba and Blue Eyes.
"I thought you said that he was ally," Rex signed at Pope whom narrowed his eyes at the scarred bonobo.
Pope remembered well the incident at the dam when Koba had slammed him into the pipes. The ape had dared to lay a hand upon him and that had made the bonobo his enemy.
"No… not ally. Not anymore," Pope seethed before turning around and leaving the two gorillas for the rest of the night.
And "That's the way the cookie crumbles" in the way of Koba trying to get Caesar to go against the humans one more time and it backfired miserably.
What do you all think? Good? Bad? Did Koba go too far with the accusations? Was what Caesar did to Koba justifiable? Did it warm your hearts when both Blue Eyes and Ash rekindled their friendship? Hate Pope yet? XD.
Anyways if you've enjoyed my story so far, please leave a comment. I love reading all your thoughts and they are also the source of my drive to keep on writing. In the meantime thanks for reading and I'll hopefully post the next chapter soon.