Sorry for the week long break everyone! I hope you all enjoy chapter 32!

Stepping into the soft grounds of their forest, Grey and the others were met with a sense of familiarity. The woods embracing them with their long branches that stretched out far and wide, as if they were being welcomed back into the forest itself. Hearing the reports behind him, Grey slowly turned around and eyed the human city. Where he and the other warriors that came with him, had abandoned Caesar and the rest of their kin. A deep frown set upon his features, Grey simply stood there and watched as the sounds of gunfire echoed in the distance. Never ending.

Hearing soft footsteps behind him, Grey turned slowly to see Pongo approaching him. The chimpanzee had then walked up towards Grey and stood next to him, also watching the fighting that was going on in the distance between Caesar and the humans.

"They are going to die fighting the human soldiers," Pongo signed.

"Yes," Grey answered simply, still watching.

"They will die and we will have a future," Pongo continued. "If we are lucky, Caesar, his followers and the human soldiers will all kill each other. Leave us in peace. Like Red said. Like what you wanted. What we wanted."

Grey had just turned to look at Pongo and was going to say something before he was interrupted by an explosion. Glancing back towards the bridge, Grey, Pongo and the rest of the apes could see the fight between both man and ape occuring in the distance. Grey's frown deepened as he watched the flames engulfing the top portion of the giant bridge. He knew that Caesar was smarter than that. The apes would have feint an attack from up on high and quickly abandoned the place. A hit and run tactic that they've been doing for quite a while now. For all the humans seem to muster with their weapons, they did not seem very bright when it comes to fighting. But even then, this was a fight that maybe even the apes could not win in the long run. They may have the numbers but the humans had the majority of the weapons, weapons that had already dwindled their forces. Even more so now, since half of the ape warriors as well as all of the gorillas from the Gorilla Guard are here now, in the forest. Leaving Caesar and the rest of the apes to fend for themselves.

"Does Caesar's apes know about us?" Grey asked slowly.

"They shouldn't know. We did as it was planned by Red. Lied to other apes that we were going eastward to look for supplies. Also made sure no one saw us leave," Pongo gestured back.

At this, Grey furrowed his brows, taking notice that the humans were barricading up the southern end of the bridge. Their only entry and exit to the human city. He narrowed his eyes at the humans but huffed out a breath before he slowly turned to look at Pongo and the rest of the other warriors, whom didn't seem to notice the humans building a wall at the end of the bridge like he did.

"Come," Grey spoke out. "Let us go."

Once the order was given to them, Grey and the other apes silently leaped into the trees and made their way deeper into the forest. To the rendezvous point where they were to meet up with Red, Rex and the other followers.

…

Ash had felt as if he had just dozed off again when he woke up with a jolt as humans, garbed in those orange colors with masks on their faces came rushing into his room. He hooted in alarm and they all grabbed at him and yanked him from his sleeping area, taking him elsewhere. Before he knew it, Ash was firmly strapped down onto a hard chair and cold hard clamps were placed all over his body as his green eyes wildly look about. They had also forced his mouth open and stuck something in.

"Don't spit it out monkey," one of the humans in orange warned him before taking their leave.

Breathing through his nose quickly, Ash then looked around himself, noticing several humans standing at the other end of the room. There was four of them total, one of them looked to be female and the oldest looking human seemed to be shedding tears. Why?

"Please no more," the grey haired human said to the other three. "We can't use this one. He's still recoveri-"

"Do. Your. Job," the smaller human grounded out at the taller older man. "I will not ask again."

After this the older human glanced back at Ash and the lights around them suddenly turned off, throwing them all in darkness. Suddenly a light blared into Ash's face, causing him to squirm and try to get away from it, tugging at his bindings.

Before Ash could comprehend on what was going on, he suddenly felt every muscle within his body trying to tear themselves from his bone. He screeched in pain and surprise as he violently shook within the chair, tremors of pain wracking his whole being.

Once it was over, it left him tired, panting and trembling, wondering on what they had just done to him. He then saw the older human moving into the light, just enough so that Ash could see his hands. He then noticed elder human turning halfway into the darkness and say something, his voice shaky and wavering which was quickly interrupted by a more forceful tone. Slowly the human had turned back around and began asking him questions.

"Who was Caesar? How many apes were there? How many guns did they have?"

At first Ash didn't answer them, wondering on how they had gotten these information. But when he lingered on in silence, his body suddenly flared up again, causing him to make weak noises into the air before his body went limp again. This went on and on and on for who knew how long but eventually Ash relented, answering them through hand-speak, telling them what they wanted to hear just so that the awful pain would go away.

"How many apes where there?" Ash had seen the hand gestures.

"Hundreds? Thousands?" Ash would answer desperately, earning him a shock.

"Does Caesar plan to wipe out all of humanity?" he saw the next question.

"Yes. Yes. No. No. Only peace," Ash replied, earning him yet another long shock, causing him to croak out in pain.

But no matter what he had answered, no matter what he gave them though, the torture never stopped. It kept going and going and going, right up until Ash could no longer form any signs at all and drool escaped the sides of his mouth as his head hung low. Groaning only slightly when his body tensed up from the shock they were giving him, only for him to go slack again in his chair.

Eventually they threw Ash back into one of the glass cell cages but found out that he was alone in them. Ash had looked around for Ray and Fox but found them, not there. They had given him fruit and water, and for a little while he had thought that they were done with him.

Oh how wrong was he.

Soon enough they came for him again and he tried to fight the humans but was much too weak to do anything. He merely only groaned in pain as he roughly yanked him up from the ground and threw him back into that awful chair, all for everything to start once again. He tried to block out the pain within his mind, to vanish within the depths of his memories, trying his best to ignore of what the humans were doing to his body. For a little while he did just that, Ash was unable to distinguish what was real and what was an illusion to him but eventually his blood and bones called him back, back to the fear and agony of the real world - and the questions. Ash himself did not see the humans in the darkness but he did see the human elder who was looking at him with eyes as dark as the deepest holes. He could be imagining it though, but Ash was sure he saw streams of what looked like water running down the older human's cheeks.

Finally, the questions ended, with the pain lingering, settling deep within his bones to which he couldn't help but whimper in pain from where he sat. Looking around, his vision started to fade in and out and suddenly he felt a gentle heavy weight placing itself upon his forehead. Blinking slowly, Ash turned his eyes upwards and he could now see the teary eyes of the human elder who had asked him those question with his own hand-speak.

"Oh lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love." Ash could hear the human say softly to him.

With a few more huffs from him, Ash tiredly closed his eyes and what remained of the light within the room finally faded away.

…

Trudging along the forest floor, Cornelia followed the rest of the apes as they moved further into the woods. As she walked along her thoughts wandered backwards. Back to a time, a time when she herself was small and among many of the wild apes of her own family. Food was plenty, her family and other dispersed band of apes usually came together not far from the river of her old home. She could clearly remember one such gathering, not long before the humans had caught her and took her forever away from the land of her birth. Cornelia couldn't help but smile to herself sadly as she remembered these things. It had been such a crazy time then. With many other younglings to play with. The males would bluster at one another and the females, when they came of age, would leave their bands to seek out others and mate, with the older apes renewing acquaintances with one another. One of the best of her early life, if Cornelia could recall.

Life after the great awakening had also been like that for her as well. Caesar had resisted the tendency of the apes to split up into smaller groups for survival. He had unified them, taught them how to hunt and forage for strange foods of their new home. Together they all learned how to build nests, homes; a village where all were welcomed, where every evening was like the great reunions of her youth. Except that in every single way, larger. It was not merely a chimp gathering like those of her youth but a gathering that included all of the apes, from the beautiful bonobos, the strong gorillas and wise orangutans. Each kind of ape had their own instincts and customs that were quite alien to one another. Yet, under Caesar's leadership and guidance, the many had eventually became one.

All together. All strong.

But now… Thanks to Pope and Koba, all of that was gone. The village that they had worked so hard for, built together, was now burned down to ruins. Leaving all of the apes in a sense of foreboding within the forest's presence.

Blinking, Cornelia turned her head as she felt Tinker taking a firm grip on her arm.

"Do not worry. We will find a new home. One where we can all be safe," Tinker assured with a small smile to her face.

"Yes, a new home. For all apes," Cornelia signed back as she adjust her youngest son within her arms.

Hearing a few crunching leaves behind them, both Cornelia and Tinker turned around, noticing Ajax approaching the both of them.

"Ajax," Cornelia greeted the younger gorilla.

Ajax nodded at Cornelia and then nodded at Tinker, who gently returned the gesture to him.

"I wish you both would consider riding instead," Ajax huffed as he turned to look at Cornelia.

At this, Cornelia frowned. Horses were in short supply. Most of their warriors back in the city with Caesar had most of them and they were the best at riding them. While most of the ones they did have with them were pack animals. Ones that were used to carry many of the heavy things.

"We have only a few horses that are good for riding," Cornelia explained. "Oaka is riding one of them - she is pregnant, and very near her time. The others are for the wounded apes."

"You were ill not so long ago. And you are queen. And you her second," Ajax nodded to Tinker. "You both must be safely guarded until then."

Cornelia made a snorting noise as she waived Ajax off.

"I am no longer ill," Cornelia explained.

"I may be second to Cornelia but I am an ape. I have legs and am able to walk, so I will," Tinker chimed in.

At this, Ajax gave the two females an unsure look.

"We… could carry you both," Ajax suggested instead. "We could make a litter and two gorillas, one for each of you, they could bear it."

"Are we both game to you? We are not some animals that are carried home after a hunt Ajax," Cornelia shot the young gorilla a hard stare. "We move at the pace of our slowest member here. Tinker nor I, are the slowest. When everyone who cannot match our pace has a mount, then we shall take one. Is that clear?!" Cornelia reprimanded.

"As you say," Ajax answered back after a brief quiet.

Ajax himself didn't look happy about both Cornelia and Tinker walking along with the others but he also didn't leave their side. Tinker looked back and forth between her friend and Ajax before she reached and hand out and gently placed it upon the younger gorilla's forearm, offering him a sweet smile.

"What matters is that we take care of our weakest members first. If we cannot take care of them, then how are we supposed to take care of ourselves?" Tinker signed to Ajax.

Ajax fierce green eyes darted from Cornelia to Tinker again in quick succession before he nodded once at them. At this, Tinker pulled her arm back and turned towards Cornelia.

"Be more gentle. Ajax is only doing his job to insure our safety. He is having a tough time too," Tinker reminded her friend.

At this, Cornelia relaxed herself, noticing that she might have been a bit too upfront with Ajax, looking to the said ape and nodded once at him who returned the gesture.

"Is there something else you would like to tell us Ajax?" Cornelia asked the younger gorilla as he still didn't make the move to leave.

"Andy and the other ape scouts had returned," Ajax finally signed back. "I have recommendations on how we should nest for the night."

So both Cornelia and Tinker listened closely to Ajax's recommendations, the one he had gone over with both Andy and Jeanpierre. At this both the queen and her hand maid were unsure if they should nest at all but given the circumstances and how far they've been travelling. With the many young ones, old, and wounded, they all surely needed a momentary rest. It was then Cornelia made her choice, giving Ajax the okay.

Gratefully Ajax then led both Cornelia and Tinker to the resting spot, both pleasantly surprised to see that many of the gorillas had gone ahead and begun preparations. A fire had been started, a small one so that the beacon of smoke did not call attention to their location. Beds and nesting areas were made for the queen and her attendants.

Soon after, the children and younger females were sent off to forage. The Gorilla Guards went back to patrolling while many of their male warriors had gone to hunt for what they could find. Both Cornelia and Tinker thanked Ajax before they saw him off to join the others on patrol, leaving the two there. As Cornelia had gone off to assist with the nest preparations while Tinker had stayed behind to tend to their still wounded. While Cornelia and the other females were weaving their nests together, the queen herself noticed Red approaching her. As the rusted-haired gorilla approached, he stopped a ways away from Cornelia and signaled grunted, to grab her attention.

"Red? What is it?" Cornelia paused in her work and approached the younger but bigger gorilla.

"It is Oaka… She had insisted on helping to dig for roots with the others," Red signed.

"And? What of it? Is something wrong?" Cornelia asked, confused.

"She…" Red started to sign but paused nervously, eyes darting up to the canopy.

At this, Cornelia thought the red haired gorilla looked a little embarrassed. Then it struck her. Males were often reluctant to discuss certain female issues. She had remembered fondly of how she had Blue Eyes in her own belly and Caesar himself was at times, at a lost on what to do.

"Has she gone into labor? How long ago?" Cornelia signed, shaking that memory away for the moment.

At this Red stared back at Cornelia blankly, his shoulders slightly drooping, seeming to look more lost at what she was asking of him. At this Cornelia huffed.

"Is she having the baby?" Cornelia asked this time.

"Oh," Red hooted in surprise, signaling in affirmative. "I think so."

"Then alert the females," Cornelia signed to the rusted hair colored gorilla. "Where is she?"

"I show you. Come," Red gestured to Cornelia.

"Very well," Cornelia answered as she looked up to a small section of a tree." Cornelius?" she hooted to the small ape sleeping in his perch.

With an audible yawn, Cornelius tiredly stretched his limbs before he sleepily climbed down from his spot and into his mother's arms. Normally Cornelia would ask Tinker to watch over her young one, but since Tinker was most likely on the other side of the camp and helping the other females, she didn't need to be bothered.

"Show me where Oaka is," Cornelia finally turned to look up at Red.

...

Blue Eyes laid flat in the scrubby, spiky weeks at the top of the hill that looked down upon the strange buildings on the rocky beach below. The crashing waves of the sea was just beyond the small bay, next to a rather large facility of sorts that also had two rather large dome structures that reminded Blue Eyes of the sanctuary back near the human city. To the side he could see an assortment of boats and ships that floated nearby, all different shapes and sizes.

The four of them had been traveling for a few days, just Blue Eyes, Alexander, Malcolm and Feliz. Carla had stayed behind to make sure that she could buy them some time and divert their attention for the time being. That and the older woman was sure that she couldn't make such a long trip. That was where Feliz came into the picture. She knew exactly where to go and led all of them there. To the facility where they were keeping Ash, Ray and Fox. While Carla stayed behind to buy them some time.

"This looks like the place," Malcolm breathed as he placed down the binoculars in his hands. "See that? All those barbed wires surrounding the area? I'm betting that's where they're keeping our boys.

"This is where the lights come from? For you?" Blue Eyes asked as he turned towards Feliz who was laying down right besides the three of them, in between him and Alexander.

"Yeah? What about it?" Feliz asked in return.

As the teen girl looked at the chimpanzee, she noticed that the blue eyed ape was waiting for her to explain.

"Oh! It's a nuclear reactor," Feliz responded in a whisper. "You know, it makes power out of nuclear stuff. Like radiation."

Blue Eyes made a face as he turned back to look at the area before turning back to look at Feliz.

"Not use water?" Blue Eyes asked curiously not seeing any water source running through it.

"No, silly," Feliz said to Blue Eyes.

As Blue Eyes curiously met the girl's gaze, he noticed Feliz's face turning a peculiar shade of pink.

"Okay, I don't understand it either. But I've heard if you work there too long, you get sick, because there's some kind of leak there," Feliz explained.

"Then why are people still working there? Shouldn't they close it off and quarantined it?" Alexander jumped in. "For safety purposes?"

"They can't. They need the place, just as much as we do, to power the electricity. Jack told me that if it ever really messes up, the explosion will be so big we wouldn't even hear it way over in Esperanza," she stated, turning back to look at both Blue Eyes and Alexander who merely blinked at her in response. "Ugh! Because we'd be dead before the sound even got there," she finished with a grunt.

Upon hearing this, Blue Eyes turned back to look down at the place with a new respect towards it. To him, this reactor thing didn't look all that dangerous. But the things that humans had build were a lot more terrible than they would appear. So he the fact that there was something that could destroy humans and apes alike without them hearing it wouldn't be all that too far fetched.

"We usually make with what we have. Even if it is quite dangerous," Malcolm voiced in slowly, turning to look at the youngsters.

"So you think Ray and Ash are down there?" Alexander asked, changing the subject.

"Well, if they're not. I don't know where they are," Feliz answered back. "But I'm about-" Feliz paused to make a few smacking sounds with her lips, "ninety percent sure that this is the place. I mean it has all of the facilities. The medical bay area and whatever else they need there," she explained.

At this, Blue Eyes slowly turned his sights back onto this particular place, have never seen or imagined such and unwelcoming landscape. His home, back in the forest was a land of mist and gentle rain that stretched far and thin. And if one were to go too far from the sea, on the sunrise side of the mountains the land became drier. But not like this. The few trees that grew here looked as if they were bleached to the bone, all withered and dry, dead looking. The ground was as dry as it felt, with the sun overcasting its harsh heat onto the land, causing the soil to crack and separate from each other. The land here, to Blue Eyes, looked like it had been killed with it's intense head and non vegetation. Definitely not a place for apes, nor a home he would wish upon anyone.

But to Blue Eyes' surprise. He had noticed small green sprouts, here and there. Tiny seedlings that pushed sunward through the ash of the earth as if they grew from the old. And that was when Blue Eye learned that even here, in this place of dust, life followed after death.

"Hello? You're spacing out again," Feliz interrupted Blue Eyes' train of thought as she snapped her fingers in front of him, causing him to blink and give her his full attention. "Does he always do this?" Feliz asked as she looked past Blue Eyes to Alexander and Malcolm.

"More than you can think of," The teen boy next to Blue Eyes sighed aloud, while Malcolm merely chuckled quietly to himself.

"Is there a safer place for us to go to? To talk," Malcolm asked slowly.

"Uh yeah. Follow me," Feliz piped up as she rose back up onto her feet and started walking away.

The group of four retreated further into the hills, to an area where the remains of human houses were in shambles. They all managed to find a line of trees and thorn bushes along the banks of a stream so shallow it barely came up to Blue Eyes' knees as he stood in it.

"Feliz. Can you tell us more about Diablo?" Malcolm asked as they walked along the bank of the small stream.

"What? Oh. Most of what I know, I got from Jack actually," Felized said aloud from the front. "I was little when the Diablo people came. Esperanza was already a town by then, and we were trying to get along. But you know… There was some trouble with the folks over in the big valley. Crazy people, you know? Jack says that they would… Eat people sometimes…"

It was at this point, Feliz stopped in her track to turn around and fully address all of them.

"Back then, a few of those people would show up and we would give them food and stuff. Just so that they would go away. Leave us alone… But Jack said he always worried that one day they would come and take everything, and kills us too, or worse…" Feliz trailed off a bit, her eyes looking far off in the distance before she blinked and met their gaze once more. "And then one day these people turn up from the other direction, from over by the sea."

"Diablo?" Alexander asked, with Feliz silently nodding once at him.

"They said they were from the government or something, and that they could protect us and give us electricity. All we had to do was pick a few people every year to be in their army or something. Just for a couple of years, you know. Jack had said that it wasn't a good deal then, but it was better than what those other people in the big valley was offering…" Feliz explained. "My mom was one of the first ones to volunteer."

Blue Eyes and Alexander then noticed the girl biting her bottom lip as she slowly wrapped her hands around her arms.

"What happened to your mom?" Alexander asked quietly.

For a moment Feliz didn't say anything. But then the teen girl heaved out a deep sigh and closed her eyes.

"She… She got killed. Fighting down south," Feliz spoke in a equally quiet voice.

"Your. Father?" Blue Eyes asked curiously.

"The plague got him apparently. I was too young to even remember my dad," Feliz explained with a sad smile.

"Sorry," Blue Eyes gestured.

At that, Feliz smiled at Blue Eyes. She may have not known hand-speak like he did but she did catch on quickly to what he signed sometimes. She was a bit smart like that.

"It's okay. I have both Jack and Carla now. And I know what you're all thinking, won't they be worried about me? Yeah, sure. But they both know that I can take care of myself." Feliz announced.

"I believe it," Malcolm spoke up with a giant grin, "you seem to have a good head upon your shoulders. Very self aware," he appraised.

"Why thank you very much Mr. Malcolm," Feliz responded with a smile of her own. "At least someone can see the good that I can do."

"Why. help us? Why. help apes? Help me?" Blue Eyes asked curiously.

"Funny you should ask that. I've been wondering that myself," Feliz said aloud as she placed a hand on her hips, while she tapped her chin with the other, letting her eyes gaze towards the stars. "Maybe it was because I felt bad. Sorry that we caught your two friends, Ash and Ray," Feliz then looked back down at them and crossed her arms as she kicked at little at the shrub near her feet. "Jack's heart's in the right place when it comes to us you know? He takes care of us and all, in Esperanza. So I'm sure he really didn't mean it when he traded your two friends off to the people in Diablo…"

Feliz then paused for a moment and made eye contact with just Blue Eyes, as if she were looking from something within him.

"A few days ago. I had just thought that you guys were just mindless raving animals, or even monsters like my Gram used to say, that was just one thing. But now, since I've met you, Ash and Ray? Actually seen you guys. I figured that maybe you're all not so different after all. Something to the line of… like me you know? Like us," Feliz explained as she gestured towards herself and then to Alexander and Malcolm. "And you guys shouldn't be put in cages, or locked up, or tied to a pole. I know I wouldn't like it."

Feliz then took in a lungful of air and sighed loudly before she cast her eyes into the distance, looking somewhere far where they couldn't see.

"Now I don't know what they're doing to Ash and Ray or that other one in Diablo, but you know what I mean right? It's like how my Gram used to say, everything that's born will eventually die, and the trick is to have the time in between not be purely terrible. And as Carla had put it. Not everyone is essentially born evil or bad, it is the conditions in what they were thrown in, that changes them and make them who they are…"

Feliz then turned back to look at Blue Eyes.

"And I don't want Ash and Ray to be like that. I want them to be able to choose their own path and not let their views be skewed by what we've done," Feliz finished.

Upon hearing this come from the teen girl, Blue Eyes could see giant grins upon both Malcolm and Alexander. But to him, it was startling to hear Feliz say such a thing for apes. The words were different to him, but it was so like what many of the elder had said of their days in captivity. It also, without warning, prompted him to remember when Koba was about to kill Ash. Ash had spoken from his heart, said to Koba what many of the other apes were thinking at the time - that what Koba was doing, was wrong, that it went against everything that they had grown up believing in. Back then, only Ash had the courage to speak that way to Koba. His words might have even soften Koba's heart a little.

Instead though, Koba had tried to end Ash's life. Blue Eyes knew that Ash hadn't expected for Koba to nearly kill him - some form of punishment or rebuke, maybe, or a show of dominance from the older ape - but until that day, that very moment, the idea of ape killing ape was unthinkable. And Koba nearly crossed that threshold. But if Ash's words hadn't changed Koba's heart then, they sure had changed Blue Eyes'. Prompting him to scream out to the older bonobo. Yelling for Koba to leave Ash be and snapping Koba from his rage induced haze, saving Ash from his demise. Maybe, if just maybe. If Koba, Pope or any of the other elder apes were brought up differently. Then maybe they wouldn't have gone to war with the humans. Just maybe...

"You're doing it again," Feliz spoke up, snapping Blue Eyes from his thoughts once more, causing him to frown at her. "This guy," Feliz said to the other two humans while shaking her head slowly and jutting her thumb in Blue Eyes' direction.

"Well, I guess that settles it," Malcolm announced as he looked around himself. "From this point onwards, it is definitely going to get a lot more dangerous. For everyone."

"Yes," Blue Eyes voiced, agreeing with Malcolm before he turned back to Feliz. "You. Feliz. Should go home."

"What?" Feliz asked confusingly, turning to look at the sky eyed ape.

"Dangerous," Blue Eyes informed the teen girl.

"Dangerous? Really? Look around us, everywhere is dangerous Blue Eyes," Feliz confirmed.

"You future. For humans," Blue Eyes simply answered, causing Feliz to freeze and turn back to look at him incredulously.

"What does that mean?" Feliz asked, narrowing her eyes at Blue Eyes.

As Feliz was looking at the ape prince, her eyes suddenly grew big and wide.

"Are you suggesting? Is he suggesti-"

"H-he means well. Honest." Alexander quickly jumped in between Feliz and Blue Eyes, who was looking between the both of them, still confused. "They've been through a lot. Trust me on this."

At this, Feliz gave Blue Eyes a crossed look but quickly heaved out a sigh, exhaling deeply all the while. She then perked up and walked around Alex, stopping right in front of Blue Eyes and met his gaze.

"Look you. And I want to make sure that you understand," Feliz said to Blue Eyes, grabbing his attention. "I am not just the future for humans. Alexander, his dad and you too. We 'Are' the future. All of us. For both species. I'm as important to humans just as you are to apes. You understand?"

There was a brief silence between all of them. Blue Eyes trying to make out and understand Feliz's words while the girl merely frowned at him. Eventually though, Blue Eyes thought he understood the girl's words and nodded at her, noticing the fierceness within her eyes abating slowly.

"That was very wise of you to say Feliz," Malcolm suddenly spoke up, causing Feliz to look up at him.

"Ugh, yeah sure, whatever. Anyways. What're you all going to do? Did you guys even plan on getting in there? How are you all even going to get them all out?" Feliz asked, going beet red in the face as she crossed her arms.

"Well think of something," Alexander perked up. "Blue Eyes is right though. It's not safe here for you. You should just go back home."

"And who was it that brought you guys all out here without being found out?" Feliz snapped back.

"Look," Malcolm walked up to the teen girl this time. "I. We appreciate all the help that you and Carla has given us. Truely. But like I've said. From here on out it is going to get much more dangerous. Even we don't know what will happen and we don't want you to get caught up in the middle of it. You're still very young and from what I can see, a family to go back home to."

At this, Feliz huffed through her nose as she looked away but then turned back to the others again.

"Tell you all what," Feliz perked up suddenly with a smooth smile upon her lips. "How about I go down there and… Oh, I don't know. See what I can find out."

"No. We can't ask you to do that. Did you not hear what I just said?" Malcolm said aloud with both Blue Eyes and Alexander agreeing.

"Yeah sure, I heard ya. But you seem to have forgotten that I've already said that I can take care of myself pretty well," Feliz announced as she walked around with her hands behind her head. " Will be going into Diablo dangerous? Yeah, sure," Feliz frowned as she looked away, before a smile replaced her features once more. "Or not. Because they'd never let me in. Heh, but y'know. There's a little town just around the corner there, Avila Point. All those soldiers and scientists need people to cook and clean for them. Paint their boats and - whatever else they need. Actually one of my cousins got work here last year if I remember correctly."

"What are you getting at?" Alexander asked curiously.

"I'm saying that you three need help," Feliz suddenly spoke aloud, turning to face them. "Look, Avila Point is just right outside of the gates and they really don't keep watch all that closely of who comes and goes. So I'll just walk on in and see if anyone is talking. I don't even need to lie. I'll just tell'em that I'm from Esperanza, and am curious about what happens to my monkeys." Feliz explained, noticing the deep frown on Blue Eyes' face. "Gotta make it believable baby Blue," Feliz smiled at Blue Eyes, batting her lashes at him.

The three of them looked at one another, unsure of this plan. It was then Malcolm who stepped up to Feliz.

"You do have a point. You know this area much better than we do. Even if we somehow got in there, we wouldn't even know the first idea of where they're keeping the others," Malcolm lamented. "You sure you want to do this? I'm not going to stop you, but…"

"It's okay. I want to do this. Trust me," Feliz said aloud.

Blue Eyes frowned, seeing the teen girl smiling widely, even though they all knew she was going into danger. Why would she be happy about it? It honestly didn't make any sense to him. But then again, he never understood humans much and they always seem to surprise him.

Walking up to Feliz, Blue Eyes stared up at the teen girl momentarily before he reached out and touched her arm.

"Safe?" Blue Eyes said quietly.

At this, Feliz offered Blue Eyes a smile, one full of warmth and gentleness to it.

"I'll be safe. I promise," Feliz answered back. "The worst that could happen is someone will try to make me go back home," she concluded.

Blue Eyes then glanced down at his feet, shifting his weight back and forth on his two feet before looking back up to meet Feliz's eyes again.

"Trust?" Blue Eyes finally said aloud in a soft voice.

"Trust," Feliz repeated in a warm tone.

...

As Cornelia followed Red further and further into the woods, she was quite impressed by how far Oaka had managed to travel, given her condition. She knew that Oaka was, well… Rather headstrong for a female but very quick witted and fair nonetheless. However, she was beginning to question Oaka's judgement in finding edible roots, this was far from the best place to find them. Most of the roots grew in more open ground, such as meadows, or near water. Why had Oaka decided to go deeper into the forest instead of going near the creek? If she had gone near the creek then she wouldn't have to travel so far.

"Was Oaka alone when she went to go find roots?" Cornelia asked Red as she shifted Cornelius within her arms.

"I think she was," Red replied.

At this, Cornelia stopped in front of Red and glared up at the younger gorilla.

"Did you not see her?" Cornelia asked with a frustrated huff.

At this, Red blinked down at her with wide green eyes before he reached up and scratched at the side of his head, looking as if he didn't know what to say to her.

"No, Maple told me," Red explained.

"So Maple was with her?" Cornelia questioned, her eyes narrowing up at Red.

As Cornelia watched Red, she took notice of the bigger gorilla's hackles slightly raising. Red himself edging slightly towards her. Even knowing this though, Cornelia kept calm. She knew Red was lying the moment he told her that Maple had informed him of Oaka. She and Tinker had seen Maple going along with Lake towards the river to fish earlier and was nowhere close to where Oaka was at the time. Most of the females themselves did of the gathering of plants and herbs, while the majority of the males did all of the hunting. That and Oaka would definitely know better than to look for roots way out here, where danger lurks even now.

Red himself wouldn't know such things like searching for roots as he was not in the minority of males that helped foraged.

Cornelia then blinked in surprise and peered past Red.

"Oh, I think I see her now!" Cornelia signed excitedly with a smile. "There she is." She hooted happily.

A look of puzzlement crossed Red's face as he turned to look. The moment he rounded himself though, all Red saw nothing but the empty woods before him. Roaring in anger, Red quickly spun around and lunged towards Cornelia, only to find empty air where she had stood. Looking around wildly, Red huffed to himself, wondering where the female chimpanzee had disappeared to. But then there was sound above him and he looked up, seeing the female quickly scrambling up a tree, with the newborn prince clinging onto her back.

"Stop! Come down!" Red shouted.

Ignoring Red's cries, Cornelia launched herself towards the next tree and nearly missed grabbing the branch, due to her misjudgement. Months heavy with child, then a hard birth and sickness that followed had taken their toll on her. Cornelia herself wasn't quite capable of what her mind thought it was at the moment but she must make due for now. For her safety and Cornelius'.

As Cornelia swung into the next tree, she spared a glance backwards, seeing Red racing along the ground behind her, his rifle still slung onto his back. So his plan was most likely to not kill her or Cornelius. Or maybe it was but he wanted to do so quietly and out of vicinity of the others.

Swinging through the trees quickly, Cornelia noticed another ape swinging into her vision, towards her right. She was relieved, as she turned to greet the other ape but froze when she saw Grey. She stopped in her swing and stared at the other male, who seem to have just noticed her as well and locked eyes with her. If Cornelia could recall, Grey was supposed to be with Caesar, with the warriors, back in the human city. Helping him… But why was he here? Why was he out in the woods with…

"Cornelia?" Grey gestured towards her.

Then it dawned on her and she put two and two together. Grey and Red.

Cornelius had let out a squeak in sheer delight as Cornelia hurled herself the opposite direction from where she was going, passing over Red, heading towards the mountain that loomed in the distance. As Cornelia swung through the trees as fast as her limbs would carry her, she heard both Red and Grey's cries behind her. As she swung on though, she could make out two more chimps, coming in from the direction where Red had been leading her.

Now she was panicking as she raced through the treetops. What were Grey and Red planning? Why are they doing this? Although she didn't know Red that well to understand why the gorilla was doing this but she knew Grey. Grey, although not as close to her nor Caesar like he was with Koba, he was still considered a friend nonetheless. And after Koba's supposed demise, to which only a few, herself included, knowing the truth of the bonobo's status. Grey had came back to both her and Caesar, swearing his allegiance to them.

But now she was questioning if Grey had even meant it. Maybe he harbored some deep seated hatred for Caesar, for letting go of Koba during their fight? Oh how foolish of both of her and Caesar to even consider that Grey would change his ways.

Reaching the edge of the redwoods and dropping down into an open meadow, Cornelia sprinted across it on all fours. As she ran, she could now hear the chimps behind hooting, now, and knew that they were hunting her like an animal, trying to drive her where they wanted her to go.

As soon as she made it across the field, Cornelia leapt into branches of the lower growing oaks and maples. She was starting to feel for climbing again; her lungs were beginning to burn with each breath she took, and the sweat in her nose made her think of those first heady days of freedom that she had with Caesar and the others. Almost constantly running from the humans, rarely sleeping, carrying the wounded and never knowing what they would face next - but knowing that at least they would face whatever came for them as free apes.

But back then, it had been humans chasing them, not apes like now.

For the moment, Cornelia forced herself to stop thinking and allowed instincts to take over. She was much lighter than the males that were chasing her, even with her little Cornelius clinging onto her back. So she chose the narrower, fainter pathways through the trees in hopes that they would slow down her chasers and force them to take another route. Lest they grab onto the lighter branches, breaking them with their heavier weight and falling towards the ground below. But time was not on her side, as soon enough, it will be dark, too dark for any of them to see, and then it would be a new set of problems entirely.

As she swung through the trees, Cornelia did not see Pongo until he was right on her. He had swung in from her right blind spot and grabbed at her wrist. She turned to look and could see his mouth, baring his teeth in a threat display at her and with that something happened inside of her. The way Pongo was displaying his threatening gesture, it was as like if an predator was reaching for her child. With this, heat suddenly erupted from within her stomach.

Cornelia had been upset and experienced anger before but she had never known rage.

Cornelia suddenly swung her free hand around, grabbing Pongo's ear and dug her claws deep into it. Surprised by this, Pongo screeched in pain, not before Cornelia suddenly lunged and fastened her teeth upon his face. Pongo shrilled even louder now and Cornelia was only vaguely aware that they were now both falling towards the ground. Landing onto the stoney earth beneath, with Cornelia on top she kept attacking at the male underneath her and she was going to keep attacking, violently striking Pongo in the face, chest and stomach until he either left or stopped moving underneath her altogether. With his continued painful shrieking, Pongo tried to pull away from Cornelia, beating at her chest to push her off but one of her canines had cut through his lip and was stuck there, causing him to unable to get free. Growling in anger, Cornelia yanked at Pongo's ear with her hand until it tore straight off of his head, causing him to let out a deafening cry of pain.

With a final yelping shrill, Pongo finally broke away from Cornelia then, her tooth ripping right through his lip. Cornelia was almost disappointed as she watched Pongo bolt away from her, clutching at the side of his head as he weaved off pathetically through the trees towards safety.

As Cornelia stood there, she quickly spat the blood from her mouth onto the ground as she watched Pongo leave. As her fury subsided though, Cornelia quickly glanced about, worriedly looking for her little one. Hearing a happy chirp from behind her, relief suddenly flooded her system as Cornelia turned her head around and saw that her little Cornelius had somehow clung onto her back the entire time.

With her youngest safe, Cornelia quickly bolted up towards the next tree as she heard other chimps converging from what now seemed like every direction.