Surprise! It's a double chapter this week! Not only is it a double chapter, to make up for me not posting last week of course... Not only that, it is also my last Anthology chapter as well as Chapter 50 will start the beginning of War for the Planet of the Apes, for this fanfic series. A hope you guys and gals have enjoyed the chapters so far. If any of you guys have anything to say, please do post below or if not, that is fine too. But again, these were fun to write and I hope you've all enjoyed them. Next up, War.

-Dreams and Nightmares-

Caesar held onto Koba's hand desperately, the scarred bonobo's life within his hands. The renegade ape dangled high above the gutted remains of an unfinished human skyscraper in the ruins of San Francisco. Looking past Koba, Caesar could see the smoke and flames rising from within the building's sub-basements. The cause of it all was an earlier explosion that had just brought down large portions of the structure that they were on, injuring several apes in the process and nearly killing both he and Koba as they fought for primacy. Caesar, whom was wounded and bleeding himself, strained himself upon an unstable steel girder as he held onto Koba's forearm with one hand. Only Caesar's waning strength had kept Koba from falling hundreds of feet below towards his death.

"Caesar?"

With a huff, Caesar's focus went back to Koba whom was looking at him a sad smile. Staring into the bonobo's golden-green eye; the other had been blinded by the humans long before they had both met. Old scars that riddled the bonobo's body bore witness to Koba's brutal treatment at the hands of his human captors so many years ago, but could that excuse Koba's actions? Unbeknownst to them all, he had let his hatred consume him and therefore allow it to dictate his actions of how to treat the humans and extinguishing any hope of peace they could have between both humans and apes. But was he truly all at fault though? Yes he was the one that lead the apes into battle but he was used wasn't he? By another more sinister?

"Koba. No longer ape."

With a gasp, Caesar tightened his grip as he held onto Koba's arm who had suddenly went slack on him.

"No! Koba hold!" Caesar shouted.

But it was all for naught as the weight under his hand suddenly slipped through his fingers and Caesar watched in horror as the scarred bonobo fell into the abyss. Plummeting towards his death, falling endlessly into the raging fire far below, which blazed like a funeral pyre. Falling onto his knees Caesar's eyes stared wide into the red and yellow hot flames that had swallowed up his old friend. Gritting his teeth, Caesar shut his eyes tightly and cursed himself for not being able to hold onto Koba's arms longer.

There was a slight chuckle from behind to which Caesar perked up, slowly rounding his head to see who was laughing at a time like this. To his surprise and horror, there stood a very beaten up looking chimp, with scars marring the left side of his face and blood dripping all over him.

"Pope?" Caesar breathed.

"Caesar," Pope croaked back as he slowly approached the ape king.

Pope blinked once and looked past Caesar before eyeing him once more with those dark green eyes of his.

"What is the matter Caesar? Couldn't hold onto one ape? Too weak?" Pope gestured, jabbing a bit at the distraught chimp.

Baring his fangs, Caesar quickly stood up and rounded himself fully to face the other chimp.

"This is your fault!" Caesar bellowed.

"My fault? Why so?" Pope asked feigning innocence.

"You caused all of this. Killed apes. Ruined our peace with the humans!" Caesar growled in anger.

At this Pope grabbed his mid-section as his shoulders shook with laughter, causing Caesar to freeze at the odd reaction.

"You don't really believe that, do you?" Pope asked earnestly.

Before Caesar could react, within a blink of an eye, Pope was right in front of him and shoved him off of the girder he was standing on. His arms reaching out in reflex, Caesar had caught the edge of the girder and held onto it for dear life. Caesar grunt and hissed as he strained his arm muscles to keep himself from falling into the fiery abyss that bellowed from below. Huffing, Caesar looked up only to see Pope standing over him, an unreadable expression upon the other bloodied ape's face.

"You believe. That humans. And apes. Will have peace?" Pope asked slowly, meeting Caesar with half lidded eyes. "There will never. Be peace. Humans. And apes. Will always fight. Always want. Bloodshed. Nothing you do. Will change that. Even. If I. Was not. Here. It would not. Change that," Pope spoke as he reached down, took a hold of Caesar's arm and lifted him up slowly.

With a huff, Caesar stared into the cold dark eyes of Pope's, who seem to look straight into his very being.

"Apes. Kill apes... Caesar. Humans. Kill humans... Humans. Kill apes... And apes. Kill humans," Pope said slowly so that Caesar heard every single word. "Even if. Caesar. Wants peace. How long?" Pope asked seriously. "Peace never last. There is. Always fighting. Always hatred. You choose. Not to see. But I do. Other apes do."

Pope then looked around himself once before he met Caesar's golden green eyes once more with his own dark green ones.

"There is only peace. When all is dead," Pope spoke gently.

As Pope said those words; to Caesar's horror, the other chimp's face was slowly being drenched in more blood as his eyes turned pale and glassy, the look of death. Suddenly the hand that was holding onto Caesar's forearm had let go, causing Caesar to fall. Caesar yelled as he fell further and further into the roaring flames below. The last thing he saw was Pope looking down at him with those glassy colored eyes, body illuminated in colors of red, oranges and yellows.

Caesar cried out as he woke from the nightmare. His golden-green eyes snapped open even as his heart pounded deeply within his very own chest. Looking around, Caesar found himself in his private dwelling within the fortress: a small cave in the upper levels of the cliff face, hidden behind cascading sheets of water that formed the far wall of the chamber. Hands shaking, Caesar had let his eyes wander down to see his beloved Cornelia and youngest child sleeping peacefully beside him, their dreams untroubled by past events of betrayal and hurt.

Breathing deeply to calm himself. Caesar allowed his racing heart to slow to a more moderate pace. Glancing upwards, Caesar squinted as the light rays of sunlight filtered through the falling water, casting a subdued golden radiance upon the floor of the cave. Not for the first time, the sight and sound of the falling water brought a calmness that soothed Caesar's spirits. Especially after that terrible nightmare that had woke him.

Getting up as quietly as he could so that he did not disturb his family, Caesar walked on over to the side of the cave and simply peered past the the falling waterfall to where the sun was rising. As troubled as he was from the nightmare, and of Pope's words. There was one thing that he still hung onto, and that was hope. A hope that there will be a better future, a future for both Apes and humans. That maybe one day they could end all of their fighting and learn to live with one another. However, that time was not now and not soon. But maybe, in the future, there is hope for them all. Blinking his tired golden-green eyes, Caesar kept his eyes upon the rising sun a little longer before eventually moving on.

…

Golden-green and milky white eyes stared up at the brilliant pale moon that shone up above, blanketing the world with its soft light. Sighing tiredly, Koba rubbed at his eyes and had let his head hang low as the crickets of the night sang their songs around him. Again, it was another night of trouble sleep and restlessness for him. He had thought that he had rid himself of these idiotic memories of fear and anger but for reasons unknown they kept appearing within his mind, reminding himself of who and what he was. It was infuriating of course but there was not much he could do about it.

The were a rustling noise towards his right and Koba quickly turned around to see what it was. Then, to Koba's surprise a hulking figure emerged from the bushes in the form of Rocket, who had stopped momentarily to stare at the bonobo before slowly easing himself on over and sat next to him.

"You were shaking in your sleep," Rocket gestured at Koba. "Got up and left. Something wrong?"

"No," Koba simply grunted out and looked away.

Rocket however, would not relent and reached out, tapping the bonobo on the shoulder to gain the other ape's attention once more.

"Bad Dreams again?" Rocket asked curiously. "Talk?"

Koba huffed and drew his arms closer towards his body, averting Rocket's gaze.

"Nothing to say. Dreams are just dreams. Nothing more," Koba answered, shuddering and drawing his limbs closer towards his body. "Just bad memories."

Rocket frowned but didn't push on the subject more as he observed Koba. Back then, Rocket himself didn't think much of dreams from other apes as well. He would have said that they were nothing more than bugs in their ears. A minor annoyance that reminded them of things from the past and things that were odd. Yet, as of now, dreams were a window that showed them what they could not perceive and to humans apparently, something that could either tell them of ill or good omens.

Whatever had disturbed the scarred bonobo up from his sleep; Koba had decided to keep it to himself, as always. Even then though, Rocket himself didn't know what to say to Koba if the other ape had chosen to speak to him. But he knew that he wouldn't like to be alone at a time like this. Instead he chose to not say anything at all but simply sit there, to let Koba know that he needn't be alone as he is among friends now.

It was not noticeable at first but Rocket could see the other ape's tense body slowly relaxing and soon enough, it looked like as if the scarred bonobo wasn't tormented at all by his dreams anymore. Instead Koba now looked to be at peace and that was all Rocket needed to know. Throughout the rest of the night, both Koba and Rocket continue to sit there among the grassy terrain and simply stare up at the bright moon.