The apes' council room was a cavern that was set deep within the fortress. Mounted torches illuminated the grotto, throwing flickering shadows onto the rough-hewn walls. The apes of Caesar's council had all convened to hear what Blue Eyes, Ash, Rocket and Koba's expedition had discovered while they were away. They were conscious of the never-ending threat posed by the increasingly aggressive humans. It was due to this, Caesar had dispatched his eldest son, honorary nephew and friends to discover what lay beyond the besieged forest of their home.

Now the apes had gathered all around, in a circle as Blue Eyes, Ash and Rocket laid out a map upon the floor using various drawing to indicate many different things on it. Not joining the three curiously enough, was Koba, who sat by the edge of the council stone platforms and quietly looked on instead. The three little ones, Cornelius, Cinder and Silver all chirped happily as they played and danced around at the edge of the map. It was then Blue Eyes had enthusiastically pointed at one spot in particular on the parchment before looking up to meet everyone else's faces before finally landing upon Caesar's.

"This place," Blue Eyes signed, "it is beautiful here."

Luca hummed as he pondered at the map before looking up at the other three.

"You are all sure there are no humans anywhere near it?" he had asked curiously.

"None," Rocket insisted. "We have checked all around for many days."

"Nothing but trees, rivers, birds, animals and a big lake too," Ash signed in before he turned to look at Caesar. "You will like it, uncle Caesar. All of you," he gestured to all the apes around them with a happy smile.

Caesar beamed at Ash's enthusiasm but then caught the gaze of his eldest.

"This is it, Father. We can start over. A new home for our people," Blue Eyes signed confidently.

Caesar was very much encouraged by his son, Ash, and Rocket's report, but was careful not to raise his hopes too high or too soon. Age had taught him caution, and the danger of jumping to conclusions too soon. Acting without thinking too often led to disaster. Caesar himself had learned that many years ago when he had angrily lashed out at a human for the first time, soon finding himself confined to a cage as a result.

"What is beyond these mountains, son?" Cornelia asked next, as she pulled Cornelius closer towards her, as did the other mothers of the children.

At this, Blue Eyes had then faced Ash.

"Show them, Ash."

Ash's face lit up and he quickly grabbed a leather pouch off to the side, from the floor and thrust his hand inside. The white flecked chimp then drew out a handful of golden sand and spilled it dramatically onto the map between the images of the mountains and their proposed new home.

"A desert, mother," Blue Eyes signed. "We had to cross it, too. The journey is long, but that is why the humans will not find us."

"Because it is too far for them. They will not risk it," Ash continued with Blue Eyes' statement as he moved back on over to where Maple was, the brown haired female leaning her head upon his shoulder the moment he had sat back down.

Upon hearing this, Caesar and the rest of the apes were proud to see how much Blue Eyes and Ash had grown and matured since they were last seen. This in part was of course the guidance of Rocket and-

"We must leave tonight!" Winter gestured suddenly, huffing and puffing, causing all eyes to be on him.

"Tonight?" Lake protested from her place by Blue Eyes' side, "That's impossible."

"How long can we wait, Lake?" Winter signed agitatedly. "Human soldiers are getting closer everyday."

From Caesar's vantage point, it was very obvious that the day's atrocities and Red's venomous words had shaken the young gorilla even more than he himself had realized. The bonobo, Glade, next to Winter was letting out soft coos to calm him down, but to no avail. He then saw Blue Eyes reaching out to Winter, placing a comforting hand upon his arm.

"Winter," Blue Eyes began.

Winter had then pulled his arm away from Blue Eyes, rejecting the reassurance from his prince, sparking a chorus of hoots from the surrounding apes, with Caesar standing up to glare down at the white haired gorilla. After a few heartbeats, Winter then lowered himself back down in submission, while Blue Eyes curiously glanced back and forth from his father to the ape beside him, whilst Glade did the same.

"Your son's been gone, Caesar…" Winter signed hesitantly in shame. "He nor Ash knows how hard it has been."

Ash frowned at that, but Blue Eyes instead reached out towards Winter once more. Feeling the ape prince putting a hand upon his arm, Winter met Blue Eyes' gaze, who offered him a comforting smile.

"Winter, I know you are scared," Blue Eyes signed to the slightly older gorilla. "We all are, but we are still planning."

"We have to find a safe way out of the woods first. Find a time where humans soldiers will not attack us when we move," Ash cautioned as well.

"And we must be careful," Koba suddenly said aloud, causing all heads to turn towards him now.

There was a murmur of hoots and chatters as the scarred bonobo spoke, but he kept his gaze firmly upon Winter and the other apes of the inner council circle.

"The desert is dangerous for apes too. We need to prepare. For all," Koba finished with a grunting growl before rounding his head to look elsewhere.

"Yes," Caesar said this time, as his slowly looked away from Koba and toward the rest of the apes. "There were only three… four of you. But we… are many," he finished with a gesture all around him before sitting back down.

At this, Winter seemed to understand and lowered his head in shame.

As Caesar kept his raging eyes upon Winter, Cornelia had then reached on over and placed a comforting hand upon his. Caesar met the reassuring gaze of his beloved for a moment before he placed his hand over Cornelia's and turned back to the others.

"We will find a way out of here," Caesar announced before he placed his hands together. "Apes together strong."

With those spoken words, a growing chant and chorus of apes rose with him as apes of all species put their hands together as well. And off to the side, Koba had even brought his hands together, if hesitantly.

…

Later throughout the evening drums pounded rhythmically above the roar of the waterfall as twilight began to fell over the forest. The entire population of the colony, young and old alike mourned the deaths of their warriors that had fallen in battle today. Many of the mourners chanted along with the drums as they set wildflowers upon the river, letting it guide the petals to their lost loved ones.

Accompanied by his friends and family, Caesar watched his apes solemnly from afar. The pain in his golden-green eyes was not lost on Maurice who had joined him.

"You feel responsible," the orangutan signed.

"I am responsible, Maurice," Caesar said grimly before switching on over to sign. "Our youngest have known only bloodshed from this war."

"But you did not start this war," Maurice continued. "Just like you've said to the human soldiers."

At that, Caesar's eyes darted on over to where Koba sat, alone, watching the mourning apes as well. The scarred bonobo was hunched over with his arms resting upon his knees, an unreadable look upon his face.

"No… I didn't," Caesar answered.

Maurice followed Caesar's gaze before he slowly turned back toward his old friend a worried glint within his beady green eyes.

"Do you… blame Koba?" Maurice asked curiously.

Taking a deep breath, Caesar closed his eyes. He would be lying if he said that he didn't blame Koba for leading the attack so long ago. Even as much as he knew the truth that Pope had been the mastermind of everything and pulled the strings. It was still, in the end, Koba's hatred of the humans that led them into this situation. He had thought that maybe he would have forgiven the bonobo a long time ago, on many occasions. But as the battle drew on and on, Caesar had found it more difficult for him to forgive the actions of the scarred bonobo.

"I don't know," Caesar responded honestly, still unsure on how to feel about Koba while still keeping his gaze upon the scarred ape.

Maurice couldn't help but frown while exhaling deeply upon hearing that from Caesar. The colony had been even more tense now since the ill hated ape had returned to their ranks. Many of the apes did not know how to properly react to the bonobo's reappearance. Many of course, still bore that deep seated hatred for the scarred ape, for what he had done to ruin their peace. Most of them completely forgetting that Pope was the mastermind of it all as it was explained. But seeing is believing and what the apes saw, was Koba leading them into war and that in itself was enough.

Before more could be said between two, Caesar had bid Maurice a good night before getting up slowly and made his way on over to where Cornelia was. Cornelia herself had been silently weeping as well as she listened to the cries of the mourning apes and couldn't help but feel for them too. With Caesar by her side however, the ape leader reassured his beloved mate by tenderly placing his brow upon hers. Joining the two was Blue Eyes, who had eventually left Lake's side to be with his parents as well and the small family embraced each other at the sight before retiring for the rest of the evening.

Watching Caesar and his family leave, Maurice had gotten up to rest in his own dwelling as well but as he moved away, he had caught sight of Koba. The scared bonobo was looking at the direction of where Caesar and his family had disappeared to with a solemn expression on his face. Taking a deep breath, Maurice shook his head slowly and wondered what could have gone so wrong before slinking off further into the fortress.

…

In a secluded spot within the colony was a big nest and sitting within it was Winter who had a frown upon his features. Next to the gorilla sat Glade, who was busily cleaning up the wound upon the gorilla's head while grooming him at the same time. As Glade gently applied the wet cloth upon the offending scar, he felt Winter suddenly flinch away at his touch.

"Sorry! Did, Glade hurt you?" Glade asked apologetically.

At this Winter huffed and glared at the bonobo next to him.

"You should have agreed with me!" Winter signed angrily.

Glade blinked a few moments before he set the wet cloth down into the bowl next to their nest,slowly.

"Agreed with Winter?" Glade asked, not understanding what his mate was talking about.

"That we should have left tonight!" Winter grunted.

At this, Glade stared at his mate with wide green eyes before his brows furrowed.

"No, Winter. Glade should not have agreed," Glade gestured back just as frustrated. "How would we move colony, if apes were to suddenly get up and leave? There is no planning to what you have proposed. There is still much to be done and prepared. We need to know what we need to do before we go through desert. Like the others have said."

"You mean like what Koba said," Winter signed back, causing Glade to simple stare at him.

Glade then lowered his gaze off down to the side while he lowered his arms.

"Yes… like what Koba had said," Glade responded slowly.

"Then we find out on the way!" Winter huffed, his eyes glaring at his mate with a wet sheen to them. "I don't see why we can't just leave. If we don't go soon, then the human soldiers will come and find us. Kill us..."

At this, Winter's shoulder finally slumped and his gaze lowered down towards the ground as well. He then saw a hand, with two missing fingers, came into view and it placed itself under his chin, lifting his head up so that he was meeting his beloved's eyes.

"What is going on with you, Winter? You never act like this before?" Glade asked worriedly.

Winter huffed quietly as his eyes darted down to look at Glade's hand, the one with the missing fingers. He had remembered well the day when Glade had came back from one of the skirmishes, the bonobo cradling his left hand close to his body. When Winter had ran to this side, he was horrified to find that his beloved had been wounded during said fight. Glade had winced in pain but kept up a brave face and smile at Winter, telling him to not worry. Winter however was deeply saddened to see Glade wounded like this and had quickly hugged the bonobo close to him. He had wanted then, to stop fighting entirely, afraid to lose someone so dear to him.

Glade noticed that Winter was looking at his wounded hand again and he simply smiled comfortingly at the ape in front of him.

"It okay, Winter. Not hurt anymore," Glade reassured.

Winter's eyed darted up to meet the bonobo's before he lowered them back down to look at the other apes hand. With a sigh, Winter let go of his mate's hand and turned away from him. While he had looked away from Glade, memories of earlier events came back to him.

Winter had just taken Red away from the other human captives as he was told and had led Red to a secluded spot outside.

"You fight. For losing side!" Red grunted as he was made to kneel in the grassy spot.

Winter stopped momentarily before he huffed and moved forward, tightening the bindings upon the other gorilla.

"You will die," Red started slowly, turning his head so that he met Winter's eyes. "All apes die."

Winter frowned but put on a brave face.

"Not if apes work together. Unlike you," Winter gestured back.

"You think apes. Will win. Winter?" Red asked in a haggard voice. "You think. You protected? No. Winter will be seen first. By humans. Like always."

At this, Winter briefly hesitated and flinched at Red's words.

"Winter, weak ape. Always will be. Apes will abandon you first. You are nothing. But target. For humans," Red continued.

Huffing, Winter looked down to the side quickly before meeting Red's angry gaze.

"Apes won't abandoned me. We are all together. Strong," he signed back.

"You think so?' Red asked. "Then why they send. You away. With me?" Red asked glaring up at the hesitant Winter. "You will die. And apes. You love. Will die."

Then, all of a sudden, Winter heard something behind him and he turned around to see who had approached. To his surprise, he saw no one coming. Curiously Winter peered around to see if there were any apes to come relieve him of Red but saw no one. Confused, he slowly turned back around, but as he did, something had struck him across the head and knocked him backwards, causing him to see blotches within his vision.

With a groan, Winter had gotten back up and rubbed at his head, finding that it was very wet. Curiously he had looked down at his hand and immediately panicked when he saw blood upon his fingers. Looking back up to where Red was, Winter found the spot empty and ropes all cut. Panicking, he had then rushed back to Caesar and the others as soon as he could.

As the memory started to fade Winter thought he could hear some kind of burbling sound coming from beside him.

"Winter!"

With a gasp, Winter had then turned towards Glade's voice, whom was looking at him with concern.

"Winter, you okay? You were not responding to Glade," Glade signed worriedly.

"Fine," Winter grunted waiving it off.

The albino gorilla had then got up slowly and picked up one of the human guns before he glanced back at his mate who kept his gaze upon him.

"Have to go," Winter gestured. "Must patrol."

Glade lowered his eyes and nodded slowly, understanding that it was the Gorilla Guards duty to patrol the hallways of their hidden fortress all night long for dangers unknown. With nothing else said between the both of them, Winter turned around and left the bonobo all alone there within their nest. Heaving a deep sigh, Glade turned to look at the bowl next to him and could see the wet red cloth with the now dirty water as well. With a sniff, Glade glanced back up at the entrance where his mate had just left through. Sighing, Glade then stood up and picked up the cleaning bowl and cloth. Looking around their den, he paused momentarily to reminisce the time that he and Winter built out their secluded spot. It was a time where they could stay with one another in peace, away from the others and forget about the dangers of the world. That time has since now passed with a deep breath breath, Glade moved on to clean the bowl within his hands.

…

Much later, Caesar had found himself in his private dwelling in the fortress nestled within the comfortable bed that he himself had build with his bare hands. He was unable to sleep that evening. Too many thoughts were flowing through his head and it had kept him awake. Instead, Caesar had decided to take the map drawing that Blue Eyes and Ash had presented and looked it over once more.

While studying the map Caesar had heard a distressed chirp to his side, causing him to look down to his right and see Cornelia and their youngest slumbering beside him. The one to have made the noise was none other than Cornelius, whom Caesar had reached out to rub a thumb over the young ape's brow to calm him in his sleep. Looking on over towards his left, Caesar found Blue Eyes resting soundlessly. He couldn't help but smile warmly at his oldest child, so proud of him of what an ape Blue Eyes had become. Caesar himself suspect that maybe Blue Eyes would soon seek new lodgings of his own, to share with Lake in the future. But for now, he savored having his family all in one place, close to him, safe and sound.

Turning his head to look at Cornelius and Cornelia once more, Caesar had reached out toward his mate as well but then stopped. Green light suddenly filtered through the cave and danced all around them. Noticing the anomaly, Caesar glanced in the direction of the waterfall and saw several dark shapes, veiled by the falling water, descending past the opening and quickly dropping out of sight.

Blinking in confusion, not entirely sure of what he had just seen, Caesar slowly rose from his bed, careful to not wake up Cornelia and his children. Approaching the wall of water, Caesar could see something quite peculiar. Reaching out through the frigid waters, Caesar grabbed at the thing and yanked it toward himself, away from the cascade. Looking at what was in his hand, Caesar then saw that it was a rope.

A red climbing rope.

Letting go of the thing, it suddenly dawned on Caesar of what the rope had meant. Making his way back towards the nest, Caesar found Blue Eyes looking at him curiously with a tired and confused face. Caesar instantly placed a finger to his mouth and neared his eldest.

"Stay here son. Protect your mother and brother!" Caesar signed urgently.

The sleepiness disappeared from Blue Eyes' face when he grasped that the situation was deadly serious. Without another word to his son, Caesar slowly made his way toward the entrance of their den before dropping down onto all fours and speeding down the stony hallway.

The further into their fortress Caesar made his way into, the harder his heart pounded within his chest. Making another quick run, Caesar ran a corner, coming upon a huge hulking figure. Startled, he stopped in his tracks, alarmed, only to hear a deep, familiar grunt. Luca was standing guard in the corridor, cradling a rifle in his large arms, who had pointed it at Caesar before recognition took over and he lowered the weapon. The silverback peered at Caesar in surprise, no doubt wondering what Caesar was doing, prowling the fortress at this late hour.

"Caesar?! What's wrong?" Luca asked curiously, noticing that his leader was out of breath.

"How many on patrol?" Caesar asked quickly.

"Five? Six?" Luca responded, unsure of why Caesar was asking such a thing.

"Get them!" Caesar gestured quickly.

Sensing the urgency from his leader, Luca nodded with a grim face and turned around.

"Luca!" Caesar spoke up, catching the gorilla. "Get Rocket too!"

With a nodding huff, Luca finally turned around and left, doing as he was asked.

…

Blue Eyes watched cautiously as a figure slowly entered into their dwelling. Behind him was his mother and little brother, both fully awake and grasping the situation they were all in. With spear in hand, Blue Eyes turned to look at his mother and brother and placed a finger to his lips. Both nodded and kept themselves behind him as he slowly turned back around to look at the human that had just invaded into their home.

As the human entered the room not noticing that Blue Eyes was up on the wooden nest above, he slowly raised his spear and took aim when the human walked right under them. Without a sound Blue Eyes then threw the spear down at the human, knocking them down before he jumped on them and quickly finished the job by repeated beating the body beneath him.

Blue Eyes stood, panting, over the body of his victim. Looking up, he saw his mother, a look of horror and relief upon her face as she saw the human body and then Blue Eyes himself, unharmed. Blue Eyes couldn't help but heaved but offered a small smirk up at his mother and little brother. His triumphant smile was short lived however, when he noticed another flicker of green light dance across the stones. His body freezing up, Blue Eyes slowly turned his head around.

…

Rocket had woken from his peaceful slumber and tiredly looked around the nest that he was in. He couldn't help but smile when his gaze fell upon his beloved Tinker, little Cinder and Ash right beside them. Reaching out, Rocket fondly placed his hand upon his children's brows and then took a hold of Tinker's hand. While watching his beloved family, the sudden urge to relieve himself overcame him and Rocket couldn't help but groan inwardly, cursing himself for drinking too much before laying to rest. Hoping to take care of this need quickly, Rocket silently got out of the nest and made his way down the rocky tunnel.

After relieving himself at the edge of the fortress, Rocket had slowly made his way back towards his sleeping quarters but was startled when saw a shadowy figure roaming the stone hallways. Luckily the figure was looking the opposite direction and Rocket quickly dove down toward the side of the stony hallway. Hugging the walls for cover, Rocket's face hardened as he peered deeper and noticed that the figure was swinging something to and fro with a green beam of light emitting form it.

Hearing a soft scuffle across from him, Rocket turned his head, worried that this human soldier was not alone. He was quickly relieved as another ape, Koba, came into view. The bonobo's dark form was slightly illuminated by what moonlight filtered into the tunnel. Rocket didn't know how or why Koba was up and about in the stone corridors, but he was glad that it was him instead of another human.

"Stay," Koba quickly gestured toward Rocket. "Humans here."

"How?" Rocket had then asked.

"Don't know! Killed one already by Grey and his family's den," Koba signed back.

Rocket nodded and gestured down the tunnel before he slunked into the shadows and quietly followed.

"Lima four to command. Colonel, did you…"

Before the man could finish what he had said, powerful hands, many times stronger than any humans. Grabbed the soldier from behind and smashed him into the granite walls. Flesh and bone crunched against the unyielding stones. Silenced muzzle flashes strobed the corridor as the human's finger involuntarily pulled the trigger in a terminal spasm. The rifle flared briefly before darkness reclaimed the passageway, even as the soldier landed in a heap upon the floor.

There was a huffing sound as Koba could be heard running up right behind Rocket and made a skidding stop next to the nearly hairless chimpanzee. Both were panting as they looked down at the dark form on the ground before flickering torchlight entered the hall. The red, orange and yellow glow of the lights soon fell upon both Rocket and Koba, both whom was standing over the body of the dead soldier. They looked up at Caesar and Luca as they arrived.

"Rocket? Koba? What happened?" Caesar asked quickly in a hushed tone.

"I heard him talking," Rocket signed and pointed to the body. "The Colonel is here!"

Caesar's eyes went wide this news. Taking the torch from Luca, he came forward to take a closer look at the dead human. As he neared though, he had found that Koba was already there, looking down at the body. Caesar hesitated briefly, shaking away his feelings for the moment and knelt down next to the scarred bonobo without a word. The light from his touch revealed the face of one of the soldiers that Caesar had spared earlier. He couldn't help but frowned at himself, realizing that his moment of mercy had only granted this soldier a few more hours of life-and possibly endangered them all.

Static crackled and Caesar turned his head to see that Koba was holding onto the dead man's headset, a voice coming from it.

"99, target acquired."

The headset buzzed again within Koba's hands, the voice much more clear now.

"99, target acquired. Repeat. King Kong is dead. Let's go. I can get out from here." The voice said.

As Caesar listened to the transmission, his face dropped and eyes grew wide with mounting horror, knowing that there could be only one "him" that the soldiers were after.

They came for him.

But… if they got him then that means…

"Caesar?" Koba breathed, confusion written on his face as he still held onto the device.

Panicking, Caesar dropped the torch before rounding himself and bolting right down the stone corridor, through the fortress. He practically bounced off of the walls, leaving Rocket, Luca, Koba and the others behind in his desperate haste to get back to his den even as he feared that he was already too late.

"Caesar!" Rocket called out to the other chimp's retreating form.

Seeing Caesar bolt off like that, confused Koba. What did the voice mean? That they had killed King Kong? Furrowing his brows more, he thought a little more on it. The humans had snuck into the fortress but did not shoot at any of the apes, as far as he is concern. But they were all going about, as if they were looking for something… searching for something, or rather… someone. At that, something clicked into place and Koba's eyes went wide.

They had come for Caesar!

But if they had gotten an ape, like the voice had said… then that means. It suddenly felt as if someone had poured ice cold water onto Koba's body.

"No…" Koba breathed, dropping the headset onto the ground.

As Rocket and Luca looked at each other in confusion, a clatter grabbed the attention of the two, causing them to turn around before another form had suddenly shot pass the both of them and the other apes. Looking to see who it was, Rocket and Luca saw Koba running on all fours, down the stone hallway as well, following after Caesar's trail.

Rocket and Luca couldn't help then but glance at each other curiously before they too followed after Caesar and Koba.

…

Sitting down and staring simply at the ground in front of him, Winter pondered over of what was discussed earlier at the ape council. He recalled on how he acted at the meeting. Was he so wrong in asking them to leave immediately? The sooner they had escaped from danger, the sooner they would be safe, right? But the more he thought on it, the more it made less sense for him to have been so rash at the situation, not taking into consideration of the other apes. Blue Eyes and the others had just gotten back and nearly all the apes had just suffered a great loss. This was not time for them to be hasty at all…

Heaving out a shuddering sigh, Winter then placed his head within his palms. He must have looked like such a fool in front of the other apes. He was so afraid, so fearful for his own well-being, that he had tossed out the idea that they all needed to rest and prepare first. It was just that two summers, two hole long summers of never ending fighting. The constant pains, hurt, grief and loss. They were all starting to become too much for him. And maybe… maybe Red was right.

They will all die.

Whimpering to himself, Winter feared what he would do if Glade was not here for him. But even after finding out that he was a coward, Glade stood by his side. The only one who know who he really was and yet still loved him unconditionally. Treating him as an equal and not judge him for what and who he is. He felt absolutely terrible for arguing with his beloved earlier and simply left him within their den. When he gets back after his patrol, he would make it up to Glade somehow, he was sure of that. Not just Glade but he would need to apologize for his unruly behavior to Caesar, Luca and the others as well.

While Winter had sat there with his thoughts a strange green light had bounced off of the walls of the rocky hallway and danced around him. Blinking curiously, Winter turned his head and was quite surprised to see a figure entering the other end of the tunnel, a gun pointed right at him. Winter's heart dropped when he saw that the figure was none other than a humans. A human soldier with a bright green light pointed right at him. Heart thundering within his chest, Winter's green eyes darted down to the gun that was laying right next to him. He was just about to move but then the human fired their weapon and it nicked Winter right on the shoulder, causing him to howl in pain and fall over to his side.

Gasping, Winter reached up to touch at his wound and hissed in pain before he rolled back around and watched with wide horrified green eyes as the human rushed at him, going to finish the job. So scared was Winter, he tried to back peddle away from the human, hooting out in fear. The human then fired their gun again, the bullet striking the stone right next to Winter's face. Howling in freight, Winter shut his eyes tightly as he braced himself for more pain. But all of a sudden, he instead heard something clattering upon the stone ground right next to him along with loud grunts.

Snapping his eyes open, Winter saw first that the firearm that the human was carrying was now laying a few feet away from him. Then the sounds of grunts had caused him to turn his head and he was quickly surprised to see two figures rolling on the ground, wrestling with each other. Winter saw a brief flash and saw Glade's angry face as the bonobo bared his fangs as he rolled on top of the human and began striking his would to be murderer over and over again.

The human had managed to kick Glade off of them before they reached into their vest and pulled something out. Glade noticed this and reached out, taking a hold of the human's arms and whatever they had pulled out. The human however, was able to free one of their arms due to Glade's uneven grip in one hand. Winter then saw something flash within the human's hand before they ran it towards Glade. There was an audible grunt from the bonobo before the ape let out a menacing growl and took a hold of the human's head and forcefully slammed it into the stone wall. With that done, the human's body fell back to the ground and began to convulse sporadically.

Hesitantly, Winter winced at his wounded shoulder but still got up slowly. Taking a few steps, Winter approached the bonobo and looked down at the human body. Huffing, Winter could see that the human's face has been crushed under extreme force and was still slightly jerking. Even under the red light of the torch lights, Winter himself could see that the human would not be getting up anytime soon. Turning away from the terrible sigh, Winter then slowly rounded his head to look at his mate. To his confusion though, Winter noticed that the bonobo had a pained look upon his face.

Glade met Winter's gaze before slowly looking down at himself. Following Glade's eyes, that was when Winter saw it. There was something strange sticking out of Glade's abdomen. The bonobo reached up and took a hold of the thing before he grunted and pulled the thing out of him. To Winter's growing horror, Glade had pulled out a rather long looking blade that was coated in dark red liquid. Dropping the blade onto the stony ground with a loud clatter, Glade glanced up at Winter with wide green eyes before his knees buckled underneath him.

"Glade!? Glade!?" Winter cried aloud as he reached out to hold the bonobo as the older ape fell, ignoring the stinging sensation in his wounded shoulder.

Quickly sitting down, Winter cradled Glade close to him as he looked up and down at his beloved within his arms. The bonobo's body was spasming within his hold and grunting in pain with eyes shut tight. Looking around, Winter had let out hoots, calling for aid of any kind as warm liquid was now spreading across is body as well.

This was not happening. This was not happening.

Winter had let out another series of alarming hoots that echoed throughout the hallway as tears finally fell from his eyes. Suddenly a shaky wet hand placed itself upon Winter's cheek, causing him to freeze and quickly glance back down at the ape within his arms. There in the red light, Winter could see Glade's pained face. However, the bonobo was smiling up at him.

"No. No. Glade," Winter whimpered as he met his beloved's eyes. "No, Glade. No…"

Glade then reached up with a hand and took a hold of Winter's head, bringing it down so that their foreheads tenderly touched one anothers.

"I… love… you. Winter" Glade breathed out every strained breath. "I always love you," he signed as he pulled his head back.

Shocked at what he was hearing Winter was shaking his head side to side again, whipping droplets of his own tears around him while doing so.

"Love Glade. Too," Winter wept. "Always."

Hearing that from Winter, a serene smile appeared on Glade's lips once more as he lovingly met his beloved's gaze.

"Always," Glade breathed.

Winter gently placed Glade's hand upon his cheek and leaned into it, like every single night that they had been together and stared deeply into his beloved's green forest colored eyes. Slowly, Winter listened to his beloved's breathing as it started to slow down. Eventually the bonobo's breathing had stopped altogether, body going slack within his hold and the light within Glade's eyes disappearing as it broke their gaze.

With a shuddering breath, Winter had let Glade's hand fall from his cheek and reached on over to slowly close the other ape's eyelids. With trembling hands, Winter then hugged Glade close to his own body and gently rocked back and forth on his spot, on the grounds of the stony hallway.

…

After what felt like ages of running, Caesar finally burst into his dwelling just in time to see a figure fishing out the rope from the waterfall and clip it to an anchor on their belt. The figure casually looked back around as he had heard him. Then, for the first time, Caesar had finally laid eyes upon the human's leader.

The Colonel.

The man's eyes widened at the sight of Caesar, and his gaze darted away from Caesar to something on the floor. Caesar tracked the man's gaze, to see what he was looking at to only discover-

There in the corner by their nest, Blue Eyes was sprawled lifelessly on the ground, eyes closed and a wound upon the ape's head, not too far from the body of a dead human soldier. Cornelia's own body lay beside him, both laying on top of a pool of crimson red.

Time froze for a moment as Caesar's entire world came crashing down on top of him. His breath left him hollow and his body reeled unsteadily, every single muscle going weak, until he lifted his eyes to see the Colonel still standing there.

His family's murderer.

Red hot fury gripped Caesar, baring his fangs at the man, he gritted his teeth tightly and bared his fangs at the human man who had just killed his son and wife. The Colonel hastily swung his rifle in Caesar's direction and began firing. The ape leader quickly dove for cover behind the nearest large rocks as bullets zoomed past him and bounced off of the stones. The rifle's muzzle flared brightly and the bullets chipped away at the stones of Caesar's hiding place, who feared that it wouldn't be long before his shelter gave out.

Suddenly another ape came into view of Caesar's peripheral and he could see that it was none other than Koba. The scarred bonobo, having already heard the gunfire as he came running in, aimed with something in his hand and threw it at the Colonel. The man briefly had time to see what was thrown at him, but he had ducked his head to avoid it being struck by the projectile. He then focused his fire upon the new ape and pulled the trigger to his rifle. Already knowing that he would be targeted, Koba ducked back into the hallway of the stone corridors for cover.

While the Colonel was shooting at the two threats before him, the sounds of furious ape roars rushing toward the dwelling convinced him that a strategic retreat was in order. He then jumped off of the ledge and began firing into the stone hallway as the apes approached, hoping to take as many out as he could while he was pulled away toward safety.

His eyes upon the bodies of his family once more, Caesar's anger grew once more and he quickly sprang from his cover to charge after the Colonel, roaring all the while.

"Caesar!" Koba called out, but his voice was ignored as the chimp leader barreled on pass him and flung himself into the falls after the Colonel.

Intent on revenge, Caesar barely noticed the cold water striking his body as he plunged through the falls., hundreds of feet above the churning river far below. His flailing hands grabbed onto the rope, causing it to swing wildly beneath his weight. Holding onto the cable, Caesar glared up at the Colonel, who was already high above as he ascended toward the top of the falls.

The sudden jerk of the rope alerted the Colonel, who looked down to see Caesar furiously climbing up towards him. The man tried to shoot at Caesar but due to the violent jerking of the rope and cold wetness from water, he had only got a couple of shots off but they had missed. Too angry at the deaths of his wife and first born, Caesar reeled back and punched at the man, successfully knocking the rifle out of the Colonel's hands but at the cost of him sliding a few feet more down the robe that they both hanged on.

Seeming unfazed by Caesar's determination and anger to get to him, the Colonel drew out a bladed knife from one of the pockets in front of his vest. Caesar had already hastened himself to climb back up the rope towards the man who had killed his family, almost reaching him. As Caesar watched on though, with one fell swoop with the blade in the Colonies hand, he had severed the line between him and and the ape king. With that, Caesar then plummeted towards the raging waters far below.

Caesar had hit the water hard, the impact knocking the breath from him, while he sank below the rushing foams. The sudden immersion came as a jolt to his senses and Caesar kicked and splashed frantically through the dark waters toward the surface. Gasping for breath as he breached the water's surface, Caesar reached out to grab at anything that would halt him from being carried away from the waters. His hands landed smack upon a mossy rock and he clung onto it for dear life. Once he had a good grip on his anchor, Caesar quickly glared back upwards towards the fall, only to see the Colonel disappearing over the top of the cliff, hundreds of feet beyond his reach.

... I'm so sorry.