Author's note:

This one might need a bit of info. As of now, I haven't read the books, though I do know that there is a scene in one of them around this time where they visit San Bruno - while I think it's a profound and important thing to show, it didn't make any sense to me (for the reasons touched upon in this chapter), so I did something slightly different.

Now, I should point out that I have never been to Sacramento Zoo and so, I only have reference pictures online of what the zoo and the enclosure described actually looks like (not including the stables where they keep their animals, which I had to come up with myself). I have no doubt that the caretakers at the zoo actually treat their animals very well and want the best for them, so this is in no way supposed to be seen as a critique of the facility itself - only a take on how it must look from an evolved ape's POV years later.
I tried to be as true to the geographical layout and locations as possible by using online maps and reference pictures, so I hope it came out alright.

Seeing as this is mainly Lydia's story, I was originally not going to write about Blue Eyes, Rocket and Orion's journey, but realised some time ago that there were some things they would face that I wanted to include - so, expect there to be a few chapters containing their trials and tribulations as well.


Orion

Orion translated quickly as Rocket signed to the rest of their small group, his expression severe in the orange light of their campfire as he described the horrid place he had once been held captive.

Blue Eyes had wanted to see it with his own eyes, since they were on this long journey now anyway, and the only time he had truly been outside the forest had been when Koba had taken over the city. Orion had to admit he had been curious too.

But Rocket had dismissed the idea, reasoning that they would have to go through the now soldier-infested city of San Francisco if they wanted to pass by the San Bruno Primate Shelter south of the city, which would have put them in the very middle of enemy territory. Besides, the prison, as Rocket referred to it as, was in the opposite direction of where they had planned to go – which was north, towards the city of Sacramento.

Once they reached the it, which would only be a few days at most from now, the apes would bid the human trio goodbye, leaving them to find the Sacramento Colony on their own.

So, they wouldn't be passing the Ape Prison where Caesar's rebellion had begun but would have to content with Rocket's vivid descriptions of what it had been like there.

And even if Orion was indeed curious to actually see the place with his own eyes, there was a part of him that was glad they hadn't gone.

Father had spoken once or twice about the time he was imprisoned in a similar place together with Orion's birthmother and several other apes, far from Caesar's ape colony. It seemed to be a memory he was reluctant to revisit and listening to Rocket's story of the prison he had been in with Caesar and many of the other apes, Orion could understand why.

It sounded truly horrific.

It wasn't that he hadn't heard talk of the place in the past if truth be told. It was just that he had never heard it described in such detail as Rocket did now.

The younger ape found it quite hard to translate for the human trio, who were listening intently as well, while Orion himself felt shaken by the cruelty being recounted by the balding chimp in front of him.

"We were kept. In separate cages… Small ones. With hard stone floors... Only a bit of hay. To sleep on for warmth." Orion spoke in time with Rocket's signing, the shadows his hands cast across his chest and face dancing eerily in the light of the crackling fire.

"The walls were grey. The floors were grey. The metal cages were grey… All grey. All cold." He spoke carefully while Blue Eyes and the three humans just sat there around the fire with them, their gazes shifting between the young chimp and Caesar's balding second-in-command. "We were only let out. Into a big space with one tree. For a short time, each day… and fed through holes. In our cages… Did not even know. What it was made of… We just ate. What we were given."

"That's… awful." Malcolm spoke, stunned, once Rocket seemed to take a break, sighing heavily as he stared into the flames in front of him.

He nodded gravely, his heavy brow lowered and casting shadows across his eyes as he remembered his horrible past.

"But it was supposed to be a shelter – didn't anyone take care of you there?" Alex spoke with a hint of incredulousness to his voice. Orion had never really seen his young human friend angry, but right now, the frown on his lips and his creased brows looked to be the humble beginnings of an angry expression on the young man's face.

Not directed at the apes, of course, Orion, Rocket and Blue Eyes all knew that. No, it was directed at the humans who kept the apes in this prison.

Rocket shrugged at his question.

"Only when old friends of apes. Came to visit… If they had any… Then, they would pretend." Orion continued to translate as the elder chimp signed his reply. "They did not care. Some only did as they were told… And some did worse than that."

Alex's frown deepened at that – as did his father's and step-mother's, seemingly having a pretty good idea of what could be worse than the neglect already described.

"One of the humans. A young male. Would poke anyone who. Did not obey immediately. Or even just showed their fangs. With a… a stick making… Sparks…?" Orion spoke, keeping an eye on Rocket's hands to make sure he got it all right.

He hesitated in his translation and wrinkled his nose at the idea – a stick making sparks? Really?

Blue Eyes seemed just as confused by the term, his nose scrunching up and his lips set into a soft frown as he tried to comprehend what exactly his honorary uncle meant.

Evidently, the humans had a better shot at figuring this one out and seemed to understand a lot sooner than either of the young chimps did.

"A stick making… Wait, you're not telling me they used a stun baton on you guys, did they?!" Ellie exclaimed, one of her delicate hands flying up to cover her mouth in horror at the prospect.

Rocket nodded sombrely.

"That's awful! And very much against the law, I might add!" Ellie continued at the balding ape's confirmation to her question.

"What is it?" Orion was quick to ask, not even remotely aware that his head had tilted in the same way that Mother's normally would.

Malcolm was quick to explain, and Orion could sense the repressed revulsion in his voice as he went about describing the object used to torture Rocket and the other apes from the first generation.

"It's a device that you poke… animals with – sorry – and it gives an electric shock. It was used to make them behave – a punishment of sorts, for bad behaviour… It hurts really badly and the higher the voltage, the more pain it causes."

Blue Eyes, who had been observing Rocket's signed tale intently, hooted uncomfortably at the prospect though he, much like Orion, still had little concept of what an electric shock actually was.

Rocket nodded at Malcolm's words, not taking any offence in the use of the term 'animals'. Orion understood, too. It was how humans used to see apes, back when they were not as smart as they are now. Back when they did not have a voice. He also knew that this wasn't how Malcolm, Ellie and Alex saw them now, as they sat here together, as equals, around the small campfire.

"He used this object on Father too? And… Mother?" Blue Eyes signed at Rocket and Orion chose not to translate that. It seemed too private and he eyed the humans with an apologetic look.

They seemed to understand well enough.

"Yes. On your father, he did. Your mother did not make much trouble back then, though. Avoided the worst of it. I think she only experienced it once or twice while we were there." Rocket explained calmly, until a small smirk appeared on his lips as he continued. "But you know how your father is. Too smart for his own good back then. Got into lots of trouble."

It seemed to lighten the mood a little for Blue Eyes, who huffed a small laughter at the description of his father, and Orion was glad that Rocket had the sense to see that the Ape Prince had needed some light-hearted words, though it was still a serious matter.

It was said in a joking manner, but it also served as a reminder of Caesar's tenacity, perhaps also to make Blue Eyes realise what his father had been up against when he decided to set the fight for the apes' freedom in motion.

Caesar hadn't backed down. Not even in the face of captivity, torture and loneliness. No, he had managed to rise above and take matters into his own hands when he saw how other apes suffered and had given them the opportunity to fight back as well.

Orion respected the Ape King deeply for that.

A grunt from beside him drew Orion's attention, and he turned his head from the human trio to find Rocket looking expectantly at him. He then lifted his hands in preparation for signing and Orion realised that he was supposed to resume his role as translator once more.

He did so without further ado, only slightly embarrassed at having been caught so wrapped up in his own thoughts as he cleared his throat to start speaking again.

"I was the Lead Ape. For years before Caesar came." He spoke as oldest chimp went on, now confident that Orion would speak the words he still struggled so much with. "He was a strange ape. To begin with. Clearly different, I remember. We did not get on well at all. In the beginning either. He did not understand the rules. Of the apes."

"I suppose it's because of his upbringing." Ellie spoke quietly as Orion took a short break from speaking. "Could be he never was with other apes."

Rocket nodded once more, sucking in his lips as he thought about what to say in reply. It had been preciously few who had known about Caesar's human upbringing – Orion and even Blue Eyes only got to know about it after the incident with Koba and even now, it still wasn't widely known that Caesar had been brought up by humans. And it certainly wasn't something openly discussed by those who had been freed from Koba's prison and brought to the Ape King's childhood home either.

"I'm surprised that you guys didn't like each other." Malcolm commented with a hint of confusion in his voice. "You seem to be really good friends nowadays."

For the briefest moment, Rocket looked sheepish as he absent-mindedly scratched his mostly-hairless arm before he began signing again and Orion spoke along the words shown.

"He was new. A new male. Big too. I saw him. As challenger." He explained to the humans, who nodded along in understanding.

Now, this part of the story both Orion and Blue Eyes knew well enough. It was common knowledge that Rocket had been the leader in the Ape Prison before Caesar came, and that the two had fought several times – Caesar eventually winning and taking over leadership of the apes. All the apes who had been kept in that place knew that well and retold the events with much vigour to the youngsters in the colony. Rocket had been a tough leader and, in many apes' opinion, quite a bully back in those days, though everyone knew it was due to how apes were then.

It had been before they got smart and conditions had been horrific enough as it was. Rocket had had to act tough to keep his position as leader and nowadays, nobody blamed him for it. It was a different time, a different place and under different rules.

Even Rocket could crack a joke or two about how Caesar had managed to outsmart him back then, and the two would often laugh together as the story was shared among their people, neither carrying any sort of grudge towards the other.

"Seems like you two overcame your differences in the end, huh?" Malcolm spoke with a slight smile before a sigh left him. "We humans really could learn something from you guys. If only we had realised that from the beginning…"

Orion couldn't help but smile at Rocket's answer to Malcolm's words just now. Many were under the impression that the balding chimp, with all his brawn, didn't possess an inkling of wisdom.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

"It is not too late to learn… You can teach that. To your new people – wherever you find them… You can look to the past. But you must always return your eyes. To the road in front of you." Orion spoke the older chimpanzee's signed words before turning to the human male just in time to see a gentle look of gratitude appearing on his face.

"Cheers to that, guys." Malcolm spoke as he raised his dark green, plastic water bottle in salute to the eldest of the chimps.

It wasn't long after that Orion signed to Rocket that he could use a break from speaking. It was true that the young ape had always done it more than others in the colony, and especially so after he and Alex became friends and it had become necessary to communicate with the human teen, but even Orion's vocal chords needed a break from time to time. Because of this, Rocket decided to save the well-known tale of Caesar's rebellion itself for another night – not that the humans didn't already know that particular story to some degree, at least from their own perspective, but that was still quite different from how the apes had experienced it.

For now, however, it was decided among the members of the group that it was time for some much-needed sleep, and Orion happily unfolded the old bear pelt Mother had given him to keep warm. It was technically a cloak – the one made of the bear they had killed on their way to Caesar's colony. Orion couldn't remember the incident itself, but the item was precious to him all the same for what it represented. The time their strange family had first had to work together to save one another.

Mother often used it in the winter for extra warmth, though by now, her scent had almost completely faded from the pelt. Still, Orion inhaled deeply as he snuggled into it. Lying down between Alex and Blue Eyes, he bid his traveling companions goodnight before he turned his verdant gaze towards the dark, clear sky above them.

The half-moon shone brightly down on the young ape male and his group, and millions of stars twinkled merrily all around it, reflecting in Orion's eyes as he stared up at them.

It was a beautiful night, really, and the adolescent ape found himself wondering if Ivy was looking up at the same stars just then. Mother probably was, he figured, her nightly habits well-known to him by now. It brought him a sense of comfort to know that, in some twisted way. He didn't like how Mother was sometimes unable to sleep at night, but he did like the idea that, in this moment, their eyes were tracing the same stars. It made the fact that they were miles apart unimportant to Orion, as long as he could share a moment with her like this.

I am very fortunate… Orion's mind ventured just then, thinking of what Rocket had told them that night. To have lived my whole life watching the stars.

The apes in San Bruno hadn't been able to do that. Father, who had lived his entire life in captivity, hadn't been able to do that. Heck, even Caesar hadn't been able to do that, despite having lived with a loving human family. He knew this because Mother had deigned to explain it after Koba's betrayal, seemingly having been told by Caesar himself.

Humans did not understand us, Orion mused as he quietly tapped his fingers against his stomach, his hands laying folded on top of it. They thought we are animals to be kept as pets, like Storm and Blaze… Or to be beaten and abused like slaves, kept inside, never to see the sky above us…

At that, his mind turned to the young human male Rocket had described, who had poked the apes with that… Stun baton, as Malcolm had called it. This human had seemingly done so simply because he could, taking enjoyment in the apes' suffering and thinking himself superior because he had been the one outside the cage.

Orion's chest tightened just thinking about it, and he turned his verdant stare away from the stars then, to look at the human teen already fast asleep to his left. Alex was facing towards Orion, sleeping on his side with his arms wrapped tightly around himself inside his sleeping bag. It wasn't cold tonight, so the trio had forgone setting up their tent.

But they are not all like the humans Rocket knew, the young ape reminded himself as he looked at his friend, Alex is not like that. Malcolm and Ellie are not like that… Mother is not like that.

No, far from it. There were humans who were good, and Orion was glad that he got to know so many of them compared to other apes.

He tapped his fingers against his stomach once again as a soft smile reached his lips and he turned his gaze back towards the stars, letting their gentle light and beautiful twinkling finally lull him to sleep.


It was three days later that their small group reached the city of Sacramento, the rusty, crooked sign above the highway a testament to that fact. The tarmac was littered with cracks from which weeds had fought their way through, dotting the grey road with tall, green grass that swayed in the gentle breeze. Orion's grey mare was quick to bend her head down to munch happily on the sprouting vegetation whenever they passed a patch, and the young ape male patted her neck affectionately. She was a good and sturdy horse, mild-tempered, yet fearless – and very sure-footed in even the most difficult terrain. He figured this was a treat she deserved.

"I wonder if anyone's still here…" Alex spoke quietly, and Orion turned his head to see that his friend was staring towards the city, holding onto the reins of his own steed – a dark brown mare with a streak of white on her forehead, leading down to a pink snout – as she trotted along beside Orion's own horse.

"Only one way to find out…" Malcolm's voice sounded from the front of their group, where he rode beside Rocket and Blue Eyes.

It was a strange sound to Orion, hearing the horses' hooves clicking hollowly against the tarmac as they made their way along the large road. It was so unlike the gentle thumping they'd make against the forest floor or even the earth at the side of the road and yet, the beat was regular and strangely meditative, lulling Orion's mind into a peaceful state as he followed his horse's rhythmic movements.

About an hour later, just as they made their way up the large highway beside the river, Blue Eyes gibbered and pointed towards a sign above the road leading off the highway.

"Sacramento Zoo?" Alex read out loud with a confused frown.

"Is that not a place where they also kept apes, Rocket?" Orion saw the Ape Prince ask as he, Alex and Ellie rode up beside the other half of their group.

Orion quickly caught on to what this was about as Rocket nodded his head, staring up at the sign in slight apprehension. The youngest ape was quick to translate to the humans what the exchange was about before Blue Eyes went on, eyeing the balding ape with sky-coloured orbs full of hesitation.

"Do you think we could go look?" The Ape Prince asked almost timidly, seemingly not wanting to offend his honorary uncle with his request.

Rocket, however, only looked at Blue Eyes from the corner of his eye before a slight smirk found its way to his lips.

"You are the leader in this, Blue Eyes. I am only here to give advice." He answered, raising a brow at the young prince.

Blue Eyes seemed taken slightly aback by this response, and Orion fought to keep back a snigger at that. Meanwhile, the humans looked utterly confused, though it seemed that Alex had at least an idea of what the exchange was about.

"But Rocket, you are still my elder! Father's second!" The prince protested as they made a stop where the roads split in two, the decision still not having been made by the time they reached that point.

"And you are his son. Caesar's heir. You must learn to lead, Blue Eyes." Rocket signed seriously. "If you decide we go there, we go. But the choice remains yours."

Orion could see that this did not sit well with his childhood friend, the concept of ordering others around and making decisions for them quite foreign to him even now. Especially when it came to someone he had always seen as an authority.

In the end, however, the Ape Prince nodded and pressed his heels into his horse's ribs, pulling the reins towards the exit road as everyone else followed him. Orion explained the meaning behind the exchange as they made their way down the road towards the zoo, and the humans nodded in understanding.

Both Blue Eyes and Orion had wanted to see San Bruno Primate Sanctuary, though it hadn't been possible to go there because of the soldiers blocking their way. This, however, was bound to be a similar experience, as the young apes had also been told about the concept of zoos. A place where apes were not only held captive, but where humans had actually come to ogle at them while inside the prison.

It didn't take long for them to reach the zoo and, going around the south-eastern corner and up the road leading north, the group came upon the entrance, which stood wide open to the point that they could all get through while still mounted.

What met them once they rode into the abandoned zoo was overgrown terrain as well as buildings and enclosures in various states of disrepair. Many fences were bent and broken, and Orion could faintly spy the bones of different animals strewn across the ground. They had probably been unable to fight their way out of their cages, too weak from starvation once the humans feeding them had died off, Orion guessed.

"I think what you're looking for is over there…" Malcolm suddenly spoke after several minutes of them slowly riding around the run-down zoo, looking for enclosures that seemed similar to what Rocket had described from San Bruno.

The balding chimp took one look at the building Malcolm was pointing at and nodded curtly, his face contorting into an expression of utter distaste at the sight.

A winding path of intricate stone tiles, now overgrown with moss and weeds, led to the building Malcolm had singled out and Orion tilted his head in curiosity at the sight that met him.

It was an elongated enclosure with a dome-like structure sticking up in the middle, the metal frame encased in netting, which was mostly covered in wildly growing vegetation by now. On the ground level all around the structure was a simple roof held up by wooden beams, and on the inside were huge panels where a few panes of dirty, spotted glass still stood strong in their frames. Most of the panes had been shattered, however, which left gaping holes right into what Orion guessed must have been the large cage where they had kept the apes on display.

"I will stay here." Rocket signed resolutely once it was pointed out to him, keeping well away from the enclosure. "I have seen enough cages from the inside in my life."

Nobody questioned the elder ape after that statement, and Orion only shared a brief look with Blue Eyes before they both nodded and signed for Rocket to keep the horses safe while they dismounted to go and explore further. The humans decided to go with them and Rocket only seemed all too happy to stay behind and watch over their mounts while the rest of the group took a closer look at the large cage.

Orion and Blue Eyes both stepped cautiously into the large enclosure through one of the empty frames surrounding the exhibit, followed closely by the human trio as their eyes darted around the space they now found themselves in. Though largely overgrown with wild vegetation by now, Orion could easily point out the dead trees and metal beams fitted with fake branches to imitate a natural habitat, as well as the different old and dirty, but still very brightly coloured items that the apes who had once lived here had had to entertain themselves with. All around above the group were also thick ropes in various states of decay, some seemingly having rotted to the point of snapping a long time ago from being exposed to the wind and weather slipping through the netting.

Walking further into the space, Orion noticed how the back of the enclosure's walls, opposite the glass panels, were made to look like a rockface. Both he and Blue Eyes soon realised it was fake, however, when they traced their rough palms tentatively against the surface and were met with the feeling of smoothened concrete scraping harshly against the pads of their fingers.

At least it is not all grey and sharp, Orion thought, thinking about how Rocket had described his own prison. Here, they had painted the concrete and shaped it to look like nature, creases and dents having been added to the surface to make it look like a light brown, mossy rockface.

An illusion, the young ape observed. An attempt to recreate nature. To make apes feel at home…

It was an attempt that hardly had been made at all at San Bruno's according to Rocket and while it told Orion that these humans had at least tried to make it a home for the apes, he still couldn't imagine living out his entire life in a place like this. Much less so if he had just been let out here during daylight hours, only to be tucked away into a much smaller cage for the night.

"I think I found the way to the back!" Ellie suddenly called from outside the enclosure, having left the area to go around the outside of the building.

Blue Eyes, who had gone on to study a large cluster of ropes arranged into the pattern of a spider's web, cast a brief look towards Orion before they both went into the direction of Ellie's voice, Malcolm and Alex following suit only seconds later.

They found the human woman standing in the empty doorframe leading into the area behind the enclosure, the door itself seemingly having been torn off its hinges ages ago. It was nowhere to be found, but Orion could tell from the damage done to the frame itself that someone had forcibly opened it… From the inside.

"Are you sure?" She asked Blue Eyes once he came forth to investigate, looking at the Ape Prince with slight concern in her eyes.

His friend nodded with little hesitation, and when Ellie's gaze went to Orion next, the younger chimp did much the same. He knew it would be uncomfortable, and he would have been lying if he had claimed that the way his throat seemed to close up had nothing to do with the prospect of seeing the remnants of the apes' time as slaves.

But he had to. He knew that in his heart.

He had to see this. Had to know.

Ellie stepped aside and they all went into the room together, Orion had to admit it was only just shy of being as depressing as he had imagined it.

True, daylight filtered through several moss-covered windows in the ceiling above, casting various hues of green and gold across the floor as they walked along the cages, and the walls and floor all consisted of bricks and tiles painted in a pale green colour – not the usual, depressing grey concrete that humans seemed so fond of.

The young ape imagined that it would have looked quite bland and sterile when the humans had still been alive to tend to it, even with the added, subtle colour, but now, mouldy spots and dirt from the outside disrupted that orderly image, trading it for one of decay and neglect.

And yet through all the layers of dirt, the broken cage doors and cracked, flaking paint on the brick walls, Orion could easily tell that this… this was a prison.

The individual cages here were slightly bigger than what Rocket had described from San Bruno a few nights prior and all stood gapingly empty with their gates wide open. It was clear the occupants had left of their own accord a long, long time ago, many of the locks and hinges showing clear signs of having been pried open by force. Most of them were red and brown with rust by now, so much so that those closest to the door and windows looked about ready to fall apart if one as much as touched them.

Those better sheltered from the elements still retained some of their original, slate grey colour, and as Orion's eyes swept across the room, he tried to imagine how it must have been when they all had looked like this, coupled with the pale green walls and smooth and unforgiving tile floor.

Though it was not exactly the same image that sprang into mind as when Rocket had told of his own prison, the thought alone still had Orion frown deeply in distaste.

This was no way to live, even if it seemed like the humans here might have cared more for the apes' welfare than they had at San Bruno's…

Malcolm seemed to agree wholeheartedly.

"Tell you what, I wouldn't want to be stuck in here all my life…"

"Yeah…" Alex agreed quietly as he tampered with a mechanism that opened the metal gate leading into the big enclosure on the other side of the wall.

The old metal screeched and whined with the action, and the gate itself got stuck once it was halfway up, refusing to budge even when Alex jerked on the chain experimentally. He didn't tamper with it for long, however, choosing instead to catch up with his father as the man moved around the room.

Orion didn't blame him for his skittishness and wish to stay close to his parent. It was quite creepy in here.

Tearing his eyes away from the humans, Orion turned to find Blue Eyes walking up to each and every one of the cages, his hand gently tracing the mesh within the sturdy metal framework almost as if he was afraid to touch it.

He had been extremely quiet since they had found the building, his expression a mixture between quiet astonishment and realisation.

Orion went over to his childhood friend and laid a heavy hand onto his shoulder, squeezing gently.

"I was in a cage. Like this too, once." He spoke softly, drawing the attention of both the Ape Prince and the humans around them.

Blue Eyes turned to him with a look of deep sympathy in his sky-coloured orbs as he reached up and laid his own hand over Orion's. Both the Ape Prince and the human trio knew the story of how Mother had found and freed him and Father, not being able to save the others, so they knew he must have been kept in a cage like these – it was just quite something else to be confronted with it like this, even for Orion himself.

"But I am lucky." He went on, turning his gaze back towards the dented gate in front of them as he let go of Blue Eyes' shoulder. "Because I do not remember. Unlike Rocket and Maurice and Caesar… and Father… But like them. I do not blame all humans. And I never wished the same. For them…"

The youngest chimp reached up to lay his palm flatly against the meshing of the cage, brushing off the outer layer of rust as he spoke his next words.

"We must not forget. These cages… Never… But we should also remember that. They belong in the past."

Blue Eyes nodded solemnly at that, seemingly deeply affected both by what he had seen here, as well as Orion's sincere words. Then, he cracked a small smile.

"Now. You sound. Like. Maurice." The Ape Prince rasped hoarsely, not nearly as used to speaking as Orion.

It served to relieve some of the tension that had built among the occupants of the room, and each one dared a small smile at the comparison, Alex even going as far as releasing a subtle snigger. They all knew the wise, old ape well by now, after all, and Orion did have to admit that his words could just as well have been uttered by the orangutan back home.

He didn't mind it all too much, however. It was no shame being like Maurice. He was not Caesar's advisor for nothing, after all. The young chimp huffed out a soft laugh at his older friend's words, taking his hand off the rusty cage.

"I think that. I have seen enough… And you?" He offered while looking expectantly at his childhood friend.

It was Blue Eyes who had decided they go there – it was only appropriate that he would decide when they would leave too.

The Ape Prince did a deep inhale of air at that, followed by a heavy sigh as he closed his eyes to think on the matter for a moment. Then, his posture seemed to straighten, and he opened his eyes to take one last look around the room before turning back to Orion and nodding resolutely.

It was time they got back to the task at hand. They had found what they came to see.

"Yes. It is. Enough." He spoke just as hoarsely as before.

Orion wore a gentle smile as he nodded back at his friend and leader.

"Let us go find Rocket, then." He answered and together, the group made their way out into the open once again, putting what they had seen here behind them.

In the past, but not forgotten.