Rocket
Most of the horses were dead, Rocket could quickly conclude as he surveyed the aftermath of the avalanche. He knew the soldiers had kept some of the colony's horses for themselves, while others they had killed for the meat, since they had been lacking better alternatives. Some of the horses they had kept alive had panicked and managed to flee during the attack from the Northern Army, though in total, most hadn't made it either way, due to the avalanche.
The few that had survived were quickly rounded up by the apes' scouting parties, who didn't have too much difficulties with doing so due to the fact that the horses were used to the apes, as well as the food and shelter they provided.
Put together with the five horses Caesar's small group had brought with them, the total number of horses landed at 14 – significantly fewer than the 73 they had set out with, but it would have to do.
However, it wasn't just the horses the apes needed to gather.
Earlier that morning, once everyone had had the chance to calm down and count the losses among friends and family, it had been agreed that it would be wisest to spend the day searching through the devastated area, scavenging for useful materials not buried too deeply in the snow. There had been so many soldiers that Rocket figured they were bound to find at least something and given the apes' pressing situation, free at last but lacking even the most basic of items to help them survive, everyone on the Royal Ape Council had agreed that it was worth a shot.
Rocket would personally have liked Lydia to lead such an expedition, given her better grasp of what might or might not be of use to the apes among all the items they would come across. However, it was clear that Lydia, while sporting no open wound nor broken bones, was in no condition to participate in the task, much less lead it. Her violent tumble in the snow coupled with the physically straining work and starvation she had endured together with the apes had left her severely fatigued – not to mention battered and bruised.
That was probably also the reason why she had agreed so readily to stay put and rest with the colony when Caesar had suggested it – and why Caesar had made sure to keep as many trusted apes around her as possible for the time being.
Not that Rocket thought it was necessary – most apes seemed fine with this new development between the Ape King and Lydia, and even those who weren't hadn't been too vocal about it. At least not yet.
Though, after everything that had happened, Rocket couldn't blame Caesar for wanting to take extra precautions, just in case.
"Friend! Friend!" Came an excited shout from behind just then, and Rocket immediately turned towards the sound, startled at first by it, but recognising the voice even before he came face-to-face with its owner.
It was Bad Ape, hopping through the snow towards Rocket with much difficulty, one leg at a time as he waved enthusiastically at the balding ape.
He was still wearing his blue vest and strange hat, and coupled with the weird, hopping gait he had adopted, it all made for an extremely comical sight. It would have made Rocket bark out a hearty laugh, had he not already been so confused at the strange ape's presence here in the first place.
It took several long seconds for Bad Ape to cross the last couple of yards up to Rocket, and when he did, he was wheezing and leaning over to rest his hands on his knees, fighting to catch his breath.
"I come! I help!" He finally managed to utter, and Rocket felt his features settle into a puzzled expression quite involuntarily. He was going to help? How? With what exactly?
Bad Ape must have seen the confusion on Rocket's face, because as soon as it appeared, he gave his signature hoot and hurried to explain.
"Friend send. Human friend. Lydia." He announced with a smile that seemed both proud and disbelieving all at once. Like he couldn't quite believe that he had managed to make friends with a human. "Say I help. Find useful human things."
Rocket nodded with a serious expression, understanding dawning on him as he did his best to repress a tired sigh.
It would seem it was his turn to look after the strange ape now.
It wasn't as if he didn't like Bad Ape or anything – in fact, Rocket thought he was very kind and quite entertaining to boot. He was certainly an interesting acquaintance, if a bit cowardly and… well, maybe a bit…
Rocket searched for a word that would fit, unintentionally furrowing his heavy brow as he turned away from the ape in question to stare out across the pale landscape once more.
Scatter-brained? Dense? Simple? Rocket honestly didn't know what to call it without inadvertently insulting the ape, which wasn't his intention at all. Bad Ape had helped them up until now, after all. Had shown them the way to the soldiers' base and stayed with them to help with the escape when he could just as easily have abandoned them there and gone back to his hermit life in the mountains. Where he was safe from all this madness.
Rocket scoured the area as he continued his train of thought, looking over the apes assigned to him to complete this task as they searched the snow for anything useful to the colony.
Even if he had helped them, it didn't change the fact that Bad Ape was… Odd. And required a whole lot of patience, to say the least. On more than one occasion, Rocket had only been able to shake his head in frustration whenever Bad Ape had been particularly slow on the uptake.
And from what he had heard in passing, even Maurice had lost his patience in dealing with Bad Ape – now that took a whole different level of dopiness!
He could only assume Lydia had sent Bad Ape out here to make him feel useful in some small manner, because Rocket couldn't for his life imagine how the strange ape might be of help with a task like this one. He could already picture the wide eyes and fearful utterings of 'no, no, no, no, no!' from Bad Ape at the mere sight of a dead human.
He resisted the urge to shake his head in exasperation at the mere thought.
Just then, a hoot from one of the ape scouts caught Rocket's attention, and he trudged over with heavy footsteps through the snow, Bad Ape hot at his heels and gibbering all the while.
He knew what sight would greet them before he even reached the area where one of his scouts sat crouching on the ground. Had seen it several times already, even if it was just past noon now.
A dead human. A soldier – clad in white, as most of them were.
The Northern Army had greatly outnumbered the Colonel's and besides, most of the latter had already been dead by the time the avalanche had hit. Out of the 40 or so soldiers the scouting apes had found at this point, only two had been wearing green.
Without a word, Rocket stepped forward and helped his subordinate dig the frozen body free of the snow so that they could take a closer look at the contents of the rucksack attached to the corpse. So far, Bad Ape merely stood back and stared, though he didn't seem scared or even uncomfortable by the sight, contrary to what Rocket had thought.
In truth, most of the equipment these humans carried, regardless of their uniform, were weapons and ammunition. Lots of it.
The apes had taken a couple of these weapons, a few guns and a selection of smaller pistols, intending to use them for hunting for a time until they could fashion weapons of their own. Reliable ones. Weapons like spears, bolas and bows. The sort that didn't require ammunition the apes didn't know how to make, or better still, didn't require it at all.
In this sense, Rocket was quite aware that he probably was very simple, regardless of what Lydia might say. Even if he had become quite accustomed to using a gun by now, he still much preferred the simplicity of throwing a spear.
It was also a more noble weapon, in his humble opinion. With a gun, it was laughably easy to take someone's life compared to when one used a spear or bow and arrow. True, one still needed a semblance of good aim to make a kill with a gun, but it was so much more powerful and simple in its usage. With just the pull of a small trigger, one could rob several individuals of their lives in less time than it takes to even get into a proper spear-throwing stance.
At least throwing a spear or nocking and loosening an arrow took a certain amount of skill.
Rocket all but yanked the frozen zipper of the rucksack open and rummaged through its contents, grunting with moderate approval as he pulled out a ration pack, not dissimilar to the ones Bad Ape himself had provided the evening after Caesar's group had found him.
It wasn't much, and Rocket honestly thought the food these packets contained was rather bland in taste – but seeing as the opportunity to hunt today was practically non-existent, this food was important.
He put it aside on top of the snow before continuing his search through the rucksack, pulling out a tightly-wrapped sleeping bag next before he eventually pulled out a rather small, insignificant-looking pouch, which was stuffed with things Rocket didn't really recognise – certainly they didn't look like anything useful – a roll of white fabric and a few items he couldn't even identify, wrapped in see-through plastic.
He didn't bother to close up the pouch as he threw it carelessly aside, preparing to look further through the rucksack when a series of puzzled hoots sounded just beside him.
"Why you throw?" Bad Ape asked as he reached down to take the discarded package. "Can use!"
Rocket immediately stopped searching the dead soldier and turned towards Bad Ape, eyes narrowed in confusion at the small outburst. Did he know how to use these items?
He must have taken note of Rocket's doubtful expression just then, because he sat back in front of him, the pouch held carefully between his hands as he began to explain.
"I see human use this. Long, long time." He pointed out first, his eyes intent and ever-patient as they stared into Rocket's own. "Injured human use this. Treat wounds. Look!"
Bad Ape properly unfolded pouch and laid it gently down on top of the snow, pointing at each item as he explained to Rocket which were meant for what purpose.
"This for stopping blood. Large wounds." He spoke as he held up the first object, a sort of band with a few clips attached to it, as well as a strap and strange-looking rod. "Wrap this around arm or leg very tight. Very little blood. Very helpful."
Rocket looked on with mild astonishment as Bad Ape continued on, picking up two other items and holding them up in front of the balding ape.
"These go together. This to put on wound, to cover." He said, raising the package in his right hand a little bit higher before he shifted focus onto the one in his left. "And this stick in place. Keep cover on wound."
Rocket pursed his lips as he took the first object out of Bad Ape's right hand and examined it, reading the words on the package. 'Bandage gauze' the small, neat letters on the side read, and only now did Rocket remember that Lydia had used something like this in the past. Years ago, back when they had faced that mountain lion that had set its sights on the boys, Lydia had owned an almost-used up first-aid-kit not dissimilar to this one, containing this same sort of material. Small pieces of white fabric which she had used to treat her wounds – not in the same manner as Bad Ape described it, mind you, but the overall purpose had been the same.
To treat wounds.
And as it turned out, this could prove extremely useful to the apes right now. Many had died when the soldiers had discovered the apes' escape and begun shooting at them – but just as many were still alive, but sustained wounds that needed treatment.
Now, luckily, most of the apes trained in healing had survived, including Sparrow, the most skilled of them all – but even she could only do so much in this wintry mountain landscape, where herbs and even just leaves to cover wounds were nowhere to be found.
But with this, they could treat those wounds – and that was a huge step in the right direction. The direction that led them all to their new home, together, whole and healthy once more.
Going through the rucksack together, there were a few items that Bad Ape didn't know how to use but overall, Rocket was immensely surprised by his knowledge. And it didn't end with the first-aid-kits either, as Bad Ape was quick to also point out the use of some of the items that went with the food rations the soldiers carried with them. Things such as the 'MRE (ready-to-eat) heater', as it said on the package, which Bad Ape explained was a device which required only a small amount of water to produce heat, which could then be used to cook food when a fire wasn't available.
"Sounds crazy! I know, I know! But I see! I see soldiers use! That's why I sometimes take – long, long time ago." He spoke excitedly, stuffing the thing back down into the rucksack to carry it back to the colony.
Rocket was still sceptical about this information, at first thinking it was some kind of joke – making fire with water! A fire with no flame! – Unbelievable!
But… knowing Bad Ape, it couldn't be anything but the truth – he was a bad liar to start with, and Rocket was pretty sure Bad Ape wouldn't even understand the concept of a joke.
They took the heaters either way, Rocket reasoning that they might need them still, as it would take some time to get cookfires going with the landscape being so wet and cold – it was hard enough to find branches suitable for burning as it was, and the apes were in dire need of food at this point.
At the end of the day, the apes had managed to gather a wide range of items, anything from guns to first-aid-kits, ropes, knives, tent canvases, binoculars, sleeping bags and rucksacks. Way more than Rocket had originally thought they would end up bringing back, even if they had had Lydia's help with picking out stuff.
Rocket gave Bad Ape's shoulder a comradely pat as they made their way back to the colony, an encouraging smile on his dark face. It was only fair to give praise when praise was due, and Rocket was well aware that without Bad Ape's help, they wouldn't have brought back half the things they had now. It was actually quite concerning to think about how many mistakes they would have made, how many opportunities they would have missed without his help.
Now, they were able to treat their wounded and provide warm food for the colony – at least for today.
Bad Ape seemed to grow about an inch or so in height at the unspoken praise from Rocket, and then another one once they had returned and Lydia also expressed her approval of what they had picked out.
"You were right to send him out as well." Rocket commented discreetly as the items were being counted and distributed among the members of the colony, those in most need of food and treatment of wounds having top priority. "Now, I'm quite ashamed to admit I didn't believe he could be of any help."
"Well," She spoke with an easy shrug. "He knew about food rations for soldiers, so Maurice and I figured he would probably know about other things concerning them too. And he did spend a lot of time in the mountains collecting all sorts of junk, so it's not like he has no experience with scavenging."
Rocket nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face as he turned his head away from Lydia, looking over at Bad Ape as he very carefully explained to Sparrow and Lake how to apply the gauze and fastening it with the surgical tape – as Lydia called it.
Just goes to show that everyone can be useful, even the strangest, simplest of apes, Rocket thought as he tore open one of the food rations, getting ready to share a much-deserved, hot meal with Tinker.
And not for the first time in his life, Rocket found himself glad for the fact that he had been wrong about someone.
Lydia
"This seems so strange now." Lydia commented as she ran her fingertips tentatively across the fur cloak still around her shoulders.
It was night once more, the day following their great escape from the Alpha-Omega base having all but passed by now, and everyone was beginning to settle down after a tiring day of trekking and gathering useful materials and supplies.
Now, Lydia was sitting on a makeshift nest of branches – the driest Caesar could find around here – and honestly, she didn't quite know what to do with herself. Or rather, what would be appropriate to do.
"What does?" He questioned with a heavy, raised brow.
He had come over to sit beside her only a few minutes ago with Cornelius on his arm.
"Sharing a nest." Lydia replied. "Not having to sneak around and meet up in secret… Everyone knowing what we are… Mates and all."
She gestured broadly with her hand at the colony's apes, their nests, similar to Lydia and Caesar's own, surrounding the two of them.
"You… regret it? Everyone knowing now?" He asked softly.
Lydia's eyes widened as she quickly turned back to face Caesar, who now wore an expression of obvious puzzlement and a slight hint of concern.
Did he think that she was regretting this? The two of them being official now?
"What? No! Not at all." She was quick to remedy, shaking her head. "It's just that… Neither of us had any chance to prepare for it. One moment we're keeping everything under wraps and suddenly bam! Everyone's just there, staring at us… And I suppose we are quite lucky that the majority seems to be okay with it."
Lydia bit her lip thoughtfully at that. It wasn't like the colony as a whole was ecstatic about their leader having chosen a human for a mate, but she suspected that the trust and status she had gained from her years with the apes had helped immensely in making them accept it, at the very least. Especially given recent events.
Still, there were a select few who scoffed at the prospect, but Lydia knew that was to be expected. She was honestly surprised that the overall reaction hadn't been more severe than that. Like, loud-protests-and-challenges-for-leadership-kind of severe.
Not that she was complaining, though. Lydia had had to content with scoffs, sneers and the odd stink-eye from the day she had first met Caesar and his apes, though they had steadily decreased in both numbers and intensity over the years. This reaction was nothing new and Lydia was confident they would diminish over time – just like they had in the past.
Even so, it was still strange for her to sit here, getting ready to share a nest with Caesar for an entire night for the very first time… with the entire colony all around them, sideways glances all too apparent.
Following her gaze across the nests dotting the forest floor, Caesar eventually nodded in agreement.
"It is very sudden, I agree… But it would always be… I think this might have been the best time for the apes to get to know. Everyone is relieved to have survived, and now we will focus on getting to our new home. This -" He gestured between the two of them with his free hand. "is just one small change out of many. And now that it's out in the open, the apes have plenty of time to get used to it."
Giving a hum of assent, Lydia leaned back, letting her eyes roam across the rest of the colony once more as each family, some fractured, some still intact, huddled up together in their respective make-shift nests. A few torches and small campfires dotted the scene with flickering, orange lights, adding a sense of warmth to the otherwise cold and hostile landscape.
Even like this, with nests barely keeping everyone off the snowy forest floor and the fires only just providing the barest of heat, it was already a whole lot better than the conditions in the AO base had been – even if it still didn't offer any sort of privacy whatsoever.
Lydia didn't get to ponder on this for long, as Caesar's baritone voice pulled her out of her quiet reverie once more.
"I did promise you that night that I would tell them all and we wouldn't have to hide it anymore." He deigned to remind her, his heavy brow raised at her.
Recognising the small beginnings of humour in his voice, accompanied by the somewhat sly sideways glance he shot at her, Lydia chuckled. Oh yes, she remembered that night very well – both what they had been doing, as well as the promise he had made to her.
"I know, but I honestly didn't expect it to happen the moment everything was over. I barely got a chance to catch my breath before it was all out in the open." She said with just a shred of mock-exasperation in her tone of voice.
He shrugged at that, though still being careful not to disturb Cornelius too much with the action.
"I think you handled it well."
"There wasn't much to handle, really…" She spoke with a tired sigh.
Truthfully, Lydia couldn't really come up with any other way to reveal this to the colony. At least not any that didn't seem even more awkward and which probably would have caused more of a stir among the apes. Still, the whole being buried alive-experience was something she could have lived without.
A shudder threatened to go up her spine at the thought, though Lydia was quick to suppress it.
"Also," Caesar said, and she saw how the small beginnings of a knowing smirk were already starting to pull at the corner of his mouth. "We didn't manage to keep it a secret from everyone, remember?"
She blinked, at first not understanding what he was hinting at. She was probably getting too exhausted for witty exchanged like these, her mind feeling almost sluggish from fatigue at this point. But in the end, her eyes widened as comprehension dawned on her, and Lydia reached over to playfully smack his arm.
"Oh, come off it! You and I both know Maurice doesn't count! That ape knows everything!"
"And Tinker?" He challenged further, clearly amused.
"She's my best friend – of course she would have noticed eventually." She shot back with small, lopsided smile of her own. "Besides, I needed someone to talk to about it apart from you – that's just how women work."
Caesar gave a low, knowing chuckle at that, and Lydia made a show of ignoring his soft mumble of "I'm aware."
She barely resisted the urge to demonstratively fold her arms across her chest in feigned indignation – or maybe she was just too exhausted to play such games right now, Lydia wasn't quite sure.
"And… What about Orion?" Caesar asked just then, his tone once again taking on a more serious, even doubtful note.
She should have known he would mention it, eventually. Would have noticed how Orion hadn't been surprised in the slightest at Caesar's panic and despair at losing her, nor the passion with which the two had embraced once Lydia had been found alive. She hadn't had the chance to tell Caesar that she had been forced to come clean about it to Orion back when the Ape King had been brought up to the Colonel's quarters.
She still didn't know what the two had discussed up there either. There had been no time to catch up on anything…
Lydia sighed.
"He saw the… marks you left that night." She said, noting that while Caesar didn't seem surprised by it, he did have the decency to look sheepish. "He figured it out on his own after that – most of our conversation then revolved around how I had been dishonest with him… It wasn't a pleasant talk, to put it mildly."
Caesar's brow furrowed with guilt and concern as he exhaled heavily through his nose.
"I'm sorry we could not have done it differently… I should have been there to help explain it." He said regretfully, then ran a soothing hand over Cornelius' crown as the ape child stirred on his arm.
Lydia, however, shook her head at his words.
"Perhaps it was actually better that you weren't. Might just have made him more agitated having to face you at the same time." She reasoned with a sympathetic stare.
He pursed his lips at that, thinking it over before he slowly nodded in agreement.
"Maybe you're right about this…"
"Of course I am." Lydia replied with a smile and a teasing wink of her eye.
"Anyway, don't worry too much about it. While I don't think you're completely in his good books just yet, he's definitely not opposed to… this, anymore." She gestured between them with her hand much like Caesar had done previously when referring to their relationship. "In fact, I think I just might have to finally resign myself to sharing the title of 'most important woman in Orion's life'."
She turned her head, trusting Caesar to follow her gaze as it sought out her eldest ape son, who had already gotten comfortable in another nest a few yards away, Ivy's smaller form wrapped securely within his arms.
Lydia had assumed that Orion would have wanted to continue to share a family nest with her, if only for just a little while longer. That he would want a small semblance of normality – the way things used to be – until they would arrive at the apes' new home. But when she had asked him earlier today if that was what he wanted, Orion's sideways look in Ivy's direction had told Lydia all she needed to know.
It made sense, she supposed. For two years now, Orion had been used to sleeping by himself and after that, most nights had been spent near Ivy and her parents inside that cage. Sharing a nest with his mother wasn't normality for Orion anymore.
Besides, he was, by all intents and purposes, a grown-up now and as he had said himself, not as much in need of her comfort as Cornelius was.
During that entire conversation, neither of them had made any mention of Caesar, though Lydia didn't think that was too much of a concern. Orion's confidence in Caesar had already been tested before the relationship had been revealed to him, and had Lydia been in a similar position, she would probably have had her reservations too.
"It'll take some time for him to adjust, but I think he'll be alright." She said finally, looking on fondly as Ivy seemed to snuggle further into Orion's embrace.
It struck her that Juniper and Shale must really think highly of her son to let him share a nest with their daughter, even though the couple hadn't officially declared themselves as mates yet. Then again, Lydia figured that they wouldn't have had much luck with forbidding Ivy from staying with Orion either way – she was just about as stubborn and independent as Lydia herself was.
Just then, Lydia felt Caesar reach over to gently brush the back of his hand against her cheek, letting it trail downwards to her shoulder and further down her arm.
"And how are you feeling?"
She smiled fondly at him, grasping his hand.
"I'm fine, Caesar. Rather achy, but fine. Nothing is broken."
Her words didn't elicit the reaction Lydia had been expecting as Caesar, instead of simply looking reassured, pursed his lips in an almost shameful-looking manner.
"Are you sure…?" He asked softly, eyeing her with a hint of uncertainty, and suddenly Lydia realised that it wasn't just her physical wellbeing he was inquiring about, or even the avalanche to begin with. "Nothing is broken?"
Lydia didn't exactly feel up for this conversation at the moment. They had just survived the unthinkable and right now, all she really wanted was to lie back and be glad for that fact. To let herself process it all and rest her aching body for the journey that lie ahead come morning.
But she supposed it would be somewhat cruel to dismiss Caesar just like that. He asked because he cared, after all, and what was more, with his quest for vengeance taken care of, he finally seemed able to show it once more.
"Yes." She replied as she scooted over to sit so close to him that their shoulders touched. "I'm sure, Caesar. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't."
Lydia leaned in and pecked his cheek ever so gently. It was quick and sweet, nothing too intimate compared to some of what the two of them had already done together, but she hoped that a public display of affection – even a small one like this – would make him realise that she was being sincere. She had never shared many of those with Roy back when he had been alive simply because the two of them hadn't wanted to stir up things in the colony and she had, for obvious reasons, never shared such moments with Caesar at all.
But right here, right now, it just felt right… And when it all came down to it, what was the point of hiding it anymore, really?
Caesar smiled fondly at her and reached up to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear when Cornelius began stirring, drawing the two adults' attention.
The Ape Prince yawned tiredly but stopped as soon as he noticed Lydia sitting by his father's side, his eyes brightening instantly as he swiftly crawled across Caesar's lap and into her arms. As had always been his custom ever since he had been an infant, Cornelius then settled himself against Lydia's front, cheek pressed against her sternum as he gave a series of low, content gibbers.
It was obvious he was more than pleased with her being in his family nest, and Lydia didn't think she would be able to pry him off her, even if she had wanted to. He might be dozing off again already, she could still feel his strong grip on her clothes.
He wasn't going anywhere from this point on – but luckily, neither was Lydia.
"Looks like someone is ready for some sleep, huh?" She said, giving Cornelius a gentle squeeze before turning her gaze back to Caesar.
The fondness in his eyes as he looked at the two of them almost floored Lydia. It had been ages since she had last seen that look on his face.
Caesar laid down on the springy branches of the nest he had made for them and with a gentle tug of his hand, Lydia soon followed suit with Cornelius still cradled in her arms.
She had almost forgotten how cumbersome it could be to get comfortable in a nest with a two-year-old chimp clinging to her torso, but after a bit of careful manoeuvring, she soon managed to settle down on her side, her back against Caesar's chest and his large arm slung across her waist.
Cornelius still hadn't let go, even as the cloak of animal pelts Lydia wore was wrapped around the two of them. In fact, he even seemed to relish in the added warmth it provided… Or maybe it was the sense of security and closeness?
She kissed Cornelius' brow before closing her eyes, whispering a faint goodnight to the two apes as she finally let her entire body go lax and release the tension she had felt for so long now. A rough pair of lips softly brushing against the back of her neck was the only reply Caesar gave before his deep breaths began to even out into the slow, steady rhythm of unconsciousness.
And just like that, despite everything that had happened and everything which was still yet to be resolved, Lydia finally gave in to the need to sleep, quite unable to remember the last time she had ever been this content.
