Lydia

Lydia smiled fondly at the way Cornelius pressed his cheek into Remus' fur, the dark hair on his body standing out in sharp contrast to the dog's cream-coloured coat. The two had taken a liking to each other almost instantly and by now, their new canine companion was like a big, lumbering guardian for the young Ape Prince, staying near him whenever he could.

Lydia still hadn't eased up on her principle of not letting the dogs sleep in the nest with them so at the moment, Cornelius was dozing at the very edge of their bedding with his head resting just outside it so he could use Remus' back as some kind of pillow. And of course the dog had scooted as close to the nest as was physically possible without actually being inside it to accommodate the child.

At least it helps him settle down for the night without us having to be there at all times, Lydia thought, knowing that Cornelius, in addition to having become rather clingy since their time with the soldiers, had also become a rather light sleeper, preferring at least one if not both of his parents to be there with him.

She just hoped it wasn't something that would develop further and potentially follow him into adulthood. Insomnia, even the occasional sort, was a bitch to deal with – something Lydia knew all too well herself.

Well, at least she had Caesar to help her with that now.

And speaking of the Ape King, he was currently sitting just beside her in the nest, his eyes also trained at Cornelius' sleeping form with a fondness that matched Lydia's own.

"It was a good choice to take in these dogs." He pondered quietly, his voice gravelly as always.

"I'm surprised you let Ivy try in the first place."

"How did you expect me not to when you so obviously sided with her on the matter?" He countered with a soft quirk of his lips and making Lydia roll her eyes in mock-exasperation.

"Why do you sound so accusatory when you just admitted yourself that it was a good idea all along?"

Caesar chuckled at her words, the sound stirring a feeling of warmth inside Lydia's chest. She had really missed the sound of his laughter these past few months.

"Maybe I just wish you would take my side once in a while. I wonder what that is like?" He retorted as the playful smirk only seemed to grow on his lips.

"Oh, come off it will you? I always take your side – when you're not being unreasonable, that is." She said as she crossed her arms over her chest and raised a slender brow at him, daring him to question her.

"I suppose that is true." Caesar admitted, the smirk from before now growing slightly smaller again as his expression turned almost sheepish. "I hope I have improved on that."

Lydia, immediately picking up on the unexpected change in mood, shot him a smile that was a mixture between sympathy and fondness.

"Sure you have, you impossible ape." She said reassuringly, uncrossing her arms and leaning over to peck his cheek, to which he responded with a quick smile of thanks.

Their short moment of playful banter quickly ebbed into a comfortable silence as the dark of night finally managed to completely take over the sky, leaving the apes' campsite lit by starlight and the few torches that dotted the area.

The quiet moment provided Lydia with some time to contemplate the exchange they had just had, and she found her heart aching slightly by the fact that Caesar still seemed hell-bent on beating himself up over past events. Sure, he had been a goddam fool, and a selfish one at that, but if Lydia was honest with herself, they had already had enough time to think and talk to the point that she, while not having forgotten, then at least having forgiven him for his behaviour. Besides, it wasn't like she had dealt with the whole thing all that well either.

It was all in the past now though, and Lydia could easily admit that she had gotten closure on most of what had happened during their war with the Alpha-Omega Army…

Except when it came to one, small thing.

"Caesar…?" She asked softly, now with just a hint of hesitation that she really wished hadn't been there, knowing he would pick up on it immediately.

And sure enough, the Ape King turned to her, his face a mask of calm and collectedness while his eyes betrayed the worry that lied just beneath the surface. There was no doubt in Lydia's mind that he knew that she was building up to a serious conversation. They had had a lot of those recently, so it was easy to tell when one was on its way now.

"I've been thinking about something… It's been on my mind for a while now, actually, but… I couldn't really bring myself to broach the subject."

He nodded wordlessly for her to go on.

"The Colonel…" Lydia began, noticing how Caesar's shoulders tensed at the mention of the man, though she continued despite his visible discomfort at the topic. "You didn't kill him… Back when you had the chance, you let him do it himself… And he did…"

She paused, thinking back to that horrid morning and remembering the sight of Caesar standing back from the room, staring with eerie calmness as he watched the man kill himself. Lydia hadn't seen it happen. The only thing she had seen was the quick flash as the gun had been fired.

"You never told me why." She elaborated finally, staring directly into his eyes in search for an answer – or a possible lie.

That question – the why – had been sitting in the back of her mind ever since that day, lurking like a predator waiting to pounce as soon as the opportunity would arise. Only it hadn't for several months now, as they had trekked through the once-state of Nevada. They had been so busy with everything from tending to the weak and wounded to learning how to hunt in this new terrain while also being on the move. Lydia hadn't wanted to add on to Caesar's concerns by probing him about such a sensitive subject and quite honestly, by the end of the day she had so far been too exhausted to even attempt it.

But now, as hunting had gotten easier and both Orion and Rocket had assured them that the apes were only a few days away from reaching their new home, weariness had ever so slowly ebbed away in exchange of anticipation and excitement.

And with that, Lydia had come to the conclusion that she had better get this uncomfortable subject out of the way before they reached their destination. She didn't want to have their new beginning be tainted by it. To her, it was preferable to get it out of the way, and deep down, she was sure Caesar preferred that too.

Now, the only problem with that was getting him to actually talk to her about it.

"He wanted me to do it." Caesar replied with a dismissive shrug and Lydia barely resisted the urge to huff at his evasive answer. "I didn't think he deserved that mercy."

Her eyes narrowed as she stared at him unblinkingly. A frown had appeared on her face by now, and it only deepened when she realised that he apparently didn't feel the need to explain further. Instead he seemed to have chosen to stay quiet and wait the uncomfortable silence out, perhaps hoping she would give up on the matter.

He had another thing coming.

Crossing her arms over her chest, Lydia shot her mate the most unimpressed look she could muster, a deep crease appearing on her forehead as she knitted her dark brows at him.

"You know perfectly well that's not what I was getting at."

Of course he did. Caesar was many things: A great leader, a loving father, a caring mate and a saviour of apes. But if there was one thing he had never been, it was a good liar – at least not to those he loved.

And they both knew that all too well.

"Lydia…" Caesar tried, his voice balancing between an order and a plea for her to let it go.

But she wouldn't. She had known since the day it had happened that something was off, though she had been able to let his avoidance of the question pass because they had been in a hurry to escape at the time. That's why she had played along instead of pressing him for answers

"Why did he shoot himself, Caesar? Why did he want you to do it?" She kept on as she leaned forward, trying to catch his gaze once more.

"Why is this still important to you? He is dead and we are free. How it happened doesn't matter."

"If it didn't matter you wouldn't have to hide it from me." She spoke with a still-deepening frown. "Please, Caesar. I thought we agreed not to keep things from each other anymore…"

He seemed to deflate at her words just then, closing his eyes as a tired sigh left him.

It was indeed something they had discussed at length after having made it out alive that horrid day they had all escaped.

Lydia wasn't sure that Caesar having simply been honest with her from the beginning about his intention to leave would have made much of a difference. He would probably have gone through with it either way. However, it wasn't about him having left or not anymore – it was about the lack of communication – and ultimately trust – between the two of them. The hidden agendas and the half-truths and the guilt-trips when it came to Orion and Cornelius.

Knowing that they couldn't change the past, they had agreed to try and amend that by being completely honest with each other from this point on. And though Lydia could clearly see that Caesar was slightly annoyed by this reminder, it did provide him with the incentive to finally tell her what had really happened between him and the Colonel that fateful winter's morning.

"He was… sick." Caesar finally explained, still not meeting her gaze.

"You mean like Nova?"

"No. Not like Nova. Not exactly…" He was quick to say, shaking his head. "He wasn't just unable to speak. He was sweating with fever and bleeding from his nose too. Like the soldier we found in the snow."

Lydia listened carefully, remembering the soldiers they had found shot down and left for dead in the mountains. They had all had that tell-tale trail of blood coming from their noses and mouths.

"I could tell from the look in his eyes that he recognised me. He knew who I was and why I was there, but… The way he looked at me, it felt like… Like something had been taken from him. Something important to being human."

Though it was probably hard to explain, Lydia thought she could imagine what Caesar was trying to say and nodded her head in understanding.

"But how… How did he get it in the first place?"

That was something Lydia couldn't quite grasp. To her knowledge, the man hadn't been anywhere near Nova, and none of the Colonel's men had seemed to show any signs of sickness.

So how had it happened?

"The doll. The one Nova threw into the cage… I think he got it from that. From touching it." Caesar said, his heavy brow furrowing. "When he had me brought up to his room, he told me that he had ordered his men to burn anything that had belonged to those who had been sick. I think he knew they might get it that way."

"Seems like he knew quite a lot about this disease…" Lydia spoke, narrowing her eyes in thought as she continued to regard her mate.

Clearly, there was a lot he hadn't been telling her still – and it seemed that there was more to come.

Caesar nodded his head once, still not looking at Lydia as he continued to speak, voice low and gravelly.

"He said it had all started when they tried to find us back in the forest…That it started with his own son, who had stopped speaking and suddenly turned… Primitive. Like an animal, he said…" Caesar's mouth formed a thin line as he recounted the conversation to her, his hands clenched together in his lap. "Even when he had put a gun to his face, his son had still trusted him… He hadn't understood…"

Lydia gaped at Caesar as realisation hit her. That picture of a young boy lying on the Colonel's war table…

"He shot his own son?" She spoke in a near-whisper, utterly horrified at the idea. What kind of parent could even do that to their own child?

A parent like the Colonel, apparently.

"He did." The Ape King confirmed, still with that tense expression on his face. "And everyone else who became like him as well. A medic had told him that he thought it was the sickness that killed the rest of humanity which had suddenly changed. He wanted to prevent it from spreading – to save humanity, he said."

Somehow, it didn't surprise Lydia at all that the man had thought he could somehow save humanity from its final downfall – he did strike Lydia as quite a narcissist from about the time she had first witnessed him standing on top of his balcony back at the base, watching as his soldiers stood below him and cited their obnoxious war cry. Even if his face had remained stoic, it had been all to obvious to Lydia that he had enjoyed it. Enjoyed the power and being above everyone else. Enjoyed having others follow him unconditionally.

So no, the Colonel believing himself to be the saviour of the human race wasn't what made the cogs turn inside Lydia's head. Rather, it was the speed with which this disease, a mutated version of the Simian Flu, she supposed, had been in infecting the Colonel after he had touched a contaminated doll.

From what she could tell, it must have happened within a day's time, from the moment he had first picked up the doll from inside Caesar's cage and to the next morning when they had found him in his room.

And suddenly, it made a lot more sense to Lydia why the door had been barricaded from the inside – he hadn't wanted his men to come in and see him like that. Hadn't wanted his last moment to be one of defeat in the face of his followers.

"All of this still doesn't answer one question…" Lydia said after she had composed herself. "Why did he want you to kill him after he got sick?"

"He was afraid." Caesar spoke matter-of-factly, still staring at the ground in front of him rather than at her. "I was the only one there to help… I almost did it as well – I wanted to, but… It would not have been revenge anymore… So, I loaded the gun instead and put it in front of him. He died fulfilling what he thought was his purpose."

The silence that fell after that sentence was deafening to Lydia who, for the longest time, could only stare at her mate in equal parts sympathy and disquiet. His posture as he sat beside her was tense and clearly uncomfortable and if he had been any less of a confident male ape, he would probably have started fidgeting under her intense scrutiny. This was clearly a memory he hadn't expected, nor wanted to revisit.

"Why didn't you tell me this before…?" She asked softly, the hint of accusation only just noticeable in her voice. "Why did you keep this from me when we agreed to-"

"I didn't want you to worry needlessly." Caesar interrupted, finally lifting his eyes to meet her own. "You haven't seemed sick at all, and I didn't want to…"

He trailed off, his brow furrowing in thought, and Lydia figured he was looking for a human turn of phrase in the deep recesses of his memory.

"To tempt fate by telling me?" She provided helpfully, despite the slight agitation she still felt at him for not telling her about this.

"… Yes." Came Caesar's answer after a moment of uncharacteristic hesitation, accompanied by a subtle nod of his head.

Lydia reached a hand up to run it through her loose hair in a frustrated manner. She could understand his reasoning, though it seemed a tad too superstitious of him. Or maybe he was afraid that if he told her, she would just confirm his fears by saying that she was beginning to feel these changes they had seen in the sick humans they had come across? Perhaps he wasn't prepared to deal with that prospect just yet, given the circumstances? Perhaps he just preferred ignorance to knowing something was definitely wrong?

Lydia could sympathise with that notion, at least. Honestly, if she was going to die of some disease, she much preferred not being privy to it and simply enjoying the time she had left without having to count the weeks and days until her eventual demise.

However, this wasn't something she could die from – at least not right away, as far as she knew. It was much crueller than that – a sickness that didn't take her life, but which could deteriorate her instead. Sure, right now it might only take away her voice, but what if it evolved further? Took away other things as well? Maybe to the point where she would lose that which made her… well, Lydia.

And that thought was much scarier to Lydia than death. To slowly lose who she was, her personality, her abilities, her usefulness – and having those she loved watch while it happened.

"You didn't think I've been wondering about it myself? Why I haven't become sick after spending so much time with Nova? I might not have known how bad it actually was, but I did figure that it was contagious after we found those soldiers in the snow, Caesar. He told us that it was a disease, remember?" She said and to his credit, Caesar had the decency to look sheepish, pursing his lips and reaching up to mindlessly scratch at the small, bare patch of skin on his pectoral, where his birthmark was located.

"Of course." He trailed off, only to speak up again after several moments of silence "What are your thoughts on it, then? Why has it not happened?"

Lydia leaned forward to rest her elbows onto her knees as she sat cross-legged in the nest. Why indeed? Well…

"I don't know much about this sort of thing really, but… I think I might be immune. Especially with how quickly the Colonel must have become affected by it, I think I should have been too even before we reached the soldiers' base, but... I honestly don't feel any different." She explained slowly and unsurely.

Beside her, Caesar merely nodded, a serious expression on his face, though he seemed puzzled by something still. It was easy to tell with Caesar – something about the way his brow furrowed. He always seemed to narrow his eyes just a little when confused, as opposed to the unflinching stare he delivered when he was agitated or trying to be stern with someone.

Lydia sat up straight once more and tilted her head as she looked at him, waiting patiently for the inquiry she knew was on the way.

She didn't have to wait long, though.

"Why would you be… immune?" The Ape King asked at last, seemingly testing out the word. It wasn't a term the apes used and though Caesar might know the word as well as the meaning behind it, it still sounded odd coming from him.

Lydia shrugged at his question. It wasn't like she was an expert in… What was it called? Virology? Yeah, probably… Still, whenever she had actually allowed her mind to wander into this territory, let it ponder on why exactly she still felt the same as she always had, she had theorized – and come to the same conclusion each and every time.

"The humans that survived the first outbreak did so because they had developed immunity to the virus… Maybe I've developed it further because my time with you all. It's the only reason I can think of. Apart from those three years I spent with Dad and Matthew after it all started, I've been directly exposed to the virus by being around apes for years now. Who knows? I might even have picked up whatever it is that makes you guys able to resist the adversary effects."

Upon seeing Caesar's rather impressed and subtly hopeful expression, Lydia averted her gaze from his own to stare down at her own lap, where she now wrung her hands together in anxiety.

"This is all just me thinking out loud, though. I really have no idea how these things actually work… I might be completely wrong."

She didn't want to dash Caesar's hopes by being pessimistic and to her own ears at least, her theory seemed solid enough….

Still, it wasn't like they had any way of checking, so it was really all just a big guessing game – one Lydia didn't think she could bear to lose.

A heavy and agonizingly prolonged silence fell between them, neither one knowing what else to say. Lydia could sense Caesar's piercing stare still on her, though she didn't look back until she heard him shifting beside her and she turned to see the resigned expression on his face.

"Come here." He said, reaching one of his arms out for her to scoot closer.

Lydia did so without a second thought and immediately felt comforted by his warmth as she settled against his side, his arm wrapped securely around her frame.

She released a shuddering breath as she let herself sink into his hold, her body relaxing while her mind was still racing, steeling herself for what she still wanted to say.

"Caesar… I hope you realise that just because I might be immune now, it doesn't mean that I'll be in the future." Lydia spoke quietly. "The virus might still change again. Like it did before…"

Caesar made no move to reply or even give an indication that he had been listening. He merely kept his green-and-golden gaze stubbornly turned forward, seemingly staring rather intensely at the dancing flame of a nearby torch.

He was listening, though. Lydia could tell by the slight expansion of his chest as he drew in a calculated breath, as well as the flaring his nostrils did with the action.

Lydia continued undeterred despite his visible discomfort.

"I know you don't want to talk about it. Or even think about the possibility – but it's one we have to at least consider. It's always going to be there, whether we decide to hush it up or not."

"Even so, we also can't worry about something that might never happen." The Ape King countered, still not looking at her, though his voice wasn't stern or dismissive like she might have expected. Instead it was calm and soothing, trying to ease her troubled mind from it's fruitless concerns.

"True…" Lydia conceded, biting her lip before she continued. "I just want you to know that if I ever do get sick. If I become… something else than me – you're under no obligation to stay with me."

She had thought a lot about that too – about what would happen if she did eventually become sick. And not just when it came to Caesar, but Orion, Cornelius, Ivy and everyone else as well. If it was just about losing her voice, it wouldn't matter much. She could always use sign. In fact, Lydia still did that a lot when she spoke, and many of the apes still preferred it as a means of communication, but…

If it became more than that later on. If she lost more than just her voice, like she feared would eventually be the case, Lydia didn't want to end up being a burden to those around her. Or have Caesar feel like he was bound to her for the rest of his life because of what they shared now.

The arm around her shoulders squeezed her even tighter, almost possessively so as his large fingers seemed to clutch at the fabric of her jacket.

"Of course I am." He declared with a firmness in his voice that told Lydia that it wasn't up for debate. "You are my mate. That doesn't change because you can't speak. I will take care of you, always."

It was just about all Lydia could do not to release the shuddering breath that threatened to fall from her trembling lips, and she blinked the dampness from her eyes before it could develop further into actual tears.

She felt selfish for being relieved at his words just now. For being happy to know that he would stay if it ever came to that.

"This is why I didn't want to tell you." He spoke softly just then. Before she could protest and hide her face further against his neck, Caesar reached up with his other hand to hook a gentle, calloused index finger just beneath her chin, pulling her face up so that she was forced to meet his gaze.

Though his eyes were kind and full of tender care now, he frowned sadly once he noticed the glossy shine in her eyes. "I don't like making you cry. I have done it too much already."

Despite the seriousness of the moment, Lydia found it within herself to let out a mixture between a sniffle and a chuckle at this.

"It's not your fault. Not this time around, at least." She said, grabbing a gentle hold of the hand underneath her chin and pressing it to her chest instead. "It's just of life, really. Every time I think we will finally have some peace and quiet, it throws something new our way. Even if this isn't exactly something new…"

The Ape King nodded in understanding.

"Maybe some humans are just… immune. The soldier we found with Nova could still speak." He said, easily manoeuvring around the subject of how he had killed the man – not that Lydia would blame him for it, as the guy had been the first to pull out his gun.

Sighing, Lydia lowered their hands into her lap and leaned against Caesar's shoulder while staring blankly into the darkness of the night. All around them there were sounds of crickets calling and apes young and old hooting softly at each other – no doubt a few parents were having trouble getting their children to settle down for the night – and in the far distance, a lonely coyote gave a single, lonely howl.

"He might just have been extra careful around her. We'll never know for sure." She said quietly as she fiddled idly with Caesar's much larger fingers between her hands. "Besides, I think it affects adults differently than it does kids." Lydia spoke contemplatively. "The Colonel told you his son had become… primitive, right? And you just said that something was missing from his eyes when the Colonel looked at you."

She rose her head from Caesar's collarbone to look in the direction she knew Maurice and Nova's makeshift nest to be. It wasn't far from their own, but in the dark of night with only a few torches to light the path from nest to nest, it was difficult to see anything but the rough outline of Maurice's hulking form as he rested a few yards away.

"But Nova doesn't seem like that. She's like a completely normal kid who just happens to be mute… I mean, apart from the whole not being scared of talking apes with guns." Lydia continued on, receiving a short huff of amusement from Caesar in response.

"Perhaps adults are worse at adapting?" He offered simply, drawing her attention back to himself once more.

Lydia raised a brow at him in mild surprise.

"Well, that is actually a proven fact…" She provided softly, only for her gaze to quickly drop to the ground. "Wouldn't help me anyway. I'm an adult."

"But one who is used to change. One who does whatever is needed in order to survive." Caesar pointed out, putting his palm against the back of Lydia's skull and gently urging her to put her head against his collarbone once more, which Lydia did without any protests. "Try not to think about it too much, Lydia. Nothing has happened yet. It might never happen at all. But if it does, we will face it together. You didn't leave me when I was lost, and I will not leave you."

Biting her lip, Lydia felt her eyes getting misty with tears once more and she gave the hand still in her grasp a gentle squeeze, which Caesar returned immediately.

"Thank you, Caesar…" She mumbled quietly once she was certain she could keep her voice somewhat steady. She just hoped he understood that she wasn't just thanking him for promising to stay with her, but also for the simple fact that she had told him all of this in the first place, even if he hadn't wanted to.

His only reply was his mouth pressing a tender kiss against her hair.

Nothing more was said about the subject that night, the pair contenting themselves with just sitting quietly together and listening as the sounds all around them of apes rustling in their nests died little by little. By the time they too decided to call it a night, it was almost completely quiet, save for the ever-calling crickets and the occasional lumbering steps of a member of the Gorilla Guard doing their nightly patrol.

And yet, despite this calmness and the comforting weight of Caesar's arm around her midsection., it took Lydia several long moments to fall asleep, worries brought on by the conversation they had just had jumbling inside her head.

She only managed to find rest once she was literally too exhausted for her racing mind to be able to keep her awake any longer.


The worry stuck with Lydia for the next two days, though she did her best not to let it show. Really, it was more of a nagging concern rather than anything else, but it still managed to claw its way out from the back of her mind several times a day and have uncomfortable knots of worry tighten inside her gut.

Lydia refused to let it get to her to the point that it would affect her interactions with others, though- Especially when it came to Nova, who she made a conscious effort to not to give a wider berth now. It would be of no use after all this time, after all. If she had been infected, it would have happened even before they had reached the soldiers' base anyway. Besides, a sweet kid like Nova didn't deserve that kind of treatment.

Leaning back against Caesar's sturdy frame, Lydia exhaled softly as she tried to focus on the movements of the horse beneath them. She was riding with him again, at the very front of the colony, as she had done most days since they had set off from the snowy mountains. Tinker had mostly been right about Lydia not indulging Caesar too much, since he had kept on insisting that Lydia ride with him like this when they travelled. To his credit, though, he hadn't made too many protests once Lydia had suggested that she start hunting again after having regained her strength. In that, he had been very understanding and even accommodating – more so than either Lydia or Tinker had expected him to be.

It was all about compromises, she supposed, and Caesar was definitely getting better at making those.

Still, Lydia's mind continued to run in circles, jumping from one thing to the next, but always returning to the topic of her possibly getting sick. By now, she almost wished Caesar had actually refused to tell her – but then again, she also knew she wouldn't have let up until he had actually done it, very much aware of her own stubborn nature.

Well, Lydia thought self-deprecatingly, it's not like it's the first time that has come back to bite me in the ass, now is it?

Just then, a hoot sounded from beside her and Caesar, and they both turned their heads to see Orion and Rocket shoot each other excited looks after the latter had pointed to someplace in front of the colony.

"You recognise this place?" Lydia asked her son, whose expression was open and bright with anticipation as he turned to her and gave an affirmative nod.

"It should be just behind those hills, Mother. You will know it the moment you see it." He answered with a voice full of promise, and she couldn't help but return his excited smile.

Without having to look, Lydia knew Caesar's gaze had shifted to Rocket to seek confirmation on this claim, probably out of habit rather than him not believing Orion's words, and she felt how her mate's body straightened behind her as Rocket nodded his head too.

Naturally, it didn't take long for them to reach the hill Orion had pointed out, and as soon as they reached the top, Lydia couldn't help but let out a barely-audible gasp at what she saw.

The landscape was more or less the same as what they had been travelling through for the past week or so, and yet Lydia couldn't recall having seen a more fitting place for their new home. While this was nowhere close to resembling the dense woodland they had left behind, the vegetation was still lush, with large patches of forest for them to hunt in. All around them were sloping hills and mountains which created a beautiful backdrop for the large lake marking the very centre of the valley.

And right there, at the foot of the hill where they now stood, the landscape flattened out before it reached the bank of the lake, creating a plateau which would be nothing less than a perfect location for the structures the apes would soon start to erect.

Blue Eyes, Orion and Rocket had chosen well.

Apparently, Caesar thought so too as she felt more than heard the relieved exhale Caesar released behind her, his breath tickling the back of her neck.

He dismounted soon after and, still with Cornelius clinging to his back, he reached up to offer Lydia some help with getting down from the horse herself, ever the gentleman… erhm, ape, Lydia corrected herself as she sent her mate a soft smile.

Now, it wasn't like Lydia had any trouble getting on and off the horse since she had regained her strength after they had escaped the soldiers. In fact, she much preferred doing it on her own – just like she did with most things. But giddy with relief and excitement as she was by now, she more than happily indulged Caesar – again.

With large, incredibly warm hands, he grasped her hips firmly as she swung a leg over the animal's back and steadied her as she planted her feet safely on the ground, though he didn't let go of her to take the horse's reins. Instead Caesar let another of his apes take care of the horse while the three of them began to slowly make their way toward the edge of the hill, Cornelius now settled securely on his father's arm and Lydia's hand held within Caesar's own.

The rest of the colony quickly followed the Ape King and his family and soon, hundreds of apes seemed to almost spill over the top of the hill and trickle down into the valley while Lydia stood back with Caesar, Cornelius at the very top.

All around were hoots and chitters of joy as families and friends came forward to rejoice in having found their new home, letting their children run free as the adults settled down to rest their tired legs.

Lydia felt another hand clasp around her free one and turned to see Orion now standing beside her too, tall and proud as he looked out across the landscape.

"I told you that you would know when you saw it." He spoke teasingly, no doubt taking a whole lot of pride in her stunned expression.

Shaking her head at his tone, Lydia released a small huff of a laugh as she replied.

"You sure did, Sweetie."

Beside her, Caesar let Cornelius down onto the ground, giving the child and encouraging nod as Nova, who had come up there together with Maurice, reached her hand out for him to take, wanting to go play.

His father's urging was all the Prince needed for him to step forward and grasp the girl's hand, and Lydia's heart ached with fondness as she watched them go forward, only stopping to ask Bad Ape to come along as well.

As Caesar stood up once more, Lydia managed to share a brief look with him and, upon seeing his peaceful expression, green-and-golden eyes warm and loving as he stared back at her, Lydia felt her heart soar inside her chest.

It took a feminine chitter to pull her gaze away from her mate's and turn towards the sound, only to find Ivy standing further down the slope, the sun's last rays casting a golden sheen across her silvery fur and her bright, emerald eyes practically shining as she stared expectantly up at Orion.

"Looks like someone wants your attention, Sweetie." Lydia spoke amusedly, catching her son's attention once more. "Go on, don't want to keep her waiting."

Orion smiled at her, bright and brief, before he let go of her hand and began making his way down towards Ivy, a spring in his step that had Lydia chuckle with motherly adoration as Caesar pulled her over to sit on the ground with him and Maurice, right under the tree that stood on top of the hill.

Once settled, the Ape King's long, sturdy arm snuck its way around Lydia's body, pulling her close as the three of them, human, chimp and orangutan alike, looked out across the joyful gathering of apes, completely at peace now that they had finally reached their goal.

Lydia leaned her head against Caesar's shoulder, just like she had done a couple of nights prior, though this time there was not a trace of worry to be found either in her heart, her mind or her expression. There was only contentment as she felt Caesar's arm around her own. As she listened to Maurice's soft, melodic rumbling. As she saw Orion settle down on a nearby rock with Ivy's hand in his own and Cornelius playing nearby with Nova and Bad Ape.

Suddenly, all her worries from these past few days seemed to evaporate completely, disappearing from her mind as if it had just been a stray thought all along. Suddenly, it didn't matter anymore whether or not she could potentially get sick or not. That she might end up losing that which made her human – what did it matter when one was ape inside anyway?

It doesn't matter, Lydia decided then and there. Because nothing could ruin the purity of this moment. Of them having finally found their new home, finally able to rest and just be happy for the simple fact that they were there, alive and together as the sun set over the sloping mountains.