It was unlike Caesar to ever get angry, let alone lose control of it. If he ever fought, it was to protect his position in the troop, or to protect the troop itself. In all his years, Caesar could only recall three times when he's ever lost his temper and the experience has never been pleasant. It was like a festering fire burning in his heart - painful and unreachable, and uncontrollable as a result. It creates an itch to his canines that craved to be settled by a bite, whether it be a bite of something or someone. The first time when Caesar had lost control of this fury was when he saw his grandfather being threatened by their neighbor. He was willing to do anything to protect him, and he did - in a moment of impulse, he bit and ripped the man's finger from his hand. The second time was when the humans had brought a gun with them when he clearly told them not to. Because of their betrayal, he nearly lost his youngest son. The scare was enough for him to feel the same rage inside him build. That time, though, he didn't attack. He had managed to feign a calm. It was very close, however. Come to think of it, every time he's felt such an anger was when someone he cared about was being threatened.

The third time was fairly recent, and unlike other times, the person he wanted to protect did get hurt: Haley. The fury that bubbled in him was stronger than any before, and although he was telling himself he hated it, he was telling himself at the same time that he wanted to rip Koba's throat out. It had been Koba, his brother, who had hurt Haley and who had, consequently, forced Caesar to send his oldest friend back to the human village against her will. And even then, only with the slightest chance that she'd get better treatment. Coincidentally, none of the other council members seemed to react much differently. Immediately after hearing the news, almost everyone was sent searching for Koba. Whether it was to return the favor or bring him to Caesar, Caesar had the sinking feeling that it was the first. As furious as Caesar was, he couldn't help but remember, 'Ape not kill ape.'

But then, when Koba skulked back into the village like nothing had happened, Caesar felt his resolve waver and could definitely understand the drive behind Rocket's search. The balding ape considered Haley as family and he didn't care to hide it by how he visibly craved to kill Koba.

With a searing glower, Caesar watched Koba collapse to his knees in front of him, his head low. But soon enough, the mannerism that Koba carried himself with stole Caesar's attention and forced his glare to fade. Something about the exchange was slowly replacing his anger with dread. But Caesar didn't say anything - he was waiting for Koba to have the first word, so he could hear and judge what the bonobo deemed appropriate for the situation. And there was also a part of him that still wanted to believe that Koba regretted what he had done, that it had been an accident, even if he did run. Clearly, Rocket and Luca weren't too happy about this: Caesar could see both of them practically vibrating with all the strength they were using not to pummeling Koba right then and there. They were furious, yes, but they valued Caesar's decisions above even their own. Caesar always treasured their loyalty. But something was still amiss.

"Accident," Koba finally grunted, still not raising his head, "Did not mean to hurt mate." A long silence followed - Caesar couldn't seem to bring himself to say anything. Then, Koba shifted and revealed his hand with something in its palm. It looked like a crimson worm - like to colorful hairy ones that Will used to show him - but he knew that wouldn't be the case. The king was hesitant, his lips thinning with a soft grunt, but eventually, he had to reach out and take what was offered to him. He wanted to take a closer look and make sure what it was, but as soon as his face came a hand's distance from the bloody blonde hair, he regretted it. "Went to see her." Koba said, but Caesar wasn't listening. Frozen, he stared at the familiar hair in his palm in a mixture of disgust and horror. Finally, confused, the other council members came up behind Caesar, and their reactions weren't much different. Maurice flinched under the feeling of his giant heart being physically torn - was such a thing even possible? If he wasn't distracted, he would have worried that it was permanent. Rocket immediately stumbled back, his legs not as trustworthy as they seemed to have fooled him into being, but luckily, Ash was close and quickly caught him, also frantically signing to ask his father what was going on. Luca, however…

The giant gorilla didn't move. He stared at Haley's stained hair in dead silence. It felt as if his body couldn't decide how it wanted to react. Everything inside of him hurt. He feared he'd explode.

Realizing the council might not have properly picked up on his words, Koba repeated aloud again, "Went to see Haley." This time, Caesar's gaze fell on him and he lowered himself more to show submission. "Humans…" He signed slowly, now that he knew he will be understood, "Kill Haley." And by the looks of Koba, he barely got away from the human village, but he didn't mention it. Every single ape that was watching the exchange fell dead silent, watching their king's eyes widen.

'What?' Caesar thought, and strangely, he also wondered, 'How?'

Again, he felt that anger rise inside of him. Did the humans really kill her? Why? She was no danger to them. Was it just because she was working with the apes? Did they think she was carrying the sickness from so many years ago? None of these answers seem to matter while his hand closed around the piece of hair, the blood squelching under his strength. He knew what humans were capable of. They kill for no reason most of the time, so his questions didn't make sense. But the worst was the fact that he knew this beforehand and still sent her to the city. Suddenly, his building anger grew faster from the push of guilt. What had he done?

"Is this about Haley? Did you get news?"

The mood instantly changed when Malcolm's voice came from down the slope of the village, like the spark to a raging fire. Caesar's grasp tightened painfully around Haley's hair and kept him somewhat steady when he faced the hairless man. His ape skin was wrinkled deep from the strain of his regrown glower. Despite knowing Malcolm had no part in any of this, seeing the man pale under his towering frame was satisfying. He took a deep breath and puffed the air out silently. "Haley," Caesar grunted, his voice deeper and more painful than he remembered his first words were, "Dead." Luckily for Malcolm, the open jolt his body gave and the horror he showed from the news made the observing apes calm down - for the moment, at least.

"Haley…" Malcolm breathed, too much in shock to hear the other humans approaching the crowd behind him. But suddenly, something clicked in him and he broke free from his statue-like state. "What about Ellie!?" He yelled, rushing closer to the inner circle of the discussion, "Where is she!? No, she wouldn't have let this happen!"

Caesar wasn't insulted by Malcolm worrying about Ellie at that moment - he understood it - but Malcolm should have know that not everyone would take the outburst so lightly. Only because of how predictable the retaliation was, a few apes were in time to catch Koba before he could reach Malcolm in his charge. But they wouldn't have succeeded if Koba hadn't reminded himself that he shouldn't go against Caesar right now. "Dead!" He barked instead, his word barely discernible from his bared canines, "Defend ape! Both defend ape!" If only Alex had stayed wherever he had been. Koba's words immediately nauseated the young man - he couldn't breathe. He couldn't lose another mother.

"Humans kill Koba mate!" Koba continued to bark, his breathing quick, unsteady, and transparent to the craze behind it. Abruptly, he yanked free from the one ape still holding him and circled to address everyone, "Kill own kind to stop ape! Kill one of family!" He turned back to Caesar again and paused, as if challenging the ape to deny what he was saying.

"They… ask... war." He drawled lower, but still everyone seemed to hear him, because they immediately broke into an uproar of screeches and hoots. Normally, Caesar would have hated the sound, but it seemed to mix perfectly with the strange burning inside of him, and for some reason, that made him doubt if he'd ever be able to calm down what was growing inside of them all. Once again, he looked down towards the hair of his dead friend and then back towards Koba. He wanted nothing more than to believe that Koba was lying and doing all this to get his way, but seeing his chest and shoulders rise and fall rapidly, Caesar didn't see any proof to keep his hope alive. Caesar only needed to see one of Koba's eyes to see something had changed in the bonobo - something had died.

Rapidly, Caesar felt that rage in him grow again, and this time, it was thanks to a fear for his entire troop. The humans had killed Haley, and even Ellie - this was no longer something he can avoid. His people were in danger. And so, despite feeling a telepathic plea from the orangutan behind him to reconsider, Caesar tossed the blonde lock aside and rose his head. Strangely enough, despite Maurice's usually show in favor of peace, Caesar could sense that even his determination was half-hearted this time. He, too, had grown as attached to Haley was Rocket had - even more so. To him, it probably felt like losing a daughter.

"Women and children stay in village." Caesar spoke fiercely, looking around, "Men will fight," he paused, "but only to warn."

Sorry, I know this one is pretty short, especially after how long you guys had to wait (and I can't really say quality makes up for it), but keep in mind that this was physically painful to write. I hate hurting my babies.

Ugh, who am I kidding? That's all I seem to do. You know, for someone who hates reading and watching drama, I sure as heck write a lot of it...