Sorry for the delay. Life just sort of happened. And then it kept happening. As always, thanks everyone for favoriting, following, and -most of all- reviewing.

Sunset painted the sky a deep, blood-red, stretching far across the treetops all the way to the dark purple clouds rolling in from the West. The forest was totally blacked out by the vivid scarlet sky. As Caesar stood at the edge of his room, staring out across the world laid bare at his feet, he breathed heavily. The only sound to be heard was the crackling of a few disparate camp fires, and the last vestiges of the past day as Apes went about their evening business. Otherwise it was a quiet night.

Or, it would have been to the other Apes. To Caesar it was actually a very busy night, filled with bustling, vociferous activity. Crickets chirped. Frogs sang. Bats whizzed about, constantly shrieking. The nights had never seemed so noisy as they had these past two weeks. He didn't even know bats made any noise until the night after New Year's. But with the forest night turned into a veritable metropolis of late-night goings on, Caesar wondered how he ever thought of it as a time to rest. It seemed more a time to get out there and run wild, flowing with the teeming energy of the woods.

With a snort and a grunt, Caesar turned away from the sunset and paced around his bedroom on all fours. Walking quadrupedally had always been easier for Caesar's joints and muscles, but it was a posture he didn't often adopt, especially not among other Apes. Having spent the first eight years of his life among obligatorily bipedal humans, he was accustomed to spending most of his time on two legs. Even when with other Apes, the bipedal posture gave him a regal bearing and helped to emphasize his status. But lately he began to better appreciate how easy it was to go about on all four legs. It just started feeling right somehow.

He paced from the overlook to his nest and back again, several more times. He had no idea why he was doing it, and didn't even think to wonder. All of his thoughts were fixated on Maurice, Cornelia, Rocket, and Koba, who had yet to return from their search for more information about this mysterious case with the wolf. Caesar missed a few things from his time with the humans. At that point, the one he missed most was their precise method of keeping time. Seconds, minutes, hours. These units were of little use to the Apes and their life in the redwoods. But as the sun had drifted away toward the farthest horizon, Caesar was anxious to know just how long they'd been gone.

His anxiety was exasperated by his hunger. A faint growl sounded off from his gut, but he ignored it. There had been nothing for him to eat. Due to his own failings as a leader, the hunts had been unsuccessful. There just wasn't any meat for him, though there was more than enough fruit, roots, vegetables, and seeds. But Caesar found that he had little appetite for plant matter these days. On average, plants made up the bulk of the chimpanzee diet; over half in fact. But any time Caesar had thoughts of food, they were always of meat – warm, fresh, red meat. Deer had been his prey of choice most recently, but any meat would do. But there wasn't any, at least none that was available to him.

When the pangs of hunger became too great, Caesar paused and thought for a moment. There might be one place in the tree fort to get some meat. Blue Eyes and Ash liked to go fishing together, and they were quite good at it. It was very rare for there not to be some fish in Blue Eyes' room, even if it was partially eaten. But Caesar's hunger was growing every second. With a shameful sting in his heart, he made his way to the stairs.

But his path down the spiral stairs was blocked, just in front of his son's room by Blue Eyes himself, as well as what appeared to be the female he was grooming on New Year's. Caesar was stopped dead in his tracks, and the other two followed suit. The female stepped behind Blue Eyes, whimpering slightly as Caesar stared at them blankly for several seconds.

Blue Eyes greeted his father with a furrowing of his brow ridges and a curt sign of his hands. "Move!" At first, Caesar was confused. He looked around, only to catch sight of the entrance to Blue Eyes room. He was standing in front of it. "Move!" Blue Eyes signed again, more briskly.

Blue Eyes' insolence was grating. No, it was more than grating. It was irritating. It was infuriating. As the sign was repeated in his mind again and again, Caesar could feel something rising inside of him, causing his blood to shoot through his veins with furious speed, boiling to the point of his anger. How dare Blue Eyes sign at him with those weak, little hands? What made him think he had any right to talk to his father that way? His father, his strong, powerful father. As Caesar looked into that stupid, spoiled face oh his own spawn, he could feel his whole body trembling. His lips curled back, revealing the full extent of his canine teeth. He breathed deeply and quickly in course hisses. As he was standing there, he could swear he heard bees buzzing inside of his head, growing louder as they get closer to his mind.

In a flash, he could see his clenched hands grab at the useless teenager's neck, crashing on top of him as Caesar's entire body hurls itself toward him. Caesar tears into his son's throat with all of his fury, pulling out mouthfuls of bloody chunks of flesh and hair.

In another flash, he was back to standing in front of Blue Eyes and his female friend, who had turned and bolted off in the opposite direction. Blue Eyes turned and called out to her, but she just kept going. When it was clear that she wasn't coming back, Blue Eyes snarled at his father and signed, "What is wrong with you?!"

The question stopped Caesar in his tracks. Breathing shallowly through his nose, he looked down and saw his body all tensed up, fists still balled in apparent rage. The horrific image he'd just witnessed was seared into his memory, repeating itself over in his mind, as vivid as ever. It was like looking at two different versions of his son – one was alive, standing before him, and the other one was lying eviscerated on the ground. His hands began to tremble slightly as he took a step back from the still-living Blue Eyes. And then, in a single motion, he spun around and bounded back up to his room, leaving a Blue Eyes who was just as frustrated as he was confused.

By the time Caesar reached his nest, the sun had disappeared completely behind the distant hills, drowning the land in darkness. But as Caesar peered out past the village to the vanishing tree line, he felt more than the simple arrival of the night. He could see through the fallen veil of shadow to a horrifying new world – the nighttime world. He could feel the darkness rushing inside, mixed in with his blood and sent shooting through his body with every fevered heartbeat. He scrunched his face up, his teeth showing through retracted lips, and he buried his head in his hands. He wheezed with every labored breath as small streams began trickling from his eyes and down his barren cheeks.

He was broken from his trance by a low, quiet grunting from behind him. Wiping the tears away quickly, he turned to face the threshold and found the hopeful sight of Maurice, Cornelia, Koba, and Rocket standing together in front of him. Each one of them had never looked so wonderful before. Maurice, tall and imposing, but with eyes so gentle they couldn't help but betray his vast wisdom and loving heart. Rocket's devotion was unquestioning, and the strength of his loyalty was equaled only by the might of his forearms. Koba, for all his faults had an undying dedication to the other Apes, and a determination to protect them that bordered on psychotic. And Cornelia – precious, beautiful, perfect in every way he could hope. She grounded him against the stresses of leadership, even the stranger ones of late. Her love had never been so important to him as it was right then.

Caesar leaped out of the nest and hopped over to them, standing tall before each one of them. His hopes that they'd been successful were boosted by the several objects that the other Apes were clutching in their hands. "You found something?" he signed excitedly.

The pause was disconcerting, but it did conclude with nodding from the others. But Caesar quickly caught the grim motions as they confirmed his hopes. Maurice took a deep breath in and held it as he signed, "There is….much to discuss. We should probably gather the Ape Council."

Caesar's brow ridges rose curiously at this request. He looked at the other Apes, seeing if they could give him any other clues. They returned his questioning look with three solemn ones. "It's that important?" he asked simply.

Maurice nodded. "Very important."

Caesar gave a single nod and signed, "Very well. Rocket, go get Stone." Rocket followed the instruction with instant immediacy. As Rocket climbed down the spiraling stairs, Blue Eyes caught him as he rushed out toward the Northern border. He had caught sight of the three males and his mother showing up at their home just a few moments earlier. He was not so stupid that he couldn't draw a connection between their sudden appearance, and the strange, almost-frightening display his father had just given.

His usual surly disposition was almost completely replaced with curiosity, albeit a frustrated curiosity. He tentatively stepped out of his room and crept slowly up the stairs to his parents' room. When he moved into view of the other four Apes, they turned to him. There was an awkward pause between them, exasperated by Caesar's obvious refusal to look Blue Eyes in his eponymous feature. Blue Eyes noticed this, and it only added to his frustrated confusion. When none of the adults made a move to communicate, Blue Eyes snorted and pounded the ground with one hand and signed, "What's happening?"

Cornelia walked over to her son and tried to put a comforting hand on his shoulder, but he jerked back at the moment of contact. She whimpered softly at his refusal and signed. "Son, there is no need to be so upset."

This just caused him to snarl at her, flashing his canine teeth and signing furiously, "I have every reason to be upset! I brought a female home tonight, and when I tried to take her to my room, Father scared her off! He looked like a wild animal ready to attack her!"

Those last few signs caused several reactions from the other Apes. Cornelia whimpered even more, taking a step back from her son. Maurice held his breath as tightly as he could, daring not to even be in that room. Koba just looked down away from the others, snorting quietly in an attempt to distance himself from the others. Caesar maintained his inability to face Blue Eye, the effect of which only grew stronger somehow.

Despite their deeply affected reactions, Blue Eyes persisted. "I want to know what's going on."

Koba sighed deeply, standing up straight and going over to his honorary 'nephew.' "Look, Blue Eyes….your father's not well. We're just trying to help him, that's all."

Blue Eyes was no less determined, but he at least softened his expression from anger so something that almost looked like it could be concern. "But Koba," he signed, "if he's sick, why can't you just tell me what's wrong with him?"

Koba scratched his neck and he thought long and hard to find a good answer. Unfortunately, Blue Eyes' question was better than any answer he could think of. Eventually he settled on signing, "You don't need to worry about it. We'll take care of it."

And Blue Eyes' rage came back with a loud shriek, bared teeth, and a pounding on the ground of the tree house floor. "Stop treating me like I'm some little whiteass! I'm an adult Ape!" and the anger gave way to a pleading sorrow. "You told me so yourself – I'm very wise for my age."

"But Blue Eyes-" Koba began, only to be cut off by –

"No."

Every head in the room turned to Caesar, who had sat up and looked at Blue Eye for the first time since they all arrived. Blue Eyes just looked at his father, unsure of how he should feel about the address. When nothing more was said, Caesar continued with his hands. "Blue Eyes is right. He's a full Ape now. And he's my son. He's earned his place on the Ape Council."

They were all shocked, but none as much as Blue Eyes. His eyes were as wide as they could be, his expression softened to its nicest point in months. Caesar stood up, stepping out of the nest toward Blue Eyes. Snapped out of the shock, Blue Eyes lowered himself to all fours, slowly approaching his father and holding out his right hand palm up. With a truly prideful glint in his eye, Caesar reached out and stroked the open hand with his own. With his father's full approval, Blue Eyes stood up and stepped backward, taking his place in the circle with the others.

Koba stepped back into the circle, sitting next to Blue Eyes' right side. "Welcome," he signed, giving a firm pat on Blue Eyes' back. Cornelia was on his left, and she gently caressed his cheek with her finger, conveying all of her love and pride in a single warm gaze of her green eyes.

Not long after Blue Eye's inception into the council, Rocket returned with Stone, who seemed quite anxious as he saw the rest gathered together, complete with a brand new member. He took a seat next to Maurice, while Rocket placed himself at Caesar's right side.

"Now that we are all here," Maurice began, "we should make sure everybody knows what this is all about. Especially since we have a new member," and he nodded toward Blue Eyes.

Caesar nodded and signed, "You all remember two weeks ago, on the night of New Year's, I was attacked by a wolf. Rocket speared the wolf through the side, and we left it for dead. We returned to the village, and the doctors treated the wound as best they could. Somehow, the wound healed overnight. The doctors had no idea how.

"When Rocket, Maurice, and Koba went to retrieve the spear the next day, they discovered that the wolf was gone, and that a human was lying dead in its place, with the spear sticking through his sides."

Blue Eyes looked around, gauging the responses of the other Apes. They all seemed to understand, at least on some level, what Caesar was talking about, but he was left clueless. Still feeling cautious as the lowest-ranking member of the council, he raised a tentative hand to interject. "Father….what do you mean…exactly?"

Caesar wasn't put off at all by Blue Eye's confusion. Instead, he merely clarified with a sign. "After Rocket speared the wolf, it changed into a human, and died."

"It may sound impossible," Maurice signed, noting Blue Eyes' obvious incredulity. "But we know it to be true. We'll explain more later, but for now, we'll let your father continue," and he nodded back to Caesar.

Caesar took the cue to keep signing. "We had no idea how any of this happened, but we decided to leave the matter alone, and be thankful that everything was alright. Except that it wasn't. Over the last few weeks, I have felt worse. I have dreams where I run through the woods late at night as a wolf. Each night, the dreams get more vivid. And now, I have started to feel different even when awake, like there is something inside me that…" and he stopped just short of signing the horrific image he'd had just moments ago on the stairs of his son's bloodied corpse. "That wants me to do terrible things," is what he eventually settled.

Maurice took over. "And after searching long and hard, we have found the answer." His signing was slow and careful, hands passing over a face ridden with guilt. When he was done signing, he reached into the backpack taken from the house and pulled out the book, opening it up to the relevant section. He handed it over to Caesar, allowing him the chance to look over the text and see for himself what they had learned. "Just as I had originally suspected, the wolf that attacked Caesar was no ordinary wolf. It was a creature called-," and he spelled out the word for them.

When Caesar saw each of those letters signed in front of him, he spoke quietly in a gruff voice, "Werewolf?"

Maurice nodded. "A werewolf is a human who changes into a wolf every time there's a full moon in the sky. If a werewolf bites or scratches someone else, the wound will heal by morning, and that person will also become a werewolf."

At that last sign, Caesar closed his eyes and let out a very deep, very heavy sigh. When his eyes opened, his gaze had fallen to the text where he saw the illustrations of a man transforming into a wolf.

"You don't actually believe this, do you?" Koba signed with a skeptical huff through his pink lips.

"I not only believe it," Caesar began, throwing a deathly serious look toward Koba, "but I have known this to be true for some time, at least somewhat. I can feel the wolf inside of me, trying to fight its way out. I can feel it growing stronger every day, getting angrier every night. I have urges to do absolutely terrible things," and his eyes fell past the book down to the floor, unable to look at any of them, Blue Eyes in particular.

"It may seem impossible," Maurice added, "but then, how do we know what things are possible and which aren't? Worms change into butterflies. Seeds into trees. There are so many things we don't yet understand about the world around us. Perhaps the werewolf is just another mystery. We must all be willing to face the facts, and learn more about what's happening around us." There was a lot of nodding around the circle, and Koba was forced to sit back and proceed with the idea that Caesar had been cursed.

"What more do you know about these creatures?" Stone asked, trusting absolutely the word of the other Apes.

"The only thing that can kill them is a weapon made from silver," Rocket signed. "But only when they are a wolf. When human, they can be killed by any normal way."

"They're bigger than normal wolves. More ferocious too," Cornelia signed.

"So that's what will happen to Father?" Blue Eyes asked. "The next full moon, he'll change into a wolf?"

"Not if we cure him first," Maurice signed.

Caesar shot up straight when he saw that sign, dropping the book to the ground with mouth agape, lips quivering, eyes glistening with excitement. "How!?" he spoke out loud.

"There is only one way to break the werewolf curse," Maurice signed. "You must drink the blood of the werewolf that originally bit you, but both of you must be wolves in order for it to work."

Caesar slumped back down and signed, "Then I am cursed forever. The one that bit me is already dead."

"There may still be hope," Maurice signed, taking out some of the documents he'd picked up at the house. "The werewolf that bit you was this man," he signed, showing Caesar the picture of the man. "His name was Brendan Larsen, and he came to our woods looking for the werewolf that bit him," and he showed the photo of the red-haired woman. "That is this woman, Amelia Murphy. She's the human that Koba and Blue Eyes saw while out two weeks ago."

When Maurice showed the photo to the other Apes, Blue Eyes hooted a few times and signed, "Yes, that's her! That's the one!"

"Our only hope is that she's still in the woods somewhere. Since she's the werewolf that bit the werewolf that bit you, we're hoping that the cure will work the same way," Maurice signed.

"But what if it doesn't?" Koba asked. "What if the blood does nothing? Or, what if she's already gone?"

Caesar nodded. "Koba is right. We must be prepared if this does not work."

There was a distinct, dreadful pause as each of them played out a different series of potential scenarios in which Caesar, somehow, became a wolf, and they were unable to do stop him. As brutal as his speculative carnage was, they were even more reluctant to consider what seemed like the only other option. Finally, Cornelia piped up and signed, "We won't kill you. We can't. Ape not kill Ape."

"But I would not be Ape," Caesar signed. "I would be wolf. An animal. And I would kill Apes."

"But just for the one night," Stone pointed out. "The rest of the month you would be regular Caesar."

"Maybe…," Blue Eyes signed, daring to put forth an idea, "we could build a cage, where Father be a wolf for the night and not hurt anyone!"

Blue Eyes was confident that his idea would be well received considering how logical and practical is seemed. That's why he was curious when the other Apes seemed less enthusiastic about it, cringing at his mention of the word 'cage.'

"We do not cage Apes," Koba signed somewhat blankly. "Only humans cage Apes."

Blue Eyes whimpered a bit, and was prepared to apologize before Caesar interjected. "No! Blue Eyes is right!" Blue Eyes looked back to his father more confused than ever. Father agreeing with me? He must be really unwell. "If I am in a cage, I cannot harm any Apes." He turned to Koba and signed, "I understand your feelings, Koba. I've lived in a cage too. But this will be my choice – for the good of all Apes."

Koba looked down and nodded, signing, "If you wish. Can we build a cage strong enough to contain the wolf?"

Stone nodded. "Yes, gorillas build it. If we can't break it, nothing can."

Maurice signed, "While Stone and the gorillas prepare the cage, the rest of us should try and track down Amelia Murphy. Hopefully, she's still in the forest, and hasn't wandered too far from where Koba and Blue Eyes first saw her."

The plan was confirmed with a flurry of nodding heads, and low panting. As the Apes all stood up to take their leave, many paused to offer praise to the newest inductee. Stone stood tall on all fours and nodded gruffly, giving out a series of course, low grunts to signify is acceptance. Rocket lightly tapped Blue Eyes by his shoulder, hooting softly through O-shaped lips.

Maurice came up to him and signed, "Koba was right. You do show wisdom for your age," and he grinned at the young chimp. "That was a good plan."

Blue Eyes looked away for a moment before signing, "Hopefully we wont' need it."

Maurice nodded. "Right."

When all the rest had left, only the familial trio was left. Caesar went to his son and signed, "Well done for your first Council meeting. I know you'll continue to do well."

Blue Eyes bowed his head low for solid moment. As Caesar looked at his son showing this kind of respect, he wished he could freeze this single moment forever. Then he could postpone the coming horror. His son could stay like this forever. But he knew that this behavior would probably wear off within the next few days, and Blue Eyes would revert back to his surly, ornery self. It was, however, a step in the right direction, if only a step. Blue Eyes was struggling through his adolescence in a somewhat similar way that Caesar himself had. But if Caesar could help bring his son to bull adulthood, the easier things would be for the both of them.

Maurice's tree was right next to the village square. Stone nested on the Northern border to be close to the guard. Rocket lived on the next level down from the top of the cliff where the village lay. None of the Council members lived very close to one another. So none of them noticed when Koba slipped away to the stables.

He saddled up his horse and took off through the Southern gate, retracing their steps as best he could. It was very difficult at this point; the sun was long gone and the moon was as new as it ever was. Ordinarily, on a night this dark, Koba would have taken a torch out into the woods, but he was hoping to avoid detection at all costs.

Riding in the darkest night was less than ideal. The horse refused to go very fast for fear of tripping over the uneven, broken terrain. Guiding the horse was just as difficult. There was little either of them could do to help each other. The only useful light came from the brilliant star-scape dazzling up above, filtered considerably through the mid layers.

After a few hours of fruitless searching, and getting lost a couple of times, Koba finally found what he was looking for – the house. He pulled on the reins, bringing the horse to a halt right in front of the door. Knowing what to expect, he carelessly bust through the door. He tried the light switch, not surprised at all when the house stayed dark. He stepped over the abandoned shot gun, his feet connecting with the rust-colored paw prints covering the floor. He made his way to the kitchen, going straight for the lines of drawers sitting under the counter tops. He pulled them out one by one until he found what he was looking for. A the final drawer on the right, there were several silver spoons, forks, and knives aligned all next to each other. Koba grabbed several handfuls of them before turning back and heading out the front door. He held the utensils in his feet as he grabbed the reins to the hose and rode off back toward the village.

Short chapter I know, but thems the breaks. I'll try to have the next chapter up as soon as possible. In the meantime, check out my profile for a teaser chapter of my GIGANTIC epic crossover story. If you like this story, I'm sure you'll enjoy that one as well.