Caesar's Hut
It had only been about a day since the apes had issued that warning to the humans...surely enough they would not be seeing more of them in the near future.
The little damage they had done to the Kingdom's peace was already impactful, Caesar and Geleel would have to deal with a surge of disruption, the colony was in a constant frenzy.
Thankfully no ape was MURDERED, Ash being wounded by that gun was still enough to cause an uproar though.
Gabrielle kneeled besides her aunt as Cornelia cradled her newborn cousin; who had been named Cornelius.
Her mother, Emilia, was on the opposite side of Cornelia, they were both there to soothe the Queen after her successful birth.
Gabrielle looked to the entrance of the hut, her uncle and her father were seated there; they were seemingly having a very strong conversation judging by their constant sighing and heaving.
She couldn't help but sigh herself...this whole situation was putting so much stress on them and it was irritating her...humans...so detrimental to peace they were.
Gabrielle jumped slightly as a small hand touched her, she immediately looked down to see Cornelius' tiny hand resting on her forearm.
Emilia and Cornelia both let out small laughs as Cornelius playfully cooed and reached out at his cousin, who eventually began smiling at him fondly, he was too cute.
Gabrielle gently picked Cornelius up from his mother's arm as the latter of the three complied.
Emilia smiled at Cornelia, the latter smiling at Gabrielle as she played with Cornelius and gently stroked his stomach.
The blonde woman loved how Cornelia looked at her daughter...and she loved how her daughter looked at Cornelius, none of them cared about the difference in species...they were a family...atleast by definition they were.
They loved each other and they cared for each other more than anything, that was what it meant to be a real family, regardless of anything else.
Emilia was suddenly brought out of her thoughts when Cornelia lurched a bit and began letting out some very hearty, dry coughs.
"Cornelia? Are you alright?" Emilia questioned Cornelia as Gabrielle too took on a worried expression at the Queen's expense.
"Those coughs sound very dry..." Emilia then trailed off as Cornelia tried to wave her off.
"I am fine, do not worry yourself." Cornelia signed in response; the grimace Emilia sent her way let the former know that the latter was not buying it.
Cornelia drew in a deep breath as she struggled to steadily breathe, she knew Emilia was adept in terms of medicine, lying to her was virtually impossible.
"Don't tell Caesar...he already has enough to stress over." Cornelia pleaded with Emilia as she sighed.
She wanted to atleast warn the others about this...they had no antibiotics in the colony, if Cornelia's illness worsened it could become a life threatening issue.
Emilia then looked towards the hut entrance, her husband and brother in-law were still locked in a very spirited conversation from the looks of things...maybe Cornelia was right...their stress was seemingly overflowing.
But she did not care, if the Queen's state began to worsen, she would do whatever it took to garner medical resources for her.
A sudden roar sounded through the air, that roar was unmistakable...it was Luca...there was an intruder in the colony's territory.
This confused the three ladies, how often were they going to have intruders? This was becoming facetious.
Gabrielle turned to her mother; the latter nodded to her daughter.
They both turned to see Geleel and Caesar slowly stand up due to the commotion and loud hoots sounding throughout the colony.
They began moving forward, walking at steady paces.
Garbrielle gently handed her cousin back to his mother before standing up and walking forward, she wanted to see who or what had caused this uproar.
As Gabrielle walked forward, she took note of her father and uncle stopping at the edge of a ledge, they were seemingly staring down at whatever it was that was causing this ruckus.
From where she was, she could see a plethora of chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas breathing heavily in anticipation, among those apes were Luca, Blue Eyes, Ash, Rocket, Koba, Limbo and a few otherwise familiar faces...that's when he came into view fully.
Gabrielle's heart almost sunk...it wasn't the man who shot Ash...but it was the human leader, the man that was clad in blue when they first laid eyes upon him.
What was he doing here? Did her father and uncle not specifically warn these humans against coming back here and disrupting their peace?
Those same questions rang through both Geleel and Caesar's heads as they stared down at this man...his blue eyes bulged out of his head whilst Limbo stood firmly behind him with a spear in hand; they could sense the fear for his own life radiating off of him.
They did not care though, he had better had a very good reason as to why he was going against the previous warning that was given to his people.
"Please...please don't kill me." The man pleaded for his life...the stern look that mirrored both Geleel and Caesar's faces never left.
"Just hear what I have to say...I know...I know, don't come back, I wouldn't be here unless I-ack!" The man exclaimed as Luca slammed his forearm's into the former's back; stopping him from standing to his full height.
This motion caused the colony to go into a fit of screeching again.
"Okay! Okay! Okay...okay, I need to show you something...it's not far." The man said through ragged breaths, seemingly trying to appeal to Caesar's good nature.
However before anything else cam be said, Koba snarled.
"Human...lies!" Koba's voice soared through the air, once again riling the colony up.
Hoots and screeches intensified as Blue Eyes and Limbo sneered at the man's frantic demeanor.
"No! No!" The man shouted as Limbo handed his spear to his father, the latter of the three then positioned the spear to strike the man, as soon as Caesar gave the word they'd take his life...
Gabrielle felt like the air was thickening, she knew the man had disrespected their agreement but, the way he was pleading made him look almost desperate.
Were they any better than the humans if they were to execute this defenseless human right now?
As the screeches and hoots continued, Gabrielle looked towards her uncle and father who were seemingly still...deep in thought, tears formed in her eyes a bit, this situation was so dire and fickle that her brain could not process what emotions to expel.
After a short while, Caesar raised his left hand into the air...effectively silencing the entire crowd.
They were awaiting his decision...most of them expected him to give the go ahead to commence with the execution.
"Show...me." Caesar spoke out heartily...that sucked the air out of the crowd.
Edge of the Redwoods
The human lead a band of apes towards the edge of the Redwoods...many if not all of the apes were confused as to why this man was not murdered.
Only Geleel and a select few understood why Caesar was sparing him, any man who dared to step foot in their territory, ALONE at that, after the warning they had issued was either desperate or clinically insane.
They needed to know what was so important to this man that he had risked his own life and safety for this.
Caesar and Geleel walked side by side as the man led them to some sort of dam, it didn't look too disrupted.
Behind them was Koba, Limbo, Blue Eyes, Gabrielle, Ash and Rocket...a few other apes as well, they all wanted to see where the man was leading them.
They soon found themselves in front of a door; a railing blocked off the vast waterfall that flowed through the dam.
Gabrielle looked down at the water below, she never explored this part of the Redwoods.
The man struggled with the door for a bit, but he eventually popped it open as rust flew off of it almost instantaneously...Koba grimaced at this.
What could a human possibly need from this old, raggedy place?
If this was a trap...he would be sorry it was.
"This...is what we used to call a small hydro!" The man shouted as he led them into the building.
Geleel immediately looked around to notice the vast array of buttons and human contraptions...he remembered some of these from his days with Will at Gen-Sys.
Caesar too was intrigued by this odd building, he had no clue it was here.
Gabrielle picked up a small meter she saw on the floor as they continued walking, human stuff though odd, was fascinating.
"It was built to service areas to the North of here...but we've been working to re-route the powerlines to the city...we've been running on nuclear power but that ran out years ago, but if we could just get this dam working, then we have a shot at restoring limited power..." The man trailed off as he noticed the numerous glares being sent his way, not a single ape nor human seemingly understood what he was saying judging by the distasteful looks they were sending his way.
He didn't know how far their intelligence levels spanned but he knew they had to understand him in some way...
"Is any of this making any sense to you?" The man questioned both Caesar and Geleel as he gestured to them.
"You're talking about those big lights in the city, aren't you?" Gabrielle questioned aloud as everyone's attention turned to her.
"Yes...yes I am, thank you for understanding me." The man thanked Gabrielle, who was still sending a glare his way, with a breath of relief...but when she made no gesture or motion to accept his thanks he simply straightened up and turned back to Geleel and Caesar.
"Look, this is your home; I understand that, and I don't want to take it away I promise...but if you can allow us...let us do our wo-" The man is cutoff as Koba snarled loudly, it was almost a wonder the bonobo stayed quiet for this long with a human intruder in their midst.
"You...brought...others?" Koba questioned as he aggressively advanced the man, the latter backing away slightly before Caesar grunted for Koba to back down.
"Just a few...I'm not a threat...if I am, then I guess...you can kill me." The man declared as Geleel personally was taken back by this.
He respected this man's code of honor...the man desperately longed to help his own colony, so much as to put his life on the line for it.
"You can do your work here." Geleel spoke up; Koba almost grit his teeth into pieces at this, the amount of authority Geleel had still bothered him to no end.
"Thank you so much." The man thanked Geleel as the latter stepped forward imposingly, brown eyes clashing with blue.
"On one condition." Geleel said firmly.
Initial Redwoods
Caesar and Geleel were each on their horses at the moment, side by side as they watched the human address his group, they were seated in a jeep.
Gabrielle and Blue Eyes were perched in the same tree as they watched everything transpire from above.
Limbo was on his own two feet, his father had went back to the colony already to speak to his mother for some reason.
Geleel grimaced as he noticed the man who had shot Ash exit the car, two other men, a boy barely older than Gabrielle and a woman exited the vehicle, they then began unloading every gun in the truck.
That was the one condition that Geleel had stipulated, there would be absolutely no more guns allowed into the colony, the humans did not need guns for their work, and they were untrustworthy when they were in possession of them.
The brave man then made his way over to Geleel and Caesar's horses as he nodded at them.
Caesar nodded back, he was happy the humans were complying with the rule; this way they could get their work done quick and be gone just as quick...a true testimony to peace.
"Malcolm." The man, now dubbed as Malcolm, introduced himself to them.
"Geleel." Geleel said calmly before swiftly turning his horse around and having it leisurely begin walking back to the colony.
Caesar scrutinized Malcolm for a bit before gesturing to himself.
"Caesar." And that was it, the brave human man, Malcolm was acquainted with the two leaders of the Ape revolution.
Later on
Geleel sits himself down in between Caesar and Gabrielle, Blue Eyes was to the left of his father, he had just explained what happened to Emilia and Cornelia...they were in utter shock at how strange and bizarre this story was.
They did not know what was crazier, the fact the man had come back...or the fact Geleel and Caesar authorized him and his group staying to do work.
They understood that this was worth it for the peace though.
Only one ape did not understand this though...and it was no shock that that ape's name was Koba.
Koba's anger only continued to grow as he watched Rocket and Ash smash the human guns to pieces.
That is when he had had enough, swiftly standing up; much to the confusion of his wife and son who watched his back get further and further away.
Caesar, Geleel, Blue Eyes and Gabrielle all stared at Koba as he stopped in front of Caesar irately.
"If they get more power, they'll be more dangerous...why help them?" Koba signed out with an irate grunt.
Geleel fought the urge to sigh as he looked to Koba with a glare; must this bonobo instigate EVERYTHING?
"They seem desperate, if we make them go they may attack." Caesar signed back.
"Let...them." Koba said outloud, his voice a bit hoarse.
Gabrielle was taken back by the deranged look on Koba's face...did he not see what one small gun did to Ash? Why would he risk any more of that transpiring? Did he not care for the safety of this tribe?
"We'll destroy them while they're weak." Koba signed to Caesar once more.
"Are you, willing to risk the lives of the apes you love for that?" Geleel questioned as this made Koba stumble a bit...hearing someone question him aloud like that was a slight reality check.
He couldn't even rebuttal Geleel as Caesar called his name.
"Just relax Koba, we have one chance for peace, just let them do their human work and they'll be gone before you realize." Caesar tried to reason with the bonobo...little did he know, this was going to set Koba off more than anything.
Human work? Is that what they were calling it?
"Human work?" Koba questioned aloud, as if he could not understand the nonsense Caesar had just spat.
"Human work." Koba repeated once more before showing the scar on his neck.
"Human work." Another scar on his forearm.
"Human, WORK!" Koba exclaimed as he gestured to his blinded eye, but that meant nothing to Caesar at the moment.
The Ape King stood up whilst glaring down at Koba, his height being boosted by the slab he was once sitting on, Koba's tone was far too aggressive for his liking.
Koba immediately kneeled down after realizing his mistake, outstretching his hand for forgiveness.
Everyone now trained their eyes onto the two apes...awaiting to see what Caesar would do.
Caesar begrudgingly swiped his hand over Koba's opened palm.
The Bonobo then stood up sheepishly as Caesar glared down at him still...he swiftly took this chance to begin huskily walking back over to his family...the air was still masked with a poignant tinge of awkwardness.
"So ignorant." Geleel said as Caesar sat down; he couldn't stand how stubborn Koba could be at times.
Blue Eyes then stood up swiftly as he glared at his father.
"Koba says we should not trust the humans!" Blue Eyes signed with a few aggressive grunts in between, Gabrielle was taken back by this, since when did her cousin think that way? Did he forget that SHE and her family were humans? Did his newfound distrust expand towards them?
"Enough! From humans Koba learned hate...and nothing else." Caesar dismissed his son.
Geleel stared towards the fire in the middle of colony...if that wasn't the truth he didn't know what was, Koba hated humans so much yet he'd inherited the thing that made humans so insipid in the first place.
Hatred and prejudice were heavily incorporated into Koba's mentality...he was more of a man than he thought.
Chapter Fin
A.N.-I know this chapter is super short but it's just a build up chapter, the next one might be a little short too, but after that things will pick up again.