Apologies for the late chapter, everyone.
Ran into a bit of stalled enthusiasm due to other things in life getting in the way, namely grad school. So I think it's safe to say that updates will not be infrequent but they will not be every week. I'm just too busy.
So a huge shoutout to everyone who has stuck with this fic so far. I'm still floored it's gotten this much attention. I will do my best to answer any DMs or comments you leave for me. Reviews are very much encouraged!
"Never use a big word when a filthy little one will do."
-Johnny Carson
Act 1 Chapter 8- Shit
In the span of four days, Noa felt as though he'd lived a lifetime. From humble origins in a small village to unlocking the secrets of an underground human vault, he briefly wished none of this had happened. That things could go back to what they were before: a happy, peaceful life with eagles to train and trees to climb.
Traversing a rocky side cliff, drenched in cold, salty water, he could say with certainty he'd rather be anywhere else.
"Mae!" he shouted. "Mae!"
The apes struggled to keep up with the bipedal human, who powered through wind and wave at a steady pace. Another unexpected human ability.
"You said there would be climb!" Anaya moaned.
Noa didn't disagree with the sentiment despite his best friend's tendency to whine. Trying to navigate this terrain was almost impossible. One slip, one misstep could send them over the edge and into the black abyss of the sea…
He helped Soona regain her footing when she fell. Together they grabbed hold of the slippery rocks, hugging the side of the cliffs in an intimate embrace.
"How…much…longer?!" Noa called to Mae, coughing through a mouthful of seawater.
"Just up ahead!"
After what seemed like an eternity swimming through unforgiving elements, Mae stopped and allowed them to catch up. She pointed to the top of the rocky wall, which traveled in a vertical pattern to a lookout about fifty yards above.
"There!"
Just like that, the tables turned. Mae's advantage became a dependency. She hopped on Noa's back, wrapping her arms around his body and hung on for dear life. An ape was needed to make this climb.
"Hang on," he said to her. She nodded in the affirmative, steeling her nerves in preparation for what was to be a grueling trip. He had to admire that unflinching determination. For a creature so much weaker than an ape, she had twice the mental strength.
Mae would require every ounce of that strength and so did Noa. She wasn't that heavy. But scaling a perilous cliff with the weight equivalent of another ape on your back made the journey twice as arduous. His muscles strained and burned with each pull upwards. Anaya and Soona, unburdened, carrying mere torches on their backs, soon raced past them.
"Easier than top nest," the former remarked.
Noa would have said something snarky back to him, but self preservation necessitated complete focus. His thick fingers grooved between the cracks, carefully selecting each jagged edge for purchase.
Anaya swung to the left, tracing another path up the cliff and a piece of debris splintered off. It narrowly avoided hitting the ape-human tandem, causing Noa to frown.
Why do accidents always happen around Anaya?
The momentary lapse in concentration almost cost them, Noa's hand lost its grip and he fell a good ten feet. By the skin of his teeth, he clung onto a protruding rock while Mae clung to his legs. The sheer amount of weight almost caused him to let go, but the will to live commanded his muscles to keep working. Regaining his center, the young chimp reached down and pulled Mae around his neck.
The poor girl shook like a leaf in the wind. Noa breathed in and out in a steady rhythm to show they were alive.
"Are…you…alright?" he asked in between breaths.
"Yes."
An eyebrow quirked upwards.
"Shit?"
The corners of Mae's mouth twitched just a bit.
"Mhm."
From there, the ride went much smoother. They reached the top of the cliff, where Anaya and Soona were waiting to assist. That's when the real jaw dropper hit.
In front of them, embedded within the rocks themselves, was a structure made out of similar material he'd seen in Proximus' courtyard. Thick, gray, and unnatural. In the middle were three holes, foreboding and black as night without a moon.
No part of Noa wanted to go in there, but forge ahead they must. The fate of Eagle Clan depended on it.
Mae took the lead again, slipping through an opening in one the holes, vanishing from view. She reappeared ten seconds later and gave them the all clear to enter.
Torches were lit and only then could the full scope of the vault be witnessed in all of its concrete glory. What Noa saw defied his own comprehension. A vast tunnel- circular, smooth, and precise, leading to an overhead platform. An enormous pillar, bigger than any tree he'd ever seen, stood in the middle.
"Wait, careful!" Mae warned.
She held out a hand just before Anaya teetered over the edge, which went down…down…down to an unknown place, perhaps miles below the surface. Ever curious, the ape threw his torch down to see just how far it would go. It took several haunting seconds to hear the resulting crash.
Anaya, though a bit uncoordinated at times, also had a knack for vocalizing the obvious.
"Shit."
She had to move with all haste. Time was not on Mae's side. They'd wasted too much already laying down the explosive charges and the gunpowder. And no clock or watch existed to keep track of it. Inside of a man made bunker without a moon or stars as a guide, every second mattered.
The damn control room had to be around here somewhere. The directory said it would be on two floors down, labeled '6D', two paces from where the elevator used to run. Ah, yes, here it was.
Mae smashed the door open with one swing of the ax. Three hundred years of rust and lack of maintenance made the job easy. Now came the hard part.
She glanced around the room and took in the contents. In many ways, the room appeared as though the staff had popped out for a lunch break and were due to return in an hour. Much of the equipment was intact- the panels, the knobs, the computer monitors. One cup of coffee stood alone, as if waiting for an owner that would never come back. A thin coating of dust covered everything in sight. Cobwebs drifted aimlessly in the corners of the ceiling.
Great haste returned and Mae began to file through a series of metal compartment doors, each one containing a different set of supplies- canned food, bars of soap, jerky, towels, clean clothes, and various tech designed to keep a place this complex going for decades. A boon to the cause, but not what she was looking for.
She opened another and saw a tantalizing prize- firearms. A whole collection of machine guns, semi automatics, and sidearms. Mae had been trained to handle pistols and knew how to use them, but this was also not what she needed.
Where is it?
Turning around to the last compartment on the left, she saw at long last, the golden goose. The key to humanity's return was in fact, a key.
The size of a small cassette tape, Mae pressed the satellite decryption key, scarlet red in color. It popped with a satisfying 'click' and she held it in her hands like it was a sacred relic, storing it in her satchel.
A nagging thought tugged at her mind. This place was a treasure trove of human ingenuity beyond the imagination of most apes. Most being the operative word. Some were intuitive enough, smart enough to utilize some of the tech in this room. One item in particular.
Mae's eyes flitted over to the compartment full of guns. It was a travesty she couldn't take them with her. Neither could they fall into the hands of Proximus. Nor could anything else for that matter. Under different circumstances, if her friends were still alive…they might have been able to take more for the fight to come.
She held in the urge to sob. Crying over them wouldn't do anything now. The Council…humanity was counting on her. Fate of mankind rested on her small shoulders. She squared them back, grabbed one of the pistols and several magazines, storing them in the satchel.
Time ticked away as Mae's urgency kicked into overdrive. The longer they stayed here, the more likely Proximus would notice they were gone…and the more likely Noa might find something he wasn't supposed to see.
'I was right.'
Caesar scrambled in the pitch black of night. The voice came from nowhere and everywhere, its raspy pitch grew louder with each passing second.
'Apes win war.'
Dread chilled the very spurs of his spine. No…it couldn't be.
'Koba,' he breathed out into the darkness.
The fruitless endeavor to find Koba ended with him on his back, struck by an unknown force. A familiar, scarred face peered down, murderous glee in that chalky white eye.
'Caesar…still love human. Caesar…weak.'
'No. You caused this…you started…everything.'
Koba's evil stretched wider to show pointy incisors.
'Koba started…Caesar finished…isn't that right?'
The colonel stood over him, pistol in hand, pointing it at his head. Unlike the bonobo, McCullough showed no smile. Hatred burned in his eyes like sapphire coals.
'I guess you got your wish.'
Caesar didn't respond, refusing to give this monster any kind of satisfaction of hearing him beg.
'It's a planet of apes. And we are now your cattle.'
A boot pressed into his wound, causing the chimp to roar with devastating pain.
'Are you happy? Is this the world you wanted to build?'
Caesar seethed as the boot dug further into his fur, piercing the skin.
'I hope you don't regret sparing him. He's a good shot.'
Preacher stared down at him now, gun replaced by a crossbow, but he spoke in the colonel's voice.
'Humanity is dead. Your family is gone.'
'No!'
'AND IT'S YOUR FAULT!' Preacher bellowed.
'NO!'
The crossbow fired.
"NO!"
Caesar awoke with a jolt, pain shooting up his side and into his neck. He reached around to touch the bandages. Through the impenetrable black, fingers touched wetness leaking through.
Trapped inside yet another cage, the promise of death tugging at his elbow, the great chimp, had nothing and no one but thoughts. And the echoes of nightmares.
Human medicine would help.
What a grand stroke of irony that Proximus should disparage humans and steal their ideas at the same time. The bonobo valued weapons, soldiers, and titles while neglecting advanced medical care.
"Caesar?"
Raka's voice boomed out from somewhere in the ether. There were no windows in this place and therefore no moonlight to gain any frame of reference.
"I'm here."
"You sound like…you are in pain."
His shout must have awakened the orangutan.
"Only a nightmare."
Excuses were fragile and so were prison bars. The sound of a door being swung off its hinges rang throughout the hallway. Caesar's eyes adjusted to the darkness just enough to see Raka standing in front of him not a moment too soon.
"How?" he asked weakly.
"Metal bars are frail. Had to find proper…leverage." A furry hand slipped through the vertical bars. "Turn…round. Show me your wound."
Caesar did his best to do so in pitch black, pressing his back against the cool iron. Raka poked and prodded with gentle fingers, but inevitably, they struck the affected area. The hand retreated, stained with blood.
"I cannot see much. But the wound has been reopened."
Not surprising. Caesar figured that all the action had cost him proper healing. Dar's admonishment looked like wise counsel in hindsight. Still, he could not abandon his duty.
"I can…get you out. Then we find Noa and Mae. Find Eagle Clan. Your clan."
"My clan…is gone."
Somber silence followed. Mourning for what Raka perceived to be recently deceased.
"I am sorry…my friend. I weep for your loss. But…we should still escape from here."
"You may escape. I cannot."
Though shrouded in darkness Caesar pictured straight away the incredulousness on Raka's face.
"Why?" came the expected disbelief.
"No ape is free…until we are all free."
"You're in…no condition to fight."
Caesar's mind knew this to be true, but his heart refused to listen.
"I must do so anyway."
"Caesar." And the chimp turned to look at the outline of an reddish-orange hue standing in front of him. "There is…no dishonor in not fighting. Sometimes it is best to avoid bloodshed."
He closed his eyes, Koba torturing his thoughts. He'd done everything possible to prevent war between apes and humans. Reason, compassion, and authority were not enough to dissuade Koba from choosing a dark path. Caesar sighed, long and deep.
"The fire of Proximus is spreading," he said. "If he's not stopped here, more apes will come under his control. Humans will be killed or forced to build him greater weapons. Lies will become truth."
He reached out an arm through the bars in a conciliatory gesture. It settled on Raka's shoulder.
"What you saw tonight- the destruction of your work- is only the beginning. That is why I have to fight."
Seeing that he would not be able to talk Caesar out of his course of action, Raka exhaled.
"You are without a doubt…the most stubborn ape I have ever seen…and the bravest."
The admiration broke through like the moon on a cloudy night, the orangutan monk would not desert to save himself. Their respective fates were intertwined; two branches tangled on the same tree.
"If you are to challenge Proximus, you will need to change your bandages."
"Nothing can be done about that."
"Wrong. There must be…medical supplies somewhere."
"You're right."
A flash of candle light revealed the scraggly, tattered form of Trevathan, frowning in disapproval.
"But you two are better off returning to your cells."
Caesar didn't say anything at first. This was the second intelligent human he'd met and his first impression left much to be desired. He may have been in service to Proximus, but etched upon that bearded frown was the same arrogant prejudice almost all members of his species held towards apes.
"He needs medical care," Raka explained calmly. Trevathan's eyes shifted to the bloody wound on Caesar's right side. The smallest bit of sympathy cracked through his pitiless, wrinkled stare.
"I'm sorry to hear. But you should have thought of that before challenging Proximus."
"He is…in great pain."
"And he'll be in greater pain if you don't get back in your cell."
Through the bleeding and the painful pulse pumping through his right side, Caesar snarled in anger. He'd met many kinds of humans, many good, many evil. The colonel, evil as he was, had been a radical. Trevathan on the other hand, was a traitor.
"You would turn your back on your own kind just to serve Proximus?"
The candle light flickered at the same as a flash of pain across the man's face.
"I don't care about what happens to humans."
"But you are human."
"I'm painfully aware. Now, get back in your cell or I promise Proximus will skin you both alive."
Caesar contemplated eliminating this nuisance. Though injured, he was quite sure he could overpower Trevathan in a couple of swings. A grown adult male human might pose a challenge. Before he could act on this impulse, Raka cut through the tension with a voice of eminent reason.
"You claim you don't care about humans-"
"I don't."
"-but what about the apes…under Proximus' control?"
"What about them?"
Raka, showing a bit shrewdness underneath that wise exterior, kept Trevathan on the defensive.
"If you are helping Proximus, you must also believe in his vision."
There was a two second pause in the conversation but it was enough for Caesar to see the doubt lurking behind that barrier of apathy.
"I help him because I want to."
"Then you know he will…discard you…once he has what he wants."
"Without me, Proximus wouldn't have a kingdom."
Ah, there it was. That selfish compulsion to self preservation. The kind that existed in humans and apes alike.
"What do you think happens…when he takes technology for himself? You heard his speech tonight."
Though the glowing orange ball of flame was small, the downward direction of Trevathan's eyes spoke louder than any protest to the contrary or claim of personal nobility.
"Don't ask me to help you escape. I'm not risking my neck for that."
"No, not escape," Raka clarified. "New bandages…and…medical treatment."
That raised the human's eyebrows through the roof of his matted forehead.
"You actually plan to fight him?"
"Yes!" Caesar hissed as another round of throbbing pain shot through his chest. Trevathan initially looked as though he didn't believe anyone could be so reckless.
"Wait here."
The human, and his spark of light, disappeared, leaving them in the pitch black ether. Minutes passed and Caesar began to wonder if they'd made a grave error in letting him go. Ape masks would appear at any moment and that would be the end of them both.
The light returned and so did Trevathan after a nerve racking eternity with a small box tucked underneath his arm. He stared at them with the look of a psychiatrist who believed their patient to be insane.
"If anyone asks…I didn't give you any of this."
"This place…smells weird."
Anaya's observation was an understatement. This human place held a number of surprises, not all of them pleasant. Least of all the odor, which was musty and reminded Noa of a decaying animal corpse. There was so much to see, so much to admire…and yet all he felt was fear.
"Echoes built this?" Soona wondered aloud as they traversed the wide, gray looking hallways.
"Not echoes," Noa said. "Humans."
He'd learned the difference by now. The lowly creatures he seldom saw scavenging in the forest were incapable of building such an elaborate fortress. Those like Mae and Trevathan? Most certainly.
"What is a 'human'?" Anaya asked.
"That's what Mae is."
"But I thought…she was…echo?"
Noa shook his head. "Humans are…echoes."
"But…you just said they were different," Soona reminded him.
He wasn't in the mood to split hairs or explain the nuances. Noa preferred to keep moving, holding the torch high in case they came across anything unexpected. Human lights guided their way but that fact brought little comfort. The lights were shiny, fluorescent, and intense, but artificial. Something about them was…fake.
As they searched around, a sixth sense crept up the back of his spine. This place contained secrets. Secrets he wasn't supposed to know. But the curiosity burning within pushed him to find out anyway.
Mae wouldn't want you doing this.
All the more reason then. She was still keeping things from him. And he had a right to know, didn't he? If they were true friends anyway. True friends did not keep things from each other.
They came across a door, slightly ajar, the empty space between its handle and the wall bading visitors to enter. Inviting them in.
The three apes failed to restrain their quizzical natures. They proceeded to give themselves a tour of the room, so strange in its dimensions even stranger in its treasures. Noa marveled at each one of them as he held out his torch, the fire acting as a light to expose all the mysteries of this…human work; circular balls hanging on pieces of string painted in many colors, toys of a variety unknown to simian kind, and over on a table, a tiny little figure the size of an ape's hand. A miniature female echo, unmoving, lifeless, its eyes forever staring in one direction.
Soona picked up the little figure and the pressure from her thumb ignited a high pitched squeak of 'Mama!'
Spooked, she set it down in an instance. Anaya gave a hoot of anxiety. But Noa saw these things. All the wonders great and small, the most amazing and terrible of which came in the form of a book.
Raka preached the value of books was more than all the precious stones in the world, for in them lay power beyond power. Apes might live and die; ideas lasted forever. So when he picked up a dusty one off the floor, he could not read it, but knew something important lay inside.
"The symbols have meaning."
He handed the torch to Anaya and opened the contents with a dusty crinkle. Soona peered over his shoulder, equally as eager to find out what these smart echoes had written.
To Noa's surprise, there were pictures on the inside as well as words and they helped him to decipher the story. He saw images of echoes and their offspring pointing at other animals, some familiar, like the striped horses. Others were so radically different, he wondered if they were real. All the animals were behind bars.
"Why are they…in cages?" Anaya whispered.
The answer came when Noa flipped to the next page. All three chimps stared in a state of abject shock at the sight of an ape…clinging to the vertical bars like a deranged beast for the sole entertainment of the human child, pointing in laughter.
'Humans ruled over apes. We lived side by side…but on their terms.'
Noa's eyes closed as a tidal wave of nausea crashed into the inner lining of his stomach. Caesar told him the truth. Mae confirmed as much. But to see it for the first time, unvarnished and raw, in front of his face shattered the last walls of innocence left.
Proximus may have been a tyrant, but he hadn't lied about this.
Mae knew straight away that something was wrong when she came back to collect Noa and his friends. He'd said nothing, made little noise, and became withdrawn…sullen almost. Her suspicions were confirmed as the group headed towards the bottom level. Anaya and Soona gawked at the tanks and other military machinery lined up in neat rows. She figured three hundred years would render their operations systems useless.
Better safe than sorry.
"We have to move quickly," she told Noa as she approached the power grid that controlled the gate. "Find your clan…and I'll detonate the explosives."
"Hm."
Training kicked in. The mission mattered the most. Not personal feelings. Especially not the feelings of the species trying to enslave and kill your own. But seeing the devastated look on Noa's face- the sadness, the confusion, the betrayal- became too much for her heart to bear.
"What's wrong?"
She said it gently enough for him to meet her eyes. Those intense, sparkling green eyes she both admired and feared. The young ape raised an arm, which contained something unseen until now.
"A book?" Mae asked. Why would he be upset about a book? As far as she was aware, Noa couldn't read and this particular book was a simple 'ABC' lesson for kids. Just pictures. Without a word, he turned to the 'M' section and the source of his angst was made evident.
"Noa, there's no time to get into that."
"Humans put apes in cages?"
The outrage in his voice sparked notice from Anaya and Soona, who stopped to tune in and listen.
"A long time ago, yes. But-"
"Is this what you meant by helping echoes? Is that what you want?"
Mae's anger kicked into overdrive with the speed of a wildfire. Why was he doing this now? They had a thousand more important objectives to complete and an argument about ape-human relations was the last thing she desired to dive into.
"What I want is to get out of here alive," she said as her temper smashed into the edges of self control. "So quit being immature and come on."
The tough response evoked an equal, opposite reaction. When she tried to crank the lever down, Noa blocked her path.
"Do not avoid me," he thundered and the minor aggression reminded Mae once again just how much stronger he was compared to her. "Is this what you want, Mae?"
The question twisted into her chest like a jagged knife, cutting her so deeply her arteries ached. She'd come to like Noa quite a bit. He was an ape cut from a different cloth. But telling him the truth served no purpose. How was one to tell Noa that his species was responsible for causing the virus that killed human civilization? That there were others like Proximus, just as bloodthirsty and terrible as he? Or that she'd lost her fucking family because a chimp ripped them apart limb from limb?
"Do you want to save your clan or not?" she shot back.
Never answer a question with a question. Her mother preached that bit of wisdom from the time she could walk. Noa looked as though he'd been slapped in the face and she knew that the refusal to give an answer would come back to haunt her.
But common sense prevailed. The young chimp stepped away from the control panel and allowed pay to switch one lever down and pull up another. Gears rumbled and groaned from centuries of disuse. A loud buzzing alarm sounded, frightening Soona and Anaya into fearful shrieks and hoots. Red lights blinked on and off as chunks of dirt crumbled from the ceiling above.
Mae held her breath as the gargantuan steel doors moved forward. From the tiny cracks of light peeking through, she discerned that morning was well underway. They'd overshot their time limit by a mile and Proximus awaited on the other side.
There's no way he hasn't noticed we're gone.
Noa told her Caesar promised to take care of the giant bonobo, which she assumed meant that the two apes would fight to the death. All the better if they both died. It would make her job of flooding this place that much easier. But what if Caesar failed? What if-
The doors gained speed and pushed outwards. Anaya's last torch extinguished on the ground with a hiss. The light grew in its intensity, blinding human and ape alike…
"Shit," Mae heard Noa say.
One hour earlier…
No matter what reassurance Caesar gave or comforting words he spoke, Raka had the distinct sense he was walking into the jaws of death.
What little sleep he'd managed to keep brought no comfort. For when dawn arrived in a thick, cloudy haze, Sylva and his team of burly gorillas wasted little time in reminding them of their impending demise.
"It is time for the challenge," Sylva rumbled, slamming an electro staff into the ground. "Proximus awaits."
Caesar complied without fuss, allowing his hands to be bound in rope. To Raka's slight surprise, he was given the same treatment.
"What…happened to these?" Lightning snarled as he pointed a gnarly finger at the broken bars laying in a rusty heap a few feet away. In another life, Raka might have laughed at the black humor. Hairy shoulders shrugged with indifference.
"Old bars…fell off."
Lightning snarled but did not issue any punishment other than a forceful shove before his hands were also bound. Both of them were led to the lower deck of the ship, past barnacle encrusted walls and rusty cages, down several steps as the morning light grew brighter and brighter with each passing step.
Raka observed Caesar with a sharp eye. He was walking fine, a good sign. The wound that plagued him had been cleaned and the fresh bandages lacked any sign of blood. No one had noticed yet and he doubted anyone would, but how well those bandages held up in a fight against the massive bonobo meant the difference between victory and defeat.
What a puzzle this chimp was and remained. An extraordinary simian living in extraordinary circumstances. Someone else would have run. Someone else would have taken the opportunity to escape and save their own skin. Caesar chose to stay. Caesar chose to fight for all apes because it was the right thing to do.
He'd learned so much and yet so little about this ape. As a matter of principle, Raka did not believe in coincidences. So what connection was there between this 'Caesar', who also adopted the name of a disciple? The one who knew everything and nothing about his namesake. It was right there on the tip of his tongue!
Their captors pulled them through a hole in the ship's hull into the outdoors. It was nice to take a breath of fresh air, even in the midst of a staged execution. He'd never seen this little corner of Proximus' kingdom, but it must have been the crown jewel. The king himself stood in the center atop an elevated wooden platform, red flags waving in the gentle morning breeze. A large contingent of his subjects gathered round as the low hum of anticipation permeated throughout the courtyard. The sound of constant drums pounded in rhythm as they were marched through the crowd.
"Rocket," he said in a high whisper, enough for Caesar to hear. "Rocket. How are you feeling?"
"I am ready."
A non-direct answer. Not exactly reassuring. There was no way to stop the fight to come, but Raka wouldn't allow his friend to go into battle without some measure of comfort.
"You are not alone. No matter what happens…I am here."
Though he faced away from Raka and the masses distorted some of the words, he was able to make out the gist of what Caesar said to him next.
"Raka…what I said before at the crossing. It was wrong. Caesar would have been proud of what you do. He would have wanted apes to live together with humans."
A tug of the rope pulled them both forward. Lightning hissed at them to be quiet. The orangutan ignored the order. Most orders weren't worth obeying.
"Remember…the Lawgiver" he whispered one final time as they approached Proximus' throne. "Remember his words."
"Apes together strong," Caesar repeated back with soft reverence and a sad smile. "I remember. And so will they."
A slash of the knife and their physical connection severed. Lightning and one another mask pulled Raka away back towards the edge of the crowd. Caesar was led up a flight of steps until he came face to face with the mighty ape king.
To Raka it appeared to be an almost unfair match. Caesar, smaller, shorter, healing from numerous injuries, fared little chance against the man-sized bonobo who stood tall and proud in the early morning light. Chest puffed out, hands relaxed, crown affixed atop his head, it seemed there wasn't a simian in the entire world who could present a challenge.
Proximus waved over two servants. He took off the crown as a sign that the title was in limbo pending the outcome of the fight. The servants received it with a dirty red pillow (probably picked out from the ship somewhere) and scurried away.
"By sacred decree, by the words of Caesar! I, Proximus…his successor in name and lineage declare this duel to be legitimate and valid!"
The crowd roared with approval.
"I accept the challenge from the ape, Rocket!" Proximus boomed. "A challenge that can only be resolved when one of us is standing…and the other is dead!"
Raka's stomach gave a disappointed lurch at the sight of so many of his kin sharing in the demand for blood. He thought that apes were better than that. 'Ape shall not kill ape.' Wasn't that the golden rule?
It would not be the first time I was wrong.
"The challenger may use all of his strengths and wits to earn victory," the king said as a soldier cut through Caesar's bonds. "That is the way! That is the law!"
More cheering. More mindless hooting and hollering. He half wished for the battle to start already. He prayed that Noa and Mae had entered the vault and done what was necessary to destroy the contents inside. But what happened if their leader was also destroyed?
"Does the challenger have any…final words?"
The allowance of final testimony was not generosity on the part of Proximus. Bullies liked to portray dominance over opponents. This was an exercise in humiliation. A last breath before inevitable death.
Caesar, far from being intimidated, did not say anything. Instead, he turned towards the crowd, as a true leader would and rolled his shoulders back to full height. A burst of sunlight poked through the clouds right at the same time he smashed two fists together over his head.
'Apes Together Strong.'
The pieces of the puzzle finally fit together for Raka. Hours of thought and meditation converged into one momentous answer that had been under his very nose this entire time. Caesar wasn't named after the Lawgiver. Caesar wasn't ignorant of the Lawgiver. Caesar did not hate the Lawgiver.
He was Caesar. Living and breathing among them. Ready to lead apekind to the promised land.
A gong rang and the crowd made its excitement known with deafening cheers.
"Let the challenge begin!" Proximus boomed.
Alright, some quick author's notes.
A/N #1- Just as a reminder. Mae is not aware at this point in the story that humans created the virus that wiped themselves out. I know she does in the movie but I'm taking some creative liberties here.
A/N #2- Mae and Noa's relationship is stronger at this stage in the game but also more emotionally charged. You'll see that play out in the next few chapters.
A/N #3- Some of you might be puzzled as to why it took Raka, the religious member of the group, to put two and two together. I think it's almost out of disbelief that something so supernatural could happen (faith does not imply irrationality) and that while he is more emotionally intelligent than Noa, does not have the same level of intuition when it comes to raw intelligence. At least that's my theory.
Anyway, this is the deep breath before the plunge. Next chapter is going to be action packed! Stay tuned and rock on!
~The Wasp