#kobafightforape

Blue Eyes had looked to this day with both anticipation and dread in his younger years, but even in his wildest nightmares, he could not have predicted these circumstances.

He rode upon the back of a horse only recently his own, behind him an entire colony of followers... even more recently his. Leader of the apes, a role so suddenly and violently forced upon him. The young ape hadn't been afforded the luxury of time to process how he had arrived to this point; an immediate and harsh lesson that his own personal problems did not always come before those of the tribe.

He had lost so much in the past twenty-four hours. They all had. But as Blue Eyes looked to one side where another horse closely flanked his mare, the relief and gratitude he had for what little family he had left was immeasurable. Little Cornelius clung to Lake and whimpered every now and again, no doubt reliving the horror of the night’s events. Blue Eyes was the lucky one. He had lingered at Lake's nest perhaps a bit longer than he should have the previous night, and it had saved Blue Eyes' life... and spared him Cornelius' trauma. He had witnessed their mother's murder. Blue Eyes had not. He couldn't understand the extent of his brother's grief, but at least they had Lake... Who cared deeply for the little chimpanzee, and hadn't hesitated to take him from Caesar when he had asked her to.

To his other side, the old warrior Koba, the only one of Caesar's closest that had stayed with the tribe when their leader had left them to avenge his wife. At least the bonobo hadn't left with them. It brought comfort and reassurance to the prince who had never lead the whole colony on so much as a hunt. Leading a few apes on the search for a new home had been one thing, but this was altogether different. On top of everything else that had happened, Blue Eyes felt drained of everything. But he had to at least fake enough confidence for the apes to believe in him. Having Koba as his right hand certainly made that easier.

He knew that Caesar had told Koba to stay so that Blue Eyes would be protected. Only a couple of years ago, this would have been offensive to the prince. Now, though, he was only relieved. Blue Eyes feared death more than he would readily admit to anybody.

  The firelight illuminated the whole ape colony sitting down to eat. Ceaser and Cornelia were with Rocket and Tinker, chewing contentedly on deer meat, and Luca was off to the side entertaining his gorillas with stalks of grass.

 Maurice and Koba were sitting on one of the higher ledges of the Colony, quietly observing them all. There were fewer orangutans and bonobos than there were chimps and gorillas, so maybe that was why the two council members had been left by themselves while the other went to join their groups.

 The orangutan slowly turned his head to the side, and grunted to catch Koba’s attention. He began signing, asking a question he had always been curious to know.

 “What...was Koba’s life like...before Ceaser?

CONTINUATION OF MY BROTHER 

Caesar gripped the spear tightly in his fingers, his eyes tracking the antlered beasts and their every move. A party of hunters surrounded him, each of them as deeply concentrated as he was, for this was the first time that they had located such large game in any great number. It was a victory beyond words that they had successfully tracked the herd, but it meant next to nothing if they returned to the hungry troop empty-handed. It was more important now than ever to make kills each day, for enough time had now passed for many females to be heavy with child and nearing birth, Caesar's own Cornelia among them. There was a lot riding on this hunt, even on a personal level.

To his left was Rocket, who had grown more loyal than Caesar could have anticipated, and to his right, his beloved Koba. The three of them had become skilled enough to lead these hunting trips, and with the three of them working together and a band of others backing them, they were a force to be reckoned with.

Brows furrowed in intense concentration, the lead ape motioned for Rocket to take a small number of chimpanzees around the herd on the left side. Caesar repeated this request with Koba, sending him and some others around the right side. The herd would be surrounded then, and with apes armed with spears high in the trees, they could attack without risk of being gored by those wicked antlers. Already several chimpanzees and a gorilla had been lost to such counter attacks, but now the apes knew of the danger and could prepare for it... Even use it to their advantage. In perhaps a cruel twist, antler points already tipped the ends of some of the spears which would be used to kill some of this herd; souvenirs of the few elk that the troop had managed to catch alone and slaughter.

“Run.”

Maurice mustered what energy it took to warn the humans. Ceaser was dead, but he couldn’t stop to think about that, not when the humans and the colony were in such terrible danger.

He beckoned the humans to follow him, with Rocket on hand to guard the rear. The colony would hopefully be too distracted by Koba, who was taking the gun off of Blue Eyes, that they would not follow them. Even after all these years, what Maurice had said to Ceaser so long ago still rang true: Apes Stupid.

The orangutan and the humans were able to shepherd the humans through the tunnel, with the Gorilla Guard being distracted. Maurice stopped at the entrance and grunted at them urgently, gesturing towards the woods.

“Go! Hide!” 

The dark-skinned man and another quickly descended the mossy slopes, but Alexander, who had given Maurice the book, lingered behind. The boy looked into Maurice’s eyes with a mixture of gratitude, fear, and sadness, and the orangutan blinked and hooted lowly at this young friend. He knew this was the last they would see of each other, and it saddened him greatly.

Ellie tugged him away by the arm, and Malcom pushed them on, stopping to look at Maurice and breath a short, “Thanks.”

The ape nodded and rumbled again, but then raised his arms and began pushing the air towards the good man. Go go go!

Once the humans had a fair headstart, Maurice turned around, and saw the first few chimps racing through the Gorilla tunnel. He braced himself, Ceaser may be dead, but he had been his third in command. He must still command some respect: he could stop the madness before it began.

He stood up, and then brought his fists crashing to the ground, letting out the loudest, fiercest noise that had ever been heard from his usually gentle mouth.

The young ape just didn't know what to think anymore.

So much had happened in the past few days... Humans had brutally killed his father, and Koba had lead the apes to war against the humans to avenge their fallen king. Countless friends had been shot, burned, blown into more pieces than Blue Eyes cared to venture a guess towards. He didn't understand how so many could be taken from them in one mere night, his mind struggling to wrap itself around exactly what had happened even now. But the worst had been yet to come...

Koba's actions had shaken the former prince to his core. Killing Ash for disobedience, locking away Caesar's closest friends – apes that Blue Eyes considered family – he didn't know who to trust anymore. The tyrant that ruled over them with an iron fist was most certainly not the Koba that he had always known. The uncle that had always been there to comfort and reassure him when his father was not. There had been times where Blue Eyes had wished that Koba was his father... But now? Now, Blue Eyes feared him more than any other living being.

All of this had left him feeling empty. Numb.

It was all just too much for him. Blue Eyes had made a career out of trying desperately to prove to his father that he wasn't a child anymore. But now he sure found himself feeling like one. A scared, lonely white-tail with no one to turn to, and nowhere to hide, as an imaginable threat loomed over him, ready to strike at any given moment.

What was he supposed to do?

Maurice sat in his dusty cart outside of the circus tent. Lazily he traced patterns in the dirt with a small twig. He could hear the sounds of the show already starting, though he knew it was not his turn for quite some time. 

They always starved him before performances, it made him more ‘productive’. They dressed him like a human and he paraded around doing human activities, such as riding a bicycle, using a phone, or eating dinner with his trainer. It made the audience laugh, that was all that mattered. The situation would’ve been cruel, had it not been all he had known for his entire life.

Maurice enjoyed long walks alone. He would often take time away from the colony to just be by himself in the woods. The orangutans by their nature enjoyed their alone time, but none so much as Maurice.