Maurice was frazzled. Since the war broke out between the troop and the humans, he's only felt more and more weak with each turn or twist the battle took. Each death, gunshot, and explosion felt as if it killed a part of him, too. He knew Koba was their leader now, but the bonobo was nothing like Caesar, and even though Maurice wasn't sure if that was his reason, he could not follow Koba like he had their previous king. At least, not into something like this. Maurice did hold respect and care for Koba, but the part that he praised only seemed to show itself when Caesar was around - that is, Caesar or Haley. But Caesar was dead and Haley was missing, and this fight - the killing - Maurice couldn't allow for it. And he paid for that decision as soon as he made it, as others did as well. When he and the council were escorted away from the troop, as if they were nothing but harrier humans, none of them faught. Somehow, they all knew exactly what will happen if they refused to kill. But despite his resolve, Maurice's steps felt heavier than they've felt in a long time. He knew the inside of a cage quite well and wasn't excited to be back in one. He spent his life locked up while he was with the large tent that humans called a circus - it wasn't pleasant at all. And so, it took a lot out of each member of the council to escort themselves into the strange metallic container at gunpoint. First, Maurice had thought it looked funny for an ape to hold a gun, but when his life was put in the balance, his amusement quickly dwindled.

And then came Haley. Seeing the human girl watching him in horror from a few yards away tore at the orangutan's heart. Humans were weak creatures - they broke so easily, whether that be their minds or bodies - and although Haley was excellent at feigning strength to an intimidating height, Maurice never forgot: she was still human. It tore at his heart for Haley to see him and the others chained to the inside of the strange metal beast like crazed animals. Haley cared too much - it made her careless, reckless, and impulsive. The thick and deep dark circles that were carved under her tired, dreary eyes were all the proof anyone needed to reach the same conclusion he had, and it turns out, that was already the case. The makeshift prison shook viciously with the uproar that broke out when Haley disappeared into building to go find Koba. Rocket screeched after the girl, wordlessly telling her to come back. Luca pulled against his restraints with all the power his giant body still had left, and pointlessly kept going when he did nothing but shake the container. They all knew that Haley was on more than just thin ice with Koba - he was definitely in a state that he would kill her if she challenged him in front of everyone. Maurice was more than frazzled, he was petrified.

Eventually, the council calmed down, but the tension in the air made it clear that not a single ape's anxiety was gone for good, if gone at all. Maurice's bright but tiny green eyes stayed glued to the construction shapes at the top of the building where Koba was, gibbering every few minutes as if he was praying that Haley was alright. He hoped that, just this once, Haley realized her limits, even if he knew that his hope was misplaced. Haley always pushed her limits into dangerous territory, no matter what people told her she couldn't handle - it was something that both terrified and impressed Maurice. Even Rocket once admitted to Maurice it was something he admired.

"Strong human," The chimp had signed by the fire after a particularly challenging hunt. Apparently, Haley had broken away from the hunting party to kill something else, to save the mother bear they were stalking. In the end, before they could succeed, she had killed enough small animals that it gave them more meat than the bear would have. She explained that there were more of those creatures in the forest, so they needed less protection. "Not like how other humans are strong," Rocket continued and punched his chest gently, "Strong heart." Maurice could be mistaken, but he thought it was after that when Rocket kept a more careful watch over the human in their troop.

Tearing Maurice from his thoughts, voices suddenly sliced through the tension-infused silence. For a moment, Maurice thought it was the apes exiting the building again, but then a group of humans and a few apes rushed into view from the other direction and Maurice saw him. Him - the ape that everyone was already mourning. It was impossible - Maurice could not believe his eyes - and judging by the quiet, the others had the same reaction. Disbelief weighed down on them all, but finally, Rocket hooted hesitantly to grab the new group's attention, not sure if he actually wanted to succeed. When Caesar turned towards them, however, they could no longer deny it. That was definitely him. Not that any of them minded, because their king was alive and they were free.

"Went where!?" Caesar signed speedily after Maurice told him what had happened with Haley. While Blue Eyes had kept Caesar on his feet, Ash and the humans had started helping the council out of their restraints as soon as they arrived, but the more the two sides explained their predicaments, the faster and more hurried the process grew. Rubbing his aching wrists, Maurice watched the panic visibly swell in his friend before he unexpectedly turned back towards the building and sped away on all fours. There was a moment of confusion for Maurice and the others, but Caesar quickly barked over his shoulder for them to follow and they had no reason to resist. Maurice tensed every time he saw Caesar flinch from the still-raw wound on his shoulder, but he didn't try to stop him. Ellie, Alex, and Malcolm kept to the stairs, like Haley had, but the apes quickly found themselves climbing the construction in the center of the building with impressive speed, so Maurice cautiously stayed close behind Caesar, to save him in the worse case scenario.

The climb was not too long, but the minutes that passed dragged longer with each one, as if testing their patience and endurance. Even Maurice felt his muscles burn by the time they finally arrived, the sky blinding him from just the short while he was stuck in the dark. He puzzled over how bad the blow would have been if the sky wasn't darkening already. But when his eyes adjusted, he did not care, as hundreds of shocked ape faces faded into sight and revealed the commotion above San Francisco's streets. Maurice's chest grew tight when his eyes fell on the three figures closest to them and focussed on the limb figure on the ground between the other two, undeniably the girl they were chasing after. Right next to her, Cornelia and Tinker was crouched low to help, but both of them were watching Caesar in frozen awe. Her movements were stiff, but slowly, Cornelia rose and made her way towards her deceased mate, reaching for his face. She openly jerked when her fingers grazed his skin, almost like she was expecting for her hand to faze straight through him. However startled she may have been, it didn't last long before she pulled his forehead against hers, with a heart soaring from relief.

Rocket greeted his mate as well, but Maurice quickly carried himself over to Haley and slipped a hand under her head to hoist her up. Whatever he was trying to accomplish, hearing her groan softly from the shift was more than he could have hoped for. Immediately, he felt his body slack - she was alive at least. The more he continued to look her over, the less battered she seemed, and yet, as soon as the concern left Maurice, the new room flooded with rage, seeing her in a such a state. And when Maurice forced his gaze back to Caesar, he knew the leader felt no different. But, the king's attention was long-since stolen by the the half-blind bonobo who was emerging from the crowd. Koba looked exhausted, no matter how high he tried carrying himself with his usual glower. By the limp in his step and by how the skin of his back looked grated away by a harsh blow, it was clear that either Koba suffered immensely in this war or Haley put up quite the fight. Maurice knew it was the latter.

"Hurt own mate now?" Caesar grunted, his words thick with anger as he held himself back from attacking. That was the second time that Koba has hurt Halay in the last few days, and somehow, he was growing the horrifying idea that Koba has done it before without his knowledge.

Koba said nothing, his glare only growing darker, but in his unwillingness to admit what he had done, he didn't deny it either, and that made Caesar's fist shake with increasing rage. Koba intentionally hurt Haley - his own mate and Caesar's oldest friend - and Caesar felt this reality repeating in his head, fueling a fire inside of him that he didn't want to have. There was something deeper inside of Caesar that made Koba's sins hurt more - so much more - but Caesar couldn't pinpoint what it was. All he knew was that Koba's next words could possibly determine exactly how their brotherhood will end, and maybe that was why Koba stayed perfectly quiet.

Cornelia saw it, too: the boiling inside of Caesar, but unlike him, she knew exactly where it was coming from and what was making it grow out of control so quickly. She knew about it since a long time ago, even if Caesar didn't, and so, she only stepped back. It was not only because of that, however, that she kept in place. This confrontation between Koba and her mate could not be avoided - it shouldn't be. Unlike most apes, Cornelia grew up in the wild and she can still recall a time when a fire had broken out in the forest because of humans. No matter how the hairless men tried to contain it, they only made the fires push back and get worse. That and this weren't much different. Finally, Koba spoke.

"No place for human here," He growled low, "Haley not ape."

"Haley family," Caesar insisted slowly, but Koba's fur only bristled in response.

"Caesar favor Haley and humans," He snapped, "Caesar betray ape. Caesar weak - no different than human. Council same - all end up same as Haley."

Caesar wasn't really sure if he was trying to get Koba to see reason, to calm down, or if he was just trying to understand what was going through the bonobo's head, but whatever he was trying, it didn't work, and finally, he said exactly the wrong thing. "Koba more human than anyone in troop. Haley said that," Caesar signed and paused to look back to his unconscious friend, "Took two years to prove it. If Caesar human, Koba worse."

Maurice watched in horror as Koba finally exploded with a scream and jumped for Caesar, but as much as he wanted to intervene, he couldn't bring himself to move. He knew Caesar wouldn't want him to, but he also couldn't bare to put Haley back down. Soon enough, because of Koba's echo, he didn't have a choice anyway. With the faintest of whimpers, Haley stirred and turned her head on Maurice's palm from once side to the other until her eyes finally creaked open. It took everything in Maurice not to pull her up quickly and see her entirely awake as soon as possible. Instead, he cooed quietly and waited for her to find her way to reality on her own. Eventually, she grunted painfully and pulled herself up, looking around like some bewildered baby ape until she finally processed what was going on, seeing Koba and Caesar blur and crash in every direction. Maurice wondered if she was trying to figure out if she was hallucinating or not, but no, she was simply frozen by the view.

Seeing through her blurry vision how her mate and her friend were tumbling across metal, steel, and air literally nauseated Haley. When she woke up, she briefly pleaded that maybe all previous events were a nightmare, but no, it was so much worse. She didn't want to see this - their screams were like blades to her ears: a combination of terrifying and heart crushing. The longer it dragged on, the worse it got, and judging by how closely they were matched, despite Caesar's injury, it wasn't going to end any time soon. Quickly, rapidly, Haley's endurance thinned and she just couldn't take it anymore. "Koba!" She screamed the loudest that she could, her voice raw and sore, "Stop this!" But whatever she was hoping for, it had the opposite effect. Hearing his friend's voice, Caesar was the one who turned away from the fight, and he immediately paid with a strike to his side, sending him crashing into loose construction parts on the level below.

Haley turned rigid when Koba turned to her thereafter, immediately distracted from her guilt when he bore his intimidating canines. Without a sound, he climbed from his elevation and stalked closer as nothing but an ominous silhouette in front of the remaining light in the sky. Maurice's long orangutan arm instinctively tightened around her shoulder protectively, but Haley didn't move. She didn't seem to have the strength or capability, and it only got worse when Koba bowed down and swept a gun from the platform a few yards away. That's when other apes started growing restless. Rocket rushed forward against Tinker's begging and tried blocking Koba from Haley with his own body. "Rocket, don't-" Haley started, but before she could even force herself to her feet to pull the chimp back, she gasped from seeing and hearing him be budded away with the back of Koba's gun, sending him stumbling back and grabbing his face. It nearly stopped Haley's heart, seeing Tinker slide to her mate's side and gibber worriedly, but she was tortured by the fact that she could do nothing when the barrel of a gun was aimed between her eyes.

"Hah," Haley chuckled despite herself, "Are you going to kill me now, Koba?" She didn't need an answer - the look on Koba's face said it all. His finger was already pulling on the trigger. Predicting a retaliation, Haley briefly sent Cornelia a look of her own, telling the queen not to interfere. It was already a miracle that Koba hadn't killed Cornelia already. "Honestly, I knew we'll end up like this." Haley admitted and moved her attention back to her ex-mate. She only realized it then, but it was true. "But I wonder," She hummed and leaned back into Maurice, who was getting ready to hide her body behind his, "If you want me dead, why did you protect me with your body earlier when we fell?"

What? - Maurice's focus quickly shattered as his rare glare fell in disbelief. At once, the wound on Koba's back made sense, but that was not what took Maurice so off guard. Rather, it was the sudden chance of expression from the bonobo as well. In an instant, his glare morphed to something Maurice had never seen before. It almost seemed like a mixture of shock and uncertainty, with faint remorse flickering in the depths of his one colored eye. His permanent wrinkles faded and made him seem young, sane - healthy. Maurice immediately knew that look will be embroidered into Haley's mind for a long time, just to torture her conscience. And as always, the orangutan was not wrong.

Haley sat in shock, wondering what that look meant, because she couldn't have read it right. She wondered if she had imagined it when she saw the gun lower, but there was no time to make sure before Koba was once again tackled by the ape king and they carried on with their battle. This time, Haley kept her mouth shut, but it physically hurt to do so. Maurice could feel her tremble on his arm with every strike that landed between the two apes, no matter who it landed on. For whatever reason, Haley flinched at Koba's pained barks and that only made her shaking worse, because she knew she shouldn't be worrying about him. Hearing his screeches should not reverberate through her - not as much as Caesar's - but logic didn't keep her hands from shaking and her core from aching. Finally, Haley couldn't watch. Squeezing her eyes shut, Haley bowed her head and backed into Maurice more securely, to bask in his body heat like a frightened child. Naturally, Maurice didn't miss her behavior at all. Haley's anxiety practically infected him and he allowed her to do as she pleased.

Consoling Haley with a small coo, he moved his attention back onto the fight for her sake. Just like it hurt Haley to see the two fight, Maurice felt it turn his stomach, like eating a bad fruit or not having any fruit for a few days, but he still couldn't stop himself from watching. Seeing Haley look away, he somehow felt an obligation to see how it ended, so he can tell her when her friend, their king, won. But then, why, when the fight grew more and more in Caesar's favor, did Maurice feel Haley's body grow more stiff? The sounds must be confusing her, Maurice thought as he glanced back to Rocket, whose face was bleeding again after Tinker tried wiping it dry. She only gave everyone time to see the nasty gash from the chimp's forehead to his nose - it was a definite scar. That was all Maurice needed to showed no penitence when Caesar started overpowering Koba by the edge of the building. "Ape no kill ape," Caesar grunted furiously down at the bonobo, "Stop Koba." But it was no secret that Koba was a stubborn creature. There was no answer before Koba leaped towards Caesar again and all the king had to do was skid out of the way to evade the attack.

It took everyone less than a split second to see Koba's trajectory and to break into an unruly mess, and judging by the bonobo's scream that followed in a second, he, too, had to process the death ahead. On a moment of impulse, Caesar grabbed after Koba to save him from the cliff-like drop, but he barely grazed his foot. In the end, only Koba saved himself. The screech he gave as he grabbed onto the ragged piece of metal was terrifying, but as much as it might have hurt Koba to dangle on his now-raw palm, the stray piece of construction did save his life. Desperately, he held onto the rod while his feet faced the circular tunnel in center of the building. His scarred back stung excruciatingly from the pull it had to endure, but he still tried pulling himself up with a growl, even if only to collapse back down afterwards.

Caesar watched Koba struggle with guilty pleasure while he caught his breath. He craved to just leave Koba there - after everything he's done, he deserved death. With how many deaths he's caused with this pointless war, Caesar was right. Maybe Caesar wasn't tired at all; maybe he was catching his breath as an excuse to let the ape die. But he didn't have the heart for long - or maybe, he never had the heart to go through with it anyway - because Maurice quickly hooted for his attention. It had taken Koba dangling from the edge and Haley curling at the sound of his wrestling grunts and groans for Maurice to register why she couldn't watch. Despite everything, she didn't want to see Koba die - even worse, not by Caesar's hands. Caesar almost forgot that Haley was even there until he saw her crumpled shape, with her shoulders tightly pinned to her ears, as if to block out sound. Whatever was festering inside of Caesar quickly dissipated when he saw her and he realized he was fighting a fight that was not his. He was king, he knew, but somehow, that didn't matter as he moved over to Koba. For a while, he sneered down at him, wondering if he really wanted to go through with this, but eventually, he maneuvered his tired, sore body down, grabbed Koba's wrist against his will, and hoisted the bonobo back onto the platform.

Koba was confused by the sudden compassion to say the least, but when he saw the figure moving towards them and Caesar stepping away, he felt a fear come to life that he's never experienced before.

Haley's world was stolen by chilling darkness when Maurice shook her out of her state and forced her to open her eyes, but at least that black wasn't as confusing as when the first thing to adjust in her vision was the sight of Caesar pulling Koba back to safety. 'What!?' Haley gasped in thought and whisked her head towards Maurice for answers. With the way things were going, she was sure someone was going to die. Only seeing Maurice's sympathetic face was enough to make the situation click, making her eyes spread in dismay. Haley kept still for a while, as if waiting for his expression to change, but it never did, and she knew she was right. Carefully, Haley stood, ignoring the ache in her muscles that were left from the jerk of her fall and the blows of her own battle. Haley knew about the danger of her legs giving in under her own weight - she could feel them wobble - but for now, they held out. Carefully and with as much grace as she could fake, she took Caesar's place in front of Koba.

For a while, they just stared at each other, but inevitably, words tore pass her lips. "You know, I came all this way because, despite seeing that Caesar was alive, I didn't want to believe him - I didn't want to think you would go this far." Haley breathed with guilt, but saw no change from Koba, "You started a war, Koba," She clarified, her throat tightening around her words, "You started a war. You tried killing your brother so apes could kill humans. And in doing so, you allowed dozens of apes to be murdered," she paused, "Did you even take care to look what you had done - did you see all the faces rotting in the street?" But still, nothing she said seemed to have any affect on his blank stare, and justifiably, that only made Haley's blood boil. He really doesn't care what he does or who he hurts anymore. "Maybe you just need to feel what they felt." Haley growled and tightened her grasp around her bow, but followed only by glancing back to Caesar, "But Caesar is right. Ape not kill ape. That's one of the three laws, right?"

To Maurice, the silence that filled the night sky seemed even worse than the one before - again, that strange feeling of rotten fruit poked at him, but he didn't know why.

"It's a good thing I am not ape!" Haley snapped suddenly, and in an instant, Koba was faced with her very last arrow, just like she had been faced with his gun, "You and everyone else have made god-damn sure of reminding me about that fact every time you could!" Immediately, Maurice's bad feeling was understood, and Koba couldn't stop his fear from showing itself, making him back away. At least, until he nearly tripped on the edge of the platform and remembered where he was. Caesar, too, was petrified - he hadn't even seen Haley pick up her weapon, let alone seen her carry it. But it was what Haley said that really struck Caesar the most. What was that - 'not ape?'

"I should kill you right now!" Haley yelled, "After what you did - after what you made me do!" Without warning, the memory of Kemp's shattered skull and dead stare burned to the surface of Haley's mind. "He's dead," She realized then, her eyes stinging and an invisible weight growing unbearable on her shoulders. "I know I did it - I know it's no one's fault but my own." She shook her head, shaking the memory away, "But you knew, Koba - you knew how I would react if Caesar was killed! You knew!" Her hand pulled the arrow closer, pulling the string tighter. Her hand was shaking with anger - she wanted nothing more than to let go - she had as much motivation as anyone - but no matter what she told her body, it wouldn't listen. She just stood there, her finger practically on a trigger, and Koba's fear never faded either, but nothing happened.

"Damn it," She whispered to herself, cursing at her own limbs and demanding an answer to why they wouldn't go through with it. Soon, she actually got an answer. The face Koba had shown earlier suddenly flashed before her in an hallucination and she realized it. She couldn't - she just couldn't bring herself to kill Koba.

"I can't." She admitted aloud in astonishment, dropping the bow as if it weighed a hundred tons. She really just couldn't bring herself to do it, and by the looks of Koba, he looked just as caught off guard by her realization as she did. But why, she wondered, why could she not kill him, even after everything he's done to her? From the stitches on her head, the many scars hidden across her skin, and the ache over her entire body, the damage he had caused her will never be erased, but something was still stopping her. Deep down, she knew what it was. As much as she wanted to deny it, she couldn't. She noticed it cutting at her heart earlier, when she was still curled up against Maurice. Still telling herself that she was wrong would not only be foolish, but it will be blatant. "You know," Haley started again, her voice hoarse and faint - it hurt to talk, "The worst part is," She stopped to study Koba's confused and annoyed glare before carrying on, "no matter when I told you, you never would have believed me when I said that I loved you, right? No matter how much that truth hurt me?"

Quickly, that strange look returned to Koba's face and wrenched Haley's heart. It made her so confused - so concerned. For him or her, she wasn't sure. What did it mean? She had thought that it was guilt shining past his usual layer of anger, but she couldn't be certain. She didn't know if it was possible for Koba to even feel the level of remorse that she caught glossing his eye. This time, however, the expressioned looked worse - it was as if Haley should see something break inside of Koba as an aura of shock overcame him. He watched her in silence, as if to see her flinch, but she didn't even blink. What she said was true, and she could see that it made rusted wheels turn in the bonobo's head. Something was withering inside of him, like the craze that has blinded him this far or maybe the denial he held towards her presence around him. As previously said, Haley couldn't pinpoint it. She couldn't read him. Something was happening, something that made her stomach sink lower and lower, but she couldn't figure out what it was. "Koba?" She finally questioned, but instead of saying anything, he glanced towards Caesar, and after not seeing the chimp's glare waver, he moved his eye back to her. Trepidation unexpectedly filled Haley when his expression changed again - he believed her. "Koba?" She tried again, but then his eyes closed and he leaned back.

No one even knew what had happened until it was too late. "No!" Haley screamed in a panic and dashed forward to stop Koba from throwing his body over the side, but it was as if time had slower. She reached out, grasped for anything, but she didn't move any faster, no matter how hard she tried. "Koba!" She screamed and kept tossing herself forward, but all she saw was her mate's body falling farther and farther. Finally, a pair of hairy arms locked around her middle, keeping her from going any farther and accidentally falling to the depths, too. "Koba, you bastard!" She kept yelling, bitter tears streaming down her face. Earlier, she couldn't cry even if she wanted to, but now it wouldn't stop - it was as if she subconsciously knew this was inevitable and her body was saving tears for it. "You coward!" She cried, her arms and body finally collapsing against whoever was holding her, "How dare you, Koba…" Koba just killed himself - he jumped. How? Why? What? It couldn't be true. Haley couldn't believe it. But there was no time to think about it either.

Abruptly, the building shook in an explosion, making every ape screech in an alarmed frenzy. Then came another, and another, and another. "Go! Go! Go!" Caesar barked furiously when it didn't stop, feeling the world falling apart under their feet, "Go!" He didn't know what was happening - no one did - but the danger was clear. But the thunderous booms were a blur in Haley's sorrowful ears. "No! No! Let me go!" She demanded when she felt herself be carried away in a hurry, her tears growing worse. She wanted to go back - she wanted to save Koba - her mind wasn't willing to accept it yet - he had to still be standing there. Relentlessly and unsuccessfully, she kept fighting against the ape holding her as everyone fled, "No, stop!"

"Koba!"

I terribly long chapter to make up for the long wait. And it's finally here! The end of Haley's journey - at least, the one by Koba's side. She still has a long story ahead. Now, in the midst of a war, Haley has to learn to mourn her mate and accept her species at the same time, so stick around if you want to read about it. [Should I continue in a Book 2 or here?]

By the way, please go check out Mauryn's stories! I won't be able to get all these chapters to you guys without her help - she's my darling beta. ^^

Remember, if you guys want, go take a look at my YouTube Channel: Geeky Fanatic.