I don't own Planet of the Apes.

Although set in the APJ timeframe, a lot of this one-shot comes from the CE timeframe. Sorry, but I wanted it to be more realistic.

Feedback would be nice.

His Destiny.

Zira turned her head so she could follow the form of Taylor and the human girl Zaius was certain was called Nova, but since he had no real desire to know what Taylor had called his mate, the old orangutan found it hard to care. Still, his eyes followed the humans as they left on their stolen horse, out into the Forbidden Zone.

Zaius had already ordered the gorilla troops he'd brought with him not to bother pursuing them - if Taylor wanted to see what had happened to his people, so be it.

"What will he find out there, Doctor?" Zira asked, fearfully and Zaius suspected the fear was because of her friendship with Taylor, a friendship he knew harked back to the days where a small group of apes and humans had looked past the differences between their races, the mutual hatred.

Zaius was silent for a moment while he considered the question. There was no doubt in the old orangutan's mind the fugitive humans would discover the truth, especially Taylor who still believed he was on a different planet; Zaius, unlike many of his fellow apes, was not ignorant of just how advanced humans had come scientifically before the outbreak of the so-called Simian flu pandemic which had wiped their civilisation out before leaving a shadow of its former self, which had only decayed further when the mutated virus robbed humanity of their higher intellect.

An act of God, or just terrible misfortune?

Zaius did not know. Nor did he care.

He knew Taylor had been in space for 2,000 years, and he also couldn't help but feel slightly sympathetic towards the human for what he was bound to discover some remains of the old human city deep in the Forbidden Zone.

But while Zaius felt some sympathy, it was extremely limited considering what Taylor represented.

"His destiny," Zaius replied cryptically.

When the so-called archaeological dig was destroyed by the explosives the gorilla soldiers had brought with them, meaning there was now no more proof of the humans' old civilisation for Cornelius to bring back, Zaius took a moment to survey the three chimpanzees who were now almost certainly destined to be tried and punished for heresy.

Cornelius had his head bowed, seeming to accept his fate. What else could he do, really? His finds in the cave had either been buried under tonnes of rock or blasted to bits. He had nothing to show for his ridiculous theories. In the meantime, Zira was looking upset herself, while the younger chimpanzee was looking worriedly between his elders. Zaius was actually thinking of sparing young Lucius since the young chimpanzee had not really done anything wrong. Granted, he knew quite a bit, but he hadn't caused the same problems as Zira and Cornelius. He was looking between his aunt and adoptive uncle with fear, knowing that no mercy awaited them.

Indeed, Zaius was duty-bound to make sure they were put on trial for their crimes.

At least in theory. But with trouble brewing politically back in the council with militant apes becoming more and more assertive because they had chosen to listen and believe rumours there were humans in the Forbidden Zone somewhere who could talk even though the history of the Simian Flu pandemic had been forgotten, and as a result of that, there were few apes today were aware that the chances of some surviving humans who had managed to somehow avoid the plague which robbed them of their intellect were remote.

Zaius knew he was shaming his own bloodline by allowing the lie to be continued, but he had no choice. He was just one of the latest in a long line of apes who had worked long and hard to ensure the true origins of ape civilisation was suppressed.

It was for the greater good and was a case of Simian survival. Ever since the day the great Caesar had died, his last surviving son who had been spared in the last war with the humans had studied the history of the humans right up to the days where the humans began to lose their intelligence and their power of speech.

The young Ape King had carefully studied the history of the humans and he came up with the plan to ensure that ape civilisation did not fall into the same trap as the humans. To do this he made certain that ape technology only reached a certain level with no full research being made into the areas of science which allowed the humans to tamper with the nature of the apes in the first place.

Zaius was simply the latest in a long line of apes responsible for ensuring that the plan to ensure the long-term survival of apes continued while using the humans who had once been able to achieve incredible feats were now reduced to a primitive state as an example of what would and could happen if they tampered with nature.

Sometimes Zaius believed the part of the plan which had slowly and gently suppressed the information about the humans was extreme in the least, but since the Lawgiver and the young ape king descended from the Great Caesar based their laws on the aftermath of the brutal human-ape war started by the tyrant Koba although the young ape had seen first hand the brutality of the humans following the murder of his family, he could understand the feelings of ill-will towards them.

It was ironic, really; Caesar had not wanted to fight against the humans in the first place, but he had been forced to fight the war Koba, once his brother in arms, had started with his treachery and in the aftermath his last child would be more aligned with Koba's agenda rather than his fathers. To make things worse, feeling towards humans was negative considering the story of that insane human general who had brutally treated his ape captives, and as a result ape children had been taught to hate humans, and although the stories of the war were lost to time, the same ill-feeling was present today.

Zaius wanted it to stay that way.

In any case it wasn't hard since few apes today knew about human history.

So, a combination of political decree and the ill-will shown towards the humans from the apes who simply forgot the stories of the war gradually over a period of time except in history texts only a few were allowed to view had eroded ape history away, and despite what some might think Zaius didn't like it at times. He felt that the apes should know precisely why humans were dangerous, but he knew he couldn't break his oath.

The consequences would be severe.

Zaius sighed as he gently guided his horseback to the city. He wondered how his ancestor, Maurice, had viewed the agenda of the young ape king and he wondered if there had been any conflict with the decision but there was no way for Zaius to tell since, at the time, apes didn't really have the means of documenting their day to day history, but there were some accounts but they had been locked away for only the leader of the community allowed to see them.

For 2,000 years, apes had hated humans based on the events of that terrible war which had ended in such an unexpected fashion. Now, in the blink of an eye, a talking human had upset the balance and now there was political strife in the city. Zaius had no idea what was coming, but he knew it would not be good.