War Technicalities [UNDER REVISION]

The Messenger of Truth

[Unrevised. 4 Years Old. Prepare for inconsistencies with previous chapters.]

Dead – Haley's empty, emotionless, and dead eyes stared at the river without any focus, her clothing long-since dried and wrapped back around her body, though her coat was still dangling from a tree and dripping dry. With shaky hands, she pulled her crystallized blonde hair away from her neck and picked a single arrow from the stone next to her, raising it to her damaged locks. With a single, swift flick of her wrist, a rip-like sound echoed over the waterfall's thrashing waters, her hand opening to allow the loose strands to fly with the breeze before they eventually discarded themselves into the stream. Not a single moment or action passed without the memory of Koba's touch repeated in Haley's thoughts, her skin already scratched a sickening pink from how she attempted to scrub all evidence of what she had done away.

Her own grunts and groans intermingled with Koba's own as he stole her innocence, her back arching underneath his muscular body while he thrusts into her with a power that left her body sore, his apish strength almost too much for her small frame to handle, which didn't seem to stop a pleasure from enveloping her.

Another bundle of locks fell into the river as she squeezed her eyes tightly, hoping the darkness of her eyelids would be enough to blind her from the past.

Again she felt her legs wrapping around him and her arms curling around his neck without her permission, her body growing hot and flush beneath the overwhelming satisfaction that she wanted to deny above all else.

Her shoulders silently shook while she forced herself not to cry, scared that she might collapse if she lost any more strength. Again, she cut another grasp of hair to the middle of her neck, freeing herself of the ugly ends of her locks in some pointless attempt to clean herself on the inside.

The confusion she felt as he held her in his arms like he was a human as well, destroying the hope she held to become disgusted by the idea of being with Caesar. The confusion she felt as nothing about him felt animalistic – not his touches, albeit a bit rough, not his technique, not their positions, and not his caresses, though pointless after how he hurt her every other second. Call her crazy, but her fear pictured something completely different in her head – wildly different being the best way to describe her thoughts. Not even the sight of him skulking away afterwards prickled her wrong, an invisible but seeable and confusing weight hanging on his broad shoulders.

That was the one thing she hated the most about what Koba had done to her; he made her so much more confused. Was it because of how the apes advanced that he held her like he did?

Growling at herself for even daring to think such a thing, she shook her head violently and rose the arrow in a fit of anger, ready to toss it away while only half of her hair cut. Just in time, however, a deep and familiar coo interrupted her, the sound allowing her to relax instantly. With a gentle touch that she didn't even realize she craved, she felt a hand wrap around her own before the arrow was delicately pulled from her fingers, her arm collapsing at her side as soon as it was released and her head lowering in some failed attempt to hide her shame. She didn't say, nor did she need to say a word while Maurice sat down behind her and continued the work on her hair. Only after what felt like an hour passed, when he was forced to shuffle around her to cut her bangs, did he break the silence in his own, apish way – if only he chose his words better.

"Was worried when human was gone too long, so... should I ask why human smells like Koba?" He signed carefully before continuing with her hair, as if trying to express how she didn't have to answer if she didn't want to – he was just worried. Naturally, she took his silent option of not saying a word and openly changed the subject.

"What are you doing here?" She asked hoarsely, her words barely loud enough for him to hear, even with his senses being more advanced than a human's, "Every ape in the village probably knows by now and I don't think they'd be too happy with you coming here."

"Apes know what?" He simply questioned in return and cut the last piece of her hair before he slumped down entirely in front of her, the stones not seeming to bother him at all as he tilted his head her way curiously. Yet again, confusion set in on Haley, compelling her to frown at the orangutan, but with it, a sense of dread begun to creep in on her. "My feelings before Caesar." She spoke slowly and hesitantly, almost as if afraid to hear his response, "Koba said..."

"Only Koba and I know." He denied with a small shake of his large head and a worried grumph.

"B-But Koba... he came here to tell me that Caesar explicitly told me to leave because he found out..." She breathed, the dread growing larged and pushing the truth to the surface. No, she screamed inwardly, don't tell me—

"Koba was sent to apologize after he said he misunderstood what human said to him," Maurice continued to explain, "Koba lied and said Koba didn't m—"

An enraged cry cut him off before he had the chance to finish, Haley snapping right there in front of him, and before he even had the opportunity to stop her from leaving, she already sped back into the forest. In a blur, she swiped her bow and arrows from the ground and her coat from the trees, tossing the dark pelt back onto her shoulders before she disappeared into the trees, the hope of catching her disappearing as her swinging form disappeared into the distance. With fury and adrenaline pumping through Haley's body like magma, the incessant stinging between her legs was dismissed to unimportance, her aching body no longer even registering in her crazed thought:

Koba's dead!