War Technicalities [UNDER REVISION]

So Much Alike

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

The wait was torture, and even more so for Haley than for the two apes next to her, Ash and Blue Eyes, because she could still feel the nagging ache in her stomach that something horrible was going to happen – she just knew it. She could barely glimpse at the sketchbook in front of Maurice from behind Caesar, barely able to see pass his shoulders, but the fascination the orangutan showed for peaceful art gave her hope – hope that no one will make any rash decisions over one terrible human. Inevitably, however, Blue Eyes felt Haley's gloomy aura looming over his side and saw the thoughtful contortion of her face, almost worried that her face will get stuck that way, and felt the compulsion to distract her from her turmoil.

"Think we'll be sent to city?" He questioned in the corner of her eye, and for a moment he thought his signing went unnoticed, but eventually she shook her head to shake herself back to reality and ripped her gaze from the council to look at him.

"I don't think so." She hummed, an unsure concern flickering in the depth of her earth-colored eyes, "I don't think any of them will allow that to happen."

"Humans nearly killed Ash!" He pointed out quickly and with an enraged but anxious huff, ignoring his friend's attempt to point out that he's fine, "Humans dangerous!"

"Exactly!" Haley signed briskly, her brows furrowing with worry, the memory of how humans killed each other off right outside her bedroom window replaying in her mind. "This is our home." She breathed in fearful apprehension, oblivious, just like most everyone else, to the fact that Caesar was signing her words almost to the letter, "Go to war now and we'll destroy everything that the colony has been able to build." She watched with relief as her words openly upset her friend, relieved that he clearly realized what she said was true, even if he didn't want it to be. Yet, she didn't seem to pick up on the knowing look of Maurice as he continued to stare at her, his heart reaching out for the human girl as he watched her words contradict Koba's own but flow with Caesar's in agreement. "Trust me—" She continued and gave Ash a wise look before she circled herself back to the coterie of apes who sat in a perfect circle atop the stone patch, her eyes narrowing once more as she tried to tell their decisions telepathically, "—I know better than most about what becomes to a world that has been consumed by war. I only hope that your fathers remember as well." She might age slower than apes, but what she didn't realize was the fact that her experience counted for a lot.

As if on cue to the end of her conversation with the two, Caesar finally broke the chain around him and stood, his eyes aimlessly wandering around the apes around the village as if he was attempting to take the sight in one last time, a fact that made Haley's stomach lurch in a panic.

"I will decide tonight what we'll do." He signed as a dismissal of the council and begun to make his way up the great tree, unaware of the horrified brown eyes that followed his every step.

"Please, don't—" Haley breathed in disbelief and glanced Ash and Blue Eyes' way when her plea grabbed their attention, but it only lasted for a second before she escaped their company to go talk to Caesar. She may not be a member of the Ape Council, but if he was actually considering going to war—

She had to talk him out of it!