Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

For a day where nothing was really supposed to be happening, a lot of things sure were happening.

Anny knelt by Cornelia's side, her breaths were heavy and her fur was damp with sweat; she'd been labouring for a while, now, rattling inhales and whines of pain the only thing that Maryann could hear in the cluttered room of the clinic. It seemed that every healer they had was present for the birth of their Queen's baby. She saw Thistle and Ari and Lisa and hey, maybe everyone was here! But Anny redirected her attention to her mother; they hadn't lit any herbs--Cornelia didn't like it, and, the way her lungs were sounding, it probably wasn't a good idea--and childbirth was a largely hands-off kind of experience. She would live, or she wouldn't. It was as simple as that, as terrifying as that.

Caesar wasn't present, having chosen today of all days to take the vast majority of the apes out on a long hunt, Blue with them. The absence of her mate only seemed to stress Cornelia, and Anny tried to re-assure her, angling herself so that her mother's line of sight to the doorway was blocked. Regardless, she continued to shift, trying to see if Caesar was home. Won't he please come home.

Although there was little to be done to help the birth along, the girl did her best to calm the labouring mother--she had had plenty of practice bringing new life into the colony. But this was her mother. And! This was her mother! She was filled with equal parts terror and elation--and a healthy dose of denial. She would be fine. She will be fine. And Anny will have another little sibling to take care of. Along side Cornelia, of course, because she was going to be fine.

Blue Eyes had broken away from Anny recently, grumpy and absent, unwilling to spend time with her like he used to. The boy went away to be with Ash--because he didn't even spend time with Lake, anymore--and spent his days with a weird sort of intensity in his eye whenever he looked at their father. Anny wasn't quite sure what she'd done to upset him so, but that wasn't her focus right now.

Gentle hands threaded through the fur on Cornelia's head and cheeks, and Anny had removed her mask to be better able to project calm and comfort at her mother. Through her actions, however, Anny heard the familiar pattering of hoofbeats, and watched as Taylor hurried her way to collect Caesar.

"He's here, mother." She whispered, bringing her face down so as not to need to raise her voice. Her hands were occupied with soothing, and Cornelia had one of her wrists in a tight grip where she was using it to balance herself. Her only response was a shocked wail halfway between relief and agony, but Anny felt some portion of her stomach relax at the frantic face of her father joining them, finally.

Similarly, Caesar's expression was one that understood the risks here. Taking over Anny's role and pressing a comforting hand to his wife's forehead, the girl cradled Cornelia's hand in both of hers--she tried running her fingers gently over her palm, some of the other apes had said that the tickle distracted slightly from the pain.

However, it wasn't needed as Cornelia convulsed and grabbed onto Anny's wrist again with just enough strength that the human knew she was consciously holding back. There were no words, no placations that would just piss her off, just a sudden and overwhelming feeling of relief as the wails of the babe filled the hut. A boy, someone proclaimed. Cornelius.

Anny couldn't believe him, and it looked like Caesar barely could, either. Cornelia took the babe to her breast and the two watched with rapt attention, not wanting to overstep in the eyes of the new babe's mother, but so desperately wanting to touch him, hold him, know that he was real.

In the haze of it all, Blue appeared late. Soft and anxious, he shuffled his way into their little space, midwives funnelling out as the most emergent danger had passed. He seemed a little confused as his brother, not wanting to touch him; yes he was a little slimy, but this was the miracle of life.

Taking just a chance to look away, Anny noticed three gashes pulling down Blue Eyes' shoulder, blood still oozing sluggishly and crusting around the wound.

What happened? Anny asked, gesturing to the claw wounds dragging their way over Blue's shoulder. He looked away shamefully in response, prompting the girl to press one last kiss to her mother's head and take the hand of the boy to lead him to a more private room.

That bad? She asked again, once there was no one else around, pulling out some water that she had boiled that same day in preparation for the birth of her younger brother. She couldn't understand how Blue was so casual. A baby brother! Well, he'd never had one before, so he didn't know what a treat they were.

Not answering again, even as Anny began her inspection of the wound--could have been way worse--Blue Eyes began to fidget, unable to look at her and radiating a thick shame.

There was a bear.

Yeah. She could tell from the claw marks, very particular, and a very lucky near-miss. Apes had been taken down by bears-a-plenty within the colony, everyone knew to look out for them. It's not your fault there was a bear.

But, he tried, still ashamed of whatever it was that was plaguing his mind. Feeling that his words weren't going to pick up again, Maryann worked to pull the worst of the forest debris from the wound with a pair of wooden tweezers. Although it was probably a little painful, the repetitive action seemed to soothe the teen. Anny barely caught it when he started signing again, I didn't look, hasty, went for kill and had to be saved.

I humiliated myself, in front of Father. In front of Koba.

Well, Anny couldn't say much for Koba, but she knew that Blue Eyes put a lot of stock in their father's opinion of him. Even the slightest mistake made him miserable. It's okay, she tried, earnestly, now you know better. And, I need saving all the time it's nothing to be ashamed of.

Yeah, but you're... he trailed off, eyes catching on the girl's leg. She raised an eyebrow at him in a dare to finish that thought, not supposed to be a warrior.

Nice save. She grumbled sarcastically, digging in a little bit with her tools. But what's the real issue?

It's- Blue Eyes' sentence jerked off with a spasm as the human began cleaning the wound in earnest with a cloth. Father is angry with me.

Anny laughed aloud, startling her companion in the reasonable silence they had fallen into. Sorry, she said to his betrayed little face. Father is not angry with you.

Yes he is.

No he isn't.

He's always angry with me!

Father is always angry, yes. I haven't seen his brow relax in about four years, but he's not angry at you. You're his pride and joy. His baby.

He's got a new baby, now. The boy seemed to grumble, almost sick to have said it but still honest.

Are you jealous of a child that is less than an hour old? Unhelpfully, she realised as she said it. Unsurprisingly, he didn't take well to that and stayed quiet.

Bluey, you have to talk to me to make me understand.

He looked at Anny's hands, looked away from her face, and huffed in annoyance. It's just- you get to do whatever you want but he's always on me like every little mistake is a catastrophe, and now he's ignoring me for the baby, and everything I do is somehow the worst anyone has ever done it!

Anny didn't really feel like she got to do whatever she wanted to, it might look like that when the clinic isn't so busy. But she still needs to study and make salves and continue ongoing care for apes that have long-term conditions or are elderly. Really, she loves being being a healer, but it's only because she's so good at it that she makes it look so easy.

What he was saying, this burden that he felt from father...did he even know what it was? Did he know what that weight is? And why she didn't carry it the same?

It's different, Blue. Because you're his heir. One day, he will pass the mantle of King down to you, and you need to be ready, he needs to know that you can take care of the troop, because they will be in your care.

Why can't you do it?

She chuckled again, imaging the violent Councils that would lead to. Don't expect Koba to be very accommodating.

Koba is one of father's lieutenants, you shouldn't talk about him like that.

Koba is... Anny trailed off, hands hanging loosely in the air as she thought over what she meant. Koba was crazy. End of. But, she knew that he was only crazy to her, and quite normal around everyone else, Blue had likely never been on Koba's bad side. Koba is Koba. She decided on, instead, there was little merit in trying to convince others of what she knew. He was a lieutenant, and Anny was just Anny.

He knows, Blue implored, wound clean and allowing his movements to stretch it and see if it would bleed, what it is like to be on the outside. He said-

"Don't," Anny interrupted, unusually rude and grabbing Blue Eyes' hands so he couldn't continue that thought. "Don't listen to Koba. You know nothing about him, and his "outside-ness" is self-imposed."

Yanking his hands away, Blue looked up at his sister trough his brows, matching her severe expression. You don't know him. He argued.

Anny thought on broken legs, and wandering helplessly thought the forest when she was supposed to have an escort, and parasites in fish that she definitely did not catch.

Neither do you.

Their meeting lapsed into an unsteady silence, the sounds of shuffling from throughout the village seemed deafening as the two stared at each other's feet.

Blue, she tried, he looked away so she made her signs bigger, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fight. He continued to ignore her, fingers picking at his wound almost enough to make it bleed again. Neither of them spoke again, just sat there, probably for five minutes before he moved to sign.

Were you never jealous of me? He mumbled, unsure.

Anny pretended to think it over, knowing the answer as well as she knew herself. There was a time, she began, watching as Blue turned to see her out the corner of his eye, when you were little. You stole the best spot in the nest, right between mother and father, safe and warm and protected. I was livid. The girl chuckled to herself, remembering her childlike fury; though most of it had been fear that, now that her parents had a real child, she would be kicked out. But that feeling never truly went away. Blue Eyes turned properly, watching curiously.

But, when you were a few weeks old, and you had shuffled around all areas of the nest, truly gotten to know it, you decided that I was the one that you wanted to sleep on. You'd get all grumpy if father tried to hold you at night, or when I got up in the morning and placed you with mother. That little baby only wanted to sleep on my chest, in my arms, and- oh, Bluey, I was so overcome with love for you that there has not since been any room for anything else.

Unfortunately, Blue didn't feel bolstered by the story, warmed, perhaps, but feeling even more so that his contempt toward the new son was wrong in some way.

Blue, what you're feeling is fine. But you just need to get to know Cornelius. Not as father's new son, but as your little brother.

"Get to know him," he repeated sarcastically, he's a baby! He doesn't like anything!

He might like being tickled on his belly, or being taken down to the river, or clinging to you high in the trees.

He's. A. Baby.

You loved splashing in the river when you were tiny! Anny threw her hands up, exasperated. Just because he's a baby doesn't mean he's not alive.

Whatever. Blue grumbled, making some noise in the back of his throat.

Carefully, so as not to irritate his wound, but hard enough to dislodge him, Anny pushed Blue's head over playfully, dispelling the tension as best as she could. Don't "whatever" me. One of us has had a baby brother before and knows what she's doing.

Watching for a moment, Blue studied Anny's posture and easy smile before muttering whatever again and running for the door as she reached out to swipe at him, the two of them galloping around the village hooting and chittering in playful joy.

▢▣▢

The next day, Maryann wandered lazily over to the riverbed, shoulders heavy with the rabbits she had collected and strung up. In the shallows, Ash berated Blue Eyes for his sub-par fishing skills, nudging him slightly to have him miss and laugh in the face of Blue's annoyance. It was a nice enough day--for San Francisco--the girl mused as she filled a huge canteen with water from the river, far enough away from the boys that she wouldn't get splashed by their squabble.

They were both hideously wet, now, and Ash hooted to get the human's attention. Anny, have you heard? He signed, chittering as Blue jumped to grab his hands and shut him up. Messily, they rolled around in the shallows until Ash managed to sit on Blue's chest in such a way that wouldn't drown him while also keeping him pinned.

Heard what? She asked, amused, and watched as Blue began thrashing in earnest, unable to see what his friend was saying but in eyesight of Anny's signs.

Blue is meaning to ask Lake to be his mate. Ash hoot-panted in glee as the girl's expression changed with understanding. Well, it wasn't all that much of a surprise, in all honesty; the three of them had been inseparable when they were little. Of course, once they got older and girls weren't cool anymore the friendship seemed to separate, but this return was as old as time itself, and all those books Anny had read where the childhood friend gets the girl. Furthermore, she'd seem him parroting around the other chimp plenty regularly within the last few seasons, it was likely that He was showing her his battle scars last night, preening and chirping at her worried words. Ash chittered again. Yep. It was likely that he had been doing that.

Something in her indulgent expression prompted Blue Eyes to finally flip Ash off of him and drag the both of them to dunk into the deeper section, knowingly careful of the current. She chuckled at the both of them, eyes dancing at the fish dodging desperately out of the way of the wrestling pair.

Letting them squabble for a moment, the girl took note that the sun was getting lower, and if they wanted to get home in time to actually eat this fish, it was probably time for them to leave. Yipping, Anny threw the--now bound--caught fish in the direction of the boys, disturbing their play-fight and successfully slapping both of them in the face. Time to go.

They groaned in perfect tandem, but thankfully got up and out without much difficulty, hefting their catches and shoving each other across the path toward home. Anny was content to linger behind them, and she did notice that Blue kept the pace slow to not agitate her leg, plus her exclusion from the conversation was probably what clued her into the change in the forest's melody. It was like before, she wondered, when she had been taken by those other humans so long ago, now. Regardless, there was something disturbing the wildlife. She realised with a startling quality that, ahead on the path, even Blue Eyes and Ash had stopped chittering, and she looked up to see a human facing them, pointing a gun at her baby brother.

Dashing madly, Anny sprinted to meet them on the trail, disregarding the pain shooting up to her spine and letting the adrenaline numb everything else. It couldn't have taken more than ten seconds, but the action of her approaching the human startled him, and as she shoved the two boys behind her--reaching to pull out her knife as she did--the man pulled hard on the trigger, and she was deafened by the explosion of it.

Nevertheless, she bore her teeth at him, crouching and ensuring that the two were behind here. The three of them chittered angrily, hooting even as Anny did not let them pass. To her dismay, the human didn't lower his gun and a trickle more appeared from behind him. There was something slithering down her arm, but she wasn't in pain, so she ignored it. The humans were talking with each other, shouting and then lowering their volume once Blue and Ash raised theirs.

"I shot it." The first man said, eyes darting away from the trio but gun held high. "Or, them. I shot them."

Had he? Maryann risked herself for a second to turn and see the damp red of Ash's left arm and Blue chittering Ash is bleeding!

Enraged by the knowledge, Anny turned back to the human with the gun, uncaring of the others. Pulling her lips back to show gums, the girl took a few steps forward in front of the chimps, making sure to keep them behind her. Maryann's breaths came ragged and damp on the breeze, a steady yowl clawing its way through her throat with eyes staring up unblinkingly at her target.

"What the fuck?" The gunman mumbled at her savage visage, pistol light within his grip, finger steady as Anny took further steps.

He hadn't noticed her weak leg, or hadn't known to look. He didn't know anything about her, was he confident he could put her down before she got to him? Did he want to risk it? Her feet didn't make a sound in the undergrowth, her terrain that she had traversed for a decade; did he know the leaves like her? Did he hear the thunder of something approaching. She didn't. All she heard was the screeching of her baby brother and each minute twitch of this thing's body.

If he moved, she would. Barely a leap away, now, she could make it. Get her knife into him where it belonged and teach him a lesson about coming after her family. But now he wasn't even looking at her, looking over her shoulder. The troop was hooting around her, the sound of them deafening as Anny started to pick everything back up again. Someone was shouting, it sounded like Rocket, and there was a gentle hand on her shoulder, one she shook off with distaste; couldn't they see she was busy?

Nobody cared, the humans were too focused on the sight behind her, eyes wide and terrified. There was the roar of the silence--pointed and purposeful in the face of the apes--and the roar in Anny's ears--throbbing and pulsing in her ears and behind her eyes--and the roar of her father screaming at the humans to leave.

Solid, frozen for a moment with bewilderment and fear, they broke from their trance upon being asked twice; skittering and falling like new fawns in the underbrush. Anny made chase, the sensation of her weak leg both non-existent and sharp like a blade and overall pushing her to move and scramble and dart with all of the strength and speed she had after the retreating form of the gunman. Realistically, she knew that she could be faster if she was swinging, but Anny's mind told her she couldn't lose the seconds it would take her to get up into the branches. So she ran, knife in one hand and braced in the other, panting wet and sour in her throat as each step propelled her further but less so than the one before. She was losing them.

Gritting her teeth, the girl allowed the pain in her limbs to press her forward, remembering the thunder of the gunshot and how close it had been to her family. Overhead, she heard Koba's team flit through the canopy. Fucking Koba, she wouldn't let him-

-Blue dropped down suddenly in front of her, crashing into Anny and taking them both over as she wasn't able to stop herself in time. Disregarding him, she tried to get to her feet, pushing down on his head to be able to see past and catch sight again of the retreating assailants.

"The fuck are you doing?" She hissed at him, so caught up in it all she spoke aloud, and didn't look his way to catch sight of his signs. Blue Eyes was chittering up something awful, pulling at her with both hands as the adrenaline pulled the girl back up. Fortunately for him, and unfortunately for the rage feeding Anny's beating heart, his strength was enough to keep her in place, but not enough to stop her from trying to get away. The chimp's hands were slick against her skin, and Maryann briefly looked down to see the sheen of blood against her forearms. She looked up at her brother with a sort of manic danger he had never known to associate with her, before. "Are you hurt?" She demanded, and Blue Eyes only let go for a moment to sign no before the girl was trying to drag herself away again.

Panicking, and probably pulling a bit too far on the scale of "stop Anny without accidently ripping her arms off", Blue Eyes pulled his fingers over Anny's shoulder and showed her where the blood was coming from: her.

Just as soon as the realisation set in, their father galloped his was over them, and all the fight drained from her in the face of his serious expression.

Chapter Text

Anny treated Ash like she wasn't still bleeding from an identical wound herself.

There was no post-traumatic clarity for Anny, just the fuzz in her own mind. There had only been one bullet shot--although Anny was sure that the human had wanted to do more damage--but had managed to graze the both of them. It really wasn't much. Cornelia had explained the lack of severity to Rocket and Tinker upon their return to the colony, and it seemed that they were both comforted by the fact that Anny was fine with leaving her wound until she had dealt with their son's; it wasn't that bad at all. Truthfully, Anny felt like she was being yanked in two directions, disgusted with herself for allowing harm to come to a young member of her troop--one she should have been protecting--and churning rage toward the one that had caused him said harm. The two thoughts held her so tight her feet couldn't touch the ground, suspended aloft by equal force in opposite directions. She should really let someone treat her arm, but the reality of having hands on her made it all worse, even those of her mother--weak and fevered as they were, she shouldn't be seeing Anny like this--so they allowed her to go about her business in relative peace.

Blue Eyes hovered, Cornelia hovered, Rocket and Tinker hovered, and Caesar was calling a council. The girl cleaned and sealed Ash's wound with a thick paste once she was certain the bullet hadn't done anything more than superficial damage before doing the same to herself. The stark pink of the damage seemed so alien to Anny's skin, sure, she'd been hurt before, quite regularly when she was young, but not since then. She felt as if she had let everyone down. When she allowed the quiet of the room to dissolve into even less, mind absent as she fell away into the turmoil, the girl could still hear the ringing of the bullet past her left ear.

How dare he.

Caesar's council convened in the evening, rounded with his most trusted of apes. They needed to know the facts, make choices: what were they going to do? Anny wanted to know. The human made her way casually into the circle, as if it were something she did regularly, rather than a unique experience. Sitting herself easily next to Blue as the two of them entered, nobody said anything, but Koba's eye caught hers and she held it there.

There was not much talk before Maurice showed them a book, filled with drawings presumably from the boy that had dropped it. The sketches started mundane but became quickly dark and troubled. Images scribbled over and riots and pain and anger clear on the page. Koba could read it, the violence, but he had trouble deciphering what exactly the violence meant.

They destroyed each other. The orang pointed, unravelling the scribbles to be humans attacking humans. And the virus took the rest of them out.

Good riddance, was all that Koba could think. Bye-bye humanity, what a shame. The only issue he took with it was that he didn't do it himself. But, why humans come here? They were dying or killing each other or whatever; the apes hadn't seen any of their kind in many years, and had falsely assumed that there were none left.

They were surprised to see ape, Rocket interjected, thinking back on the reactions of the assailants, didn't know about troop?

I believe they were looking for something. Maurice stated, they have been scared off for now.

Looking for what? Everyone asked, but no body had the answer. The troop simply didn't understand humans, and as much as Maurice and Caesar had been in close contact with them, those circles were very small and of a totally different time. Any guess they made would be futile.

They have left us in peace, today. But humans are greedy, Maurice told the council, as if they didn't already know, it is likely that they will be back. Likely in bigger numbers, and likely with more guns.

A panicked chittering blanketed the meeting, apes looking to each other scared and unsure.

Humans are... Caesar seemed to struggle with his wording, not wanting to stir up more panic than there need be ...stubborn. And Maurice is right, they will be back for whatever it is that they came into our territory for.

What if it is nothing? Just one group going for a longer walk than usual. Rocket asked, eyes on Anny and mind on the matching wound bore by his son. He'd keep Ash away from the violence of humans at all cost, but he hoped the cost wouldn't be so high.

It's not. Koba sneered at him, stupid Rocket. How could this be an accident? Humans have not come this way in many winters. They came on purpose.

You cannot know that.

Koba knows. The bonobo stared the bald chimp down with his dead eye, daring him to say that he didn't know humans. Will Rocket lie down and show his belly? After one of them shot his boy?

Rocket pulled back his lips and the two flashed canine at each other, hooting unhappily from opposite sides of the circle.

The humans will come. Maurice signed, ignoring the contest happening beside him. They must be here with a purpose; they want something of ours, or they want us, and we know that they won't stop trying until they have it.

The council sat in unsteady silence, most of them remembering the flames around them during their last escape from humanity, others thinking on the occasion second-hand.

They weren't getting anywhere, Anny felt like there was only one obvious course of action, and jumped on the silence as her chance to speak in this environment where she never had before. We need to establish a stronger border! We do not let them in. They soon learn not to try.

Why bother when we can just wipe them all out! Koba dissented, eye hungry for violence and targeting its ire from Rocket onto the girl. Apes strong together. Stronger than humans. Get rid of them and be free for good.

And win against their guns how? Anny asked him, tone demeaning in a way only he was supposed to notice.

Notice he did, puffing himself up and baring teeth at Anny. And why should we listen to you? To one of them? For all we know, you could be working together.

When would I have had the time? She grunted, annoyed. Koba and his bullshit, as per usual.

We won't hear your excuses, betrayer.

Betrayer! Her grunts became a steady growl as the two focused on each other. Because I am the the betrayer between the two of us? Anny felt strangely as if the anger were separate of herself, still swirling in her mind in a way that she had never experienced before. The bonobo had never seen it before, either, the child was usually so mild mannered that the shift sent his eye twitching. Challenging him? Between the two of them words quickly were lost, just huffing and baring teeth at the other and rising up to their full heights without bringing themselves from their polite seated positions.

Caesar huffed amongst the din, his sound quiet but commanding, and each chitter died out as quickly as they started. He turned to his bonobo lieutenant, asking for clarification, Koba wants war?

Koba huffed and nodded in response, expression greedy with the thought Caesar might agree with him. If there are no more humans, then no more humans to hurt apes.

But, the King began, cutting again through the growing chatter, war. How many lives will be lost? How many apes?

For freedom. Whatever price.

Caesar's head shook in response, face turning down in disappointment. No. Standing smoothly, the council understood that they had been adjourned, Koba shuffling quickly after to keep his attention.

Caesar, he urged, pleading. Apes cannot lie back and do nothing. Humans will take everything if they think they can. The other didn't speak. Caesar knows Koba would do anything he asks, but please, apes must do something.

The Ape King's brow sank lower, lower than it was already, and he huffed a nod back in his direction.

Knowing he had Caesar, Koba turned about-face back to the council ledge where the siblings still were. The girl was still shuffling through the pictures in the books but the heir stared absently into one spot.

As Koba caught Blue Eyes' attention, the younger forced himself to think more critically on his words in wake wake of his earlier conversation with Anny. He knew that his sister didn't like him, although the bonobo had never shown more than his usual distance toward her; Blue even knew that the lieutenant was frequently trusted to look over her when she had been smaller and more fragile. But as he allowed the placating words to tickle his ego--Koba praising him on his contributions to the council and wishing more than anything that the sentiment came from his father--Blue thought that maybe that was the point. Don't listen to Koba, Anny had said. But, why? He was a trusted member of the council, and ape that had been with the troop since the night they became one.

He had said that Anny was a betrayer, or would become one with time, but Blue didn't understand. Koba had been there, earlier, saw how fiercely the human protected them; her injuries irrelevant in the face of a threat against her troop.

Or perhaps, it was just an excuse, Koba suggested, hand soft and warm where it sat supportively on the boy's shoulder between his words. I know you have only ever known her as family, but that is how humans are; they know nothing but hatred, rage and violence. And Maryann is one of them.

Koba left him with that statement, perhaps going off for patrol, perhaps going home, Blue didn't know. But he stayed where he was for a moment. Unlike the young chimp, he had known humans his entire lives, many of them, were they truly all like that? Was Anny's anger earlier today just the beginning of what was to come. Perhaps she had told him not to listen to Koba, because he knew this about her and she didn't want him to believe it. Maybe Koba was lying, or wrong. He didn't know what to think.

Blue knew that he loved Anny, she was his sister. But he had a scary thought that he was about to lose the girl that he had grown up with, that the human part of her was going to overtake the ape and leave him with something that he didn't recognise. And he was afraid.

▢▣▢

What do you think about the humans? Her father asked her that night, eye heavy on the wound as she readied herself for sleep. Anny waved her hand absently in return, not a sign, just an acknowledgement and a dismissal. He didn't believe her. One of them shot you.

Barely, it's a graze.

Did it without remorse or hesitation. More like that...hundreds more maybe? All with guns, all without care. What would we lose? How quickly would we lose it?

Anny supposed that she understood. Unlike Koba, she would much rather just ignore the whole thing; but, if father was right, they would come anyway, and next time they wouldn't be so kind about it. It was highly unlikely that they were going to be ignored in response. She wanted to say something like "I just wish it was still yesterday," or "I wish none of this had happened," but that was childish, and she wasn't a child. Instead she asked what's the plan?

The question seemed to exhaust him, perhaps her father also wished it was still yesterday. Some apes are going to go to the human territory, show them what Apes Together Strong means. Perhaps they will leave us alone if they believe they can't win. She supposed that that was likely the best path, set out as it was currently: hopefully scare them off. But, with what she knew of humans--and what she had been learning about herself, today--is that they were unlikely to let a challenge like that pass without rising to it. Pride and wrath, that was it wasn't it? You-

-Stay home and take care of mother. Anny signed over him, in the everything that was today, she had managed to forget the rattling heaves of Cornelia's breaths, the sweat along her brow and the thumping in her temples. Just for a moment, Maryann was crazy but her mother was fine.

The sick thought made her want to ask. Ask about the rage she had felt, the blindness. Ask Caesar about the fury and the violence, the all-consuming nature of it. In that moment, there had only been her and the gunman. And the red across her vision. She wanted to ask if this was normal, if she was okay, but the pit in her stomach said it was not, said that this was human. Had she been infected in some way? By the humans that she had met earlier. Had she been poisoned by humanity's great greed and hunger, because she had been positively vexed.

But, moreover, she worried that it was normal, normal for a human, and if she told him then he would remember that she was one. A hapless human child grown into a cruel human adult. Maybe she truly was all of those things that Koba said she was, maybe he had been right the whole time.

The parade of apes left early the next morning, needing to make the trek down to the city. They took the large majority of the troop and every horse that they had; the humans wouldn't know that that was everything and would perhaps over-estimate their power. Regardless, it would be a lot of apes, hopefully enough that they didn't ever see another human on their territory again.

Anny turned her attention and her anxiety to the state of her mother's health. It had barely been a few days since Cornelius' birth, but Cornelia's symptoms hadn't lessened even a little; they seemed to be getting worse. Even as a young healer, the girl knew that something was wrong. Her belief was that there was an issue with the Queen's lungs, her inhales crackled when Anny pressed her ear to her chest, and she coughed with nearly every attempt.

You worry too much. Cornelia signed as her daughter stared at her with a similar severe expression she had inherited from her father. I'm fine.

The both knew that she wasn't, Cornelia especially, but it was easier to pretend. Anny knew that their best option would be anti-biotics, the strong ones made by the humans. There was only so much their plants could do, or so much they were failing to do, but the troop knew that any and all medicine they had managed to scavenge had long since been used up. Over their heads hung the terrifying truth that this had to either work itself out or take Cornelia with it.

Thankfully, from his place curled on his mother's chest, baby Cornelius wasn't yet old enough to understand the stress, much less feel it himself. He was the shining light in this whole thing; humans in their territory, their Queen ill, but a beautiful healthy baby in their home.

“He will be strong, and wise,” Maryanne whispered to her mother, smoothing the downy hair on Cornelius’ tiny head, “and kind.” She tilted a cheeky smile to where Cornelia was resting in the plush of their nest, breaths heavy and pained but eyes fond. “Like his mother. And maybe..." she trailed off for a second, making a big show of trying to find a redeeming quality within Caesar, "tall, like father.”

Cornelia huffed the best laugh she could in her pain, trying to hide the way the movement pulled in her illness from her children. But Anny was going to notice and Cornelius wouldn't even know to look, so that action served only to bring her some comfort. Allowing them to sit in silence for a while, Anny listened into the breaths, grounded herself with her fingers in Cornelius' ruff, and tapped her free hand in a steady rhythm on the floor. Too soon, Cornelia's hand tapped against the human to get her to open her eyes.

Why so dire?

Anny thought that the question was bullshit. Why so dire? Well, all of the reasons that she had listed already. She gave an unimpressed look in response that warmed the chimps hart with fondness.

You look like your father. She tried again, and the girl's eyebrows shot up into her hairline to counteract the scowl she had been perpetrating; this pulled a real laugh from Cornelia--painful and wheezing--but real.

I'm just worried. She said, distracting herself by talking on the humans, we've never had something like this, so I don't know what to expect. I don't know what's going to happen.

That is not for you to worry about. As your parents, as the adults, your father and I take care of you and worry about this. All you need to do is focus of your studies.

Feeling neither the strength or desire to say it, Anny just thought that maybe she wouldn't have a mother to take care of her, soon. Instead she tilted the conversation to something mildly more light-hearted. I can't turn the worry off. I always do.

Just try.

How?

Just, try.

Well, that's not very helpful.

Smiling with affection and the dizziness of her illness, Cornelia reached over Cornelius' head to hold both of her girl's between gentle palms. Speaking with her eyes, imploring her to take a second and let the weight of everything fall off and be caught by the apes around her. Heir or not, it was clear that the girl saw herself as a supporting beam of the world around her, concerned with keeping everyone safe and healthy and alive, by God she had to keep them alive. Cornelia wondered for the only time in her life whether it had been a good idea to teach the girl medicine; perhaps by knowing properly how she could help, it was impossible for her not to. Or, maybe, she would have grown up with this anxiety directionless without something to put it into.

Breathe. She asked one handed, pulling the other away to stroke against Anny's cheek before it came back to sign. Your father will take care of the human issue, and I will be fine.

Past the areas of her mind that Anny didn't like to look at, and the places she shoved things she didn't want to feel, the clawing fear of this illness writhed and made to escape. There were words in her hands that she didn't want to say, because what if the answer wasn't what she wanted, but still she said, you can't know that. Stating it made it real, made it thick and heavy and difficult to get through. There was real risk, but by saying it out loud she had allowed it a place within existence.

The Queen wasn't having any of it.

I am sure of it, I just know. Cornelia wasn't at all religious; some of the apes were, taken with facsimiles of Christianity or their own Gods they had created, but Cornelia was not. She liked science. She liked the evidence of her elixirs clear as day in front of her as they worked to cure and heal. She didn't like to pray, and she didn't believe in something bigger. Anny knew this, so how the chimp could be so sure she didn't know. But it did help, that statement. Words of confidence from the troop's top healer unclenched minorly something festering inside the girl.

Thankfully the troop returned with no injuries, despite Anny preparing for the worst. She hoped that would be last of it, Caesar's expression suggested that he knew it wouldn't. But, for a moment she could focus on the health of her mother without having to divide her attention. Not that attention on the matter did any good, an illness like this was completely at the whims of nature. But it meant one less thing, one less thing to worry about.