eyes of the forest - a kingdom of the planet of the apes story

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚇𝚅𝙸

Noa follows your gaze, turning around to see the gorilla pushing himself through the water spray, scowling down at both of you. Thinking quickly, Noa rushes forward and wraps an arm around your waist and pulls you away just in time as the gorilla lunges forward.

Noa swiftly carries you as he bounds from one pipe to another, trying his hardest to put some distance between you and the angry silverback. You let out a yelp as he leaps over a large gap of rushing water, clinging to a platform and pushing you onto it as the gorilla leaps after him, grabbing a hold of his back and dragging him down into the violent flood.

"Noa!" You call after his figure that was pulled under the water. Losing sight of him, you hesitate for a moment before throwing yourself off the platform and bracing yourself as your body lands with a heavy splash into the cold water below.

The current carries you through the vault, making you unable to stop yourself from drifting. You resurface in a different area of the vault, pipes running this way and that all around you. "Noa!" You call out, wiping the water from your face. "y/n!" His voice sounds from behind you and you turn to him just as he reaches you, holding your arm protectively.

Both of your attention is turned to another sound as the gorilla springs out of the water, growling at you two and shaking with anger. Noa pulls you by your arm through the pipes, ducking and weaving your way through the metal poles.

"What do we do?" You sputter out, trying to catch your breath from the perilous chase. Noa pauses for a moment, looking up ahead and turning back around before roaring at the gorilla, clearly aggravating him. "What are you doing?!" You yell at him, confusion and shock in your tone when he turns to you.

"Do you trust me?" He gazes at you deeply, his deep green eyes pulling you in and lulling the storm raging within you. "Yes." You nod, not doubting for a moment how much you trust him. "Follow me." He instructs as he guides you through the poles once more, the gorilla behind you shoving through and bending pipes like they were made of straw.

Noa pulls you along, stopping at a spot and looking fiercely at the gorilla who was steadily closing the distance between you. You glance from Noa to the gorilla, hoping desperately that he has a plan. Surely he doesn't plan to fight him. Even if he wasn't in such a confined space, there's no way he would win.

"Noa..." You breathe out, distress lacing your words. The water is now rising up to your ribs, and the gorilla is just mere feet away. You cling to Noa and close your eyes tightly, unable to look at the terrible fate in store for you both.

Suddenly, Noa wraps a large arm around your waist and hoists himself up through a hole in the pipes, bringing you with him. He places a hand on your lower back and guides you away from the gorillas arm that is desperately trying to claw at you.

The both of you watch solemnly as water rises above his neck and he slowly drowns. You cling to Noa's chest, still feeling a bit lightheaded at your near death experience.

He looks at you worriedly, pulling you close and you hold his gaze for a moment before looking away to the direction of the tower. If it wasn't for the rapidly rising water around your ankles threatening to consume you both, you likely never would've looked away from his eyes.

~

Noa lets out soft grunts as he carries you up the tower before finally setting you on your feet. He holds the back of your upper arms in his large hands as you rest yours on his forearms. He looks at you with relief, you doing the same. Light at the end of the room catches your eye and you walk out the circles that the four of you had gone into the night before.

You place a hand above your eyes, trying to shield them from the bright sun as your vision adjusts. You see Soona and Anaya first, who were standing with an older ape, everyone looking at the two of you apprehensively.

"You stupid ape!" A voice roars at you and suddenly you're being grabbed by your arm and thrown back onto the rough concrete, scraping up your hand and landing on your tailbone. "You think you can defeat me?" Proximus bellows as he repeatedly throws blow after blow to Noa's face. "You think you can, defeat what i am?!" He threatens the apes that try to go to Noa, who happened to be Soona and Anaya.

You don't care about his threats and you get up to run to him, only for Proximus to swing a large arm into your ribs, sending you flying back onto the ground. You cough and clutch your side, some of the apes around you placing a comforting hand on you in an attempt to soothe you.

The horrible dull thuds of Proximus beating Noa to a pulp echo over the cliff, most of the apes facing away in shame. Noa tries to fight back, when he suddenly gets thrown to the ground right in front of you. You immediately crawl to him, hovering over his bloody and battered form with your own.

Proximus shouts insults at him, and when he reaches another grey arm towards him to continue his beating you do the only thing you can think of to keep him away, and you dig your nails as deep as you can into his arm. Proximus grunts and pulls his arm away, looking more annoyed rather than in pain.

"You foolish girl..." He growls at you before lunging and wrapping a strong hand around your neck and yanking you forward. "I should snap you in half right now just for even looking at me..." He sneers at you and tightens his grip around your throat and lifts you off the ground completely.

You gasp for breath, clawing at his forearm to try and loosen his grip and get some air but you feel yourself fading fast as your face becomes tingly and your vision gets spotty and blurry.

Noa yells out in a rage as he suddenly jumps onto the apes back, making him stumble forward as Noa claws at his face. Proximus drops you to the ground and you choke and cough as the cold air stings your aching lungs. Soona and Anaya hold onto you for support, and you feel a hand rubbing your back trying to help you breathe.

Proximus gets a hold of one of Noa's arms and throws him to the edge of the cliff, blood splattering against the rough concrete. "Noa-" You rasp out as you see him laying limp on the ground, trying to get to him but the apes hold you back. Proximus kicks at Noa's side, the blunt sound making you wince.

You look away, unable to watch the death of another friend, and bury your face in Anaya's shoulder as Noa lays limp, looking up at the sky. "Get up!" Proximus roars at him once more. "Get up, so i can break you, before you die." His grating voice bellows at the bloody ape on the ground.

Anaya strokes your hair soothingly and there's a few beats of silence before you hear a noise coming from Noa, it takes you aback as it almost sounds like humming. You look to Noa, who rolled onto his front and is propping himself up on his arms as he lets out a long pitch, grunting rhythmically in between notes.

You look at him confused before you notice other apes joining in, seemingly knowing the song. Soona gives you a reassuring look as you glance at her, and you see the hope in her eyes. Suddenly, an eagle that had been circling from above swoops down and claws at Proximus' face, drawing a line of blood across his cheek.

"What is this? Stop it!" Proximus yells at the apes, who don't seem to be afraid of him anymore, all of them humming out an eerie tune as more eagles fly down and swipe at him.

An eagle lands on Noa's arm and he makes his way around Proximus in your direction. As he reaches you he discreetly takes your hand in his, pulling you close to him as you all watch the eagles claw and nip at Proximus as though taking turns.

Proximus stumbles closer and closer to the edge of the cliff, trying his hardest to fight off the birds that are tearing into him. He locks eyes with Noa, who gently squeezes your hand a bit tighter as he thrusts his eagle at the ape, the majestic bird baring its talons into Proximus' chest and sending him hurtling over the cliff.

You all breathe a collective sigh of relief, Noa walking to the edge and peering over, a few other apes doing the same. "Let us, go home." He rasps out, his rough fingers still intertwined with yours.

word count: 1544