War Technicalities [UNDER REVISION]

Winter Nights

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

Haley hugged her knees tightly to her chest as she gazed down at the village from her spot atop of the watchtower, seeing everyone preparing for nightfall. It wasn't her post, but it was inside of the walls to which she was currently confined and the farthest she could get from the chilly waterfall next to her hut. Her three weeks of living with the apes has flown by faster than she ever thought time could move, being so used to living alone and without a soul to talk to, and every day it felt as if nature was trying to weigh winter down even more harshly. The apes seemed unaffected by the frosty breeze and mud – though, even she felt satisfying warmth whenever she saw apes huddling together at night, like they would freeze to death of they broke from each other – but her nude skin and skinny limbs shook violently at night when she was trying to fall sleep. None of the apes seemed to realize the fact that she would surely die of Hypothermia soon – at least, that is what it felt like to Haley as she hugged her legs even more tightly to herself, trying to thaw herself down. Only when she was startled to a small jump thanks to the wood suddenly creaking below her, was she convinced that she was still able to move in the cold.

She watched, justifying uncomfortable, as Koba appeared at the edge of the watchtower and climbed on top of it, but as soon as he saw she was there, he gibbered with dissatisfaction. Back when she arrived and he spoke up about her having tried to save Caesar, she had an inkling that maybe she was wrong about him, that he's just bad around people and that she shouldn't judge him for the way he appeared to be, but after that day, he's openly spoken out against having a human at the Village many times and glared at her nearly every single chance he got – she was pretty sure that it was only out of respect for Caesar that he didn't toss her over the side of the cliff – which was so different from the other apes, who did their best to try and honor their leader's wishes and accept her. She could feel another pair of eyes following her wherever she went, but after failing to catch whoever the ape was, she shrugged it off and assumed it was Koba, too. This is what made it doubly odd when Koba just huffed an annoyed puff of air and sat down next to her on the tower a few feet away. Discretely, she glanced to him a few times, shifting nervously where she sat, and attempted to figure out what he was doing there. She knew he wasn't there to take the post, because Rocket was assigned to it for the day and he, being the brash but shockingly kind ape she discovered him to be, left with on one condition: for her to stay until he came back.

"Stop staring." Koba interrupted briskly, not even glancing her way as he signed, only lucky that she glanced his way at the time.

"I'm not." Haley denied with a scoff immediately and forced her eyes back onto the apes below and into her initial stare – she froze, the truth dawning on her with an agonizing blow.

"One eye is enough to see." Koba pointed out with a furious gibber, but while Haley knew exactly what he was getting at, she remained determined to deny it, even if her gaze lingered on a singular figure, who she's been watching for a while without even realizing it – Koba clearly did, however.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She grumbled and ripped her eyes off of Caesar in the distance, "You're the one who's been staring at me ever since I got here."

"Caesar is ape." He simply continued, barely seen through the corner of her eye, and caused a weight of truth to crash down on her shoulders – it wasn't like she didn't know that.

"Alright already," Haley finally snapped and whisked around to scowl at him, her brown eyes almost looking like a fiery red in anger, "If you have a point, make it!"

"Human have no place here." He signed with a faint growl, baring his yellow and stained canines at her, and finally graced her with his own stare – though, she would've preferred it if he kept his frightening gaze to himself, "No place beside Caesar left where human wants to be."

Her blood boiled at his words, with her jaw clenching tightly by the fact that she knew he wasn't wrong about the fact that she wanted to stand next to Caesar as more than a friend, which wasn't possible anymore, "You're being ridicule—"

Luckily, before the argument could escalate any further, Rocket came to her aid and allowed her to flee the tower to escape Koba's observing eye and to return to her hut for another night of fighting herself to sleep, all while ignoring the feeling of eyes still trailing her every step. She couldn't believe he already discovered her feelings for his leader when it took her eight years to notice it for herself; the mere idea left a vile and persistent taste in her mouth. In fact, she could still taste it as she curled into her personal nest, pointlessly attempting to steal some heat from the dead plants. It took an hour before she finally begun to drift off into a much-needed sleep, but alas, just as the welcomed darkness set in, a heavy body suddenly dropped down at her door and shuffled inside behind her. Too tired and cold to move quickly, she wasn't able to jump away from the intruder in shock and could only turn herself around stiffly, her drooped eyes barely widening when she saw the giant orange figure looming over her, despite sitting down. Staring into his small green eyes, him not making a single sound, it didn't take her long to recognize the feeling of him watching her so closely and realized who had been watching her for so long – him. But why?

Cooing gently in the pendulous sack underneath his chin, Maurice reached down, hoisted her limp body out of the nest with her arms and legs dangling loosely around her, and laid himself down before he placed her down next to him and wrapped one of his long arms around her. Her body felt as if it moved on its own when she curled up against him like a cat, her figure immediately growing warmer – only as the warmth got sucked into her core did she realize that he must have been watching her because he knew she was freezing in the winter nights.

Through blurred eyes, she watched as Maurice signed next to her, "Don't mind Koba – he thinks feelings like love and hate are controlled," he held her closer, still feeling her body shake from the cold, "he wants to be able to believe his hate of humans is his choice, not something created by humans, themselves."

Honestly, she couldn't bring herself to say anything, and so, she simply nodded into his long fur before slipping into her dreams. She wondered if he knew exactly how much she needed to hear that.

Since then, she slept next to Maurice every night, who turned out to be her newest friend.

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