War Technicalities [UNDER REVISION]

Most Human Of All

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

Everyone in the village was confused by Koba's solemn behavior when he returned to the village while Caesar just assumed it was because his pride was hurt from apologizing to a human of all things, but as time passed and as he didn't even shift from where he sat by the fire, the other apes begun to glance at each other with worry; he always was a stoic chimpanzee compared to the rest, but as his scarred face showed an obvious and deep inner conflict, most knew something else was going on. Soon, worry turned to a fear for his health when he didn't even twitch at the sound of an uproar building at the edge of the village, the sound slowly drawing nearer and nearer. Deep in thought, he couldn't see Haley speed through the entrance of the fortress, alarming a few apes, and didn't see every single head follow her rushed steps; only when a startling roar sounded behind him did he finally jump back to reality, even if only to get tackled into the mud from behind by the human female the very second later. Haley locked her arm tightly around his neck as he stood and moved to pull her off of his back, the sound of the dozens of apes' screaming blurring around the both of them as they struggled.

Taking every advantage she could get, Haley frantically pounded her free fist down on his head and shoulder while he aimlessly grasped at her and spun from left to right to try and shake her off. Inevitably, he finally managed to latch onto her fur-coated shoulder when her head dodged out of the way and, just before she could land another blow, he tossed her over him, slamming her onto the ground and forcing a faint yelp from her lungs. Leering down at her, he growled and moved to attack her in return, but before he had the chance, she bared her human teeth and kicked at his chest like he had done to her a few hours prior, forcing him to fly back – albeit, not as far as she did back then, but still far enough.

"Not this time!" She bellowed as she, once again, jumped at him, wrapping her arms around his middle and using her shoulder to tackle him back into a puddle of mud. She could feel him hammering against her back mid-fall, but when they splashed into the water, the filthy liquid soaking his raven fur to a nauseating brown, she pulled away and straddled him before she begun to slam her fists down towards his face in a furious frenzy. The screams, screeches, and hoots turned louder as the apes circled the two of them like spectators to a boxing match and could only see Koba defending himself and making no move to fight back – some of them occasionally stepped forward to interrupt, but only to step back a few seconds later, not daring to get in the middle of what was going on.

By this time, Caesar has already been forced to peer down to the village from the tree thanks to the era-pitching cries and was made to pale at the sight of his old friend pummeling one of the apes on his council before he ran as fast as he could down the steps on all-fours, but it wasn't him who finally was able to break the fight – it was Maurice.

Haley was still punching and slamming Koba deeper into the mud with an animalistic craze when Maurice's long, strong, and orange-furred arm suddenly wrapped around her stomach and puller her away, hugging her tightly against his chest and leaving her to kick and scratch at the air "Let go of me!" She demanded when she realized she wasn't getting anywhere, reaching down and pushing against his limb while she pointlessly attempted to free her skinny frame from his powerful grip, "Damn it, let go! LET GO! You know what he did!"

In between her deranged pleas and fiery gaze, she could barely make out the sight of Caesar helping Koba to his feet, who, incidentally, didn't make a single move to attack her anymore and simply stood there, catching his breath, as he gazed at her with an angry scowl, as he always did before – though, it felt strangely forced to the ape this time.

"What's the meaning to this!?" Caesar signed angrily, but his words seemed to go unheard.

"Maurice told me the truth, you bastard!" Haley finally yelled, eyes blurring with tears that craved to be shed, "He told me everything!"

Despite himself, Koba's scowl faltered, his eyes flickering to Maurice's knowing look before he set them back on the seemingly unhinged girl. "Haley, calm down." Caesar spoke carefully in his deep voice, forcing himself to intervene despite his curiosity about what was going on, but as he limped closer to her, his compulsion faltered, his flat nose twitching slightly at the scent that prickled his senses, eventually compelling him to sign one question while his voice suddenly got stuck in his dry throat, "Why do you smell like Koba?"

Immediately, Haley's entire body fell slack in Maurice's still-binding grip, allowing him to loosen it slightly to allow her to breathe more easily. Only then did Haley remember what Maurice asked her when he showed up at the river, and by the sight of Koba's face turning startled with some type of realization, a haunting suspicion bubbled in Haley about what it meant to smell like him, compelling her to lower her head away from Caesar, not able to look him in the eyes. With a combination of pain, fury, and sorrow, she bared her teeth to bite back her insisting tears, her eyes burning in their sockets. "'Human lies.'" She breathed shakily in a single whisper, "That's the first thing I ever heard you say."

Koba felt as if every single ape was sending him an accusing look, but as he trailed his scowl over every single one of them, he realized that not one was looking his way – it was his own guilt weight down on him from knowing exactly where Haley was going. "You said that," She repeated lowly before she finally snapped her head back up and screamed, "Out of everyone here, you are the most human of us all!"

With that, she finally ripped Maurice's arm away from her and fled from all prying eyes and back to her hut. Caesar looked to Maurice for answers, his face contorted with a worried frown, but the Orangutan just shook his head – he knew, now that Haley knew exactly what she had allowed to happen, that she wanted Caesar to know about her feelings even less than she did before. After all, the one thing she wanted most of all was for Caesar to never look at her differently.