Birth of the Planet of the Apes

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The days were empty. Caesar knew he would miss his son, he knew he would feel this emptiness in himself the moment Blue Eyes disappeared through the trees so long ago, yet he believed himself strong enough to keep these feelings from inhibiting his role as leader, especially with this new knowledge of other smart apes. As per usual, Maurice was far more perceptive than he ever believed.

"Do you wish to send a group to look for Blue Eyes?" the orangutan asked as they sat around the fire circle for their evening meal.

Caesar didn't realize he was looking blankly off into the distance until Maurice had caught his attention. He snapped out of his daze and furrowed his brows, "Why...do you ask this?" he said, confused.

His friend gave a knowing smile then sighed, "You are worried," he signed, "We have seen it ever since Blue Eyes left."

Luca gave a couple of agreeing hoots.

Caesar couldn't help but give them a small smile that faded quickly, his hidden, or rather not hidden, worry hazing over his green eyes. Had it really been that obvious?

True, he wanted to send apes after his son the second he left, and Cornelia had asked for parties to be sent after only a day, but Blue Eyes needed to be alone now. Didn't he? The conflict within Caesar was turning his heart inside out. His son was strong. He knew this. But no matter how strong a single ape was; being alone in such a dangerous world was far from safe. He had been gone for eight days now. Surely that would've been long enough for him to...

Maurice hooted, apparently veering Caesar back out of his mind again.

"I...I am sorry," Caesar said to the apes around him.

"Do not apologize for missing your son," Luca signed with fervor, "It is your job as his father to worry."

"But is it not also my job to be a leader for all of you?" He could feel his face contort into a grimace as he fretted over his misgivings.

Maurice raised his hands to try his best at consoling him once again, but Caesar shut him down quickly. Comfort was not something he should be taking at a time like this.

"If my son does not return in two days we will send a search party out to retrieve him," he signed quickly and to-the-point, to make sure his decisiveness was not questioned. To ensure he didn't stay on this subject and fade back into his mind, he shut it out with words, "Have we heard back...from Rocket...and Tex?"

Maurice shared a perceptive look with Luca who gave a strong snort and began signing, "We have heard nothing yet. Tex said other apes were four days from us. It has been seven days since they left."

"So they could...return soon?" Caesar asked, eyes serious.

Luca grunted with an upward nod.

Caesar hadn't realized just how close they were to finally witnessing the possibility of other smart apes besides themselves. It was something he and Maurice had been hoping and dreading for ever since the humans started getting sick. If these apes were, in fact, smart apes, then that would mean apes everywhere had the potential to be like them. It was both an amazing and terrifying revelation. He had been lucky in his early life to be treated with kindness from humans, to learn that they had the capacity to treat apes with respect. On the other hand, as he had learned over his time in the ape cages and after, a human's level for cruelty can permanently scar an ape, on the outside and the inside. Humans were dangerous to ape kind, but the greatest danger were apes who were scarred so much that they sought to remove them and start war.