Apes And Humans Together

Summary: He never misses…except when he chooses to
Warning(s): Spanking; spoilers for the Planet of the Apes new franchise up to and including War For The Planet of The Apes; violence; AU
Author’s Note: Kind of an unusual pairing, I know. Hopefully, it isn’t too weird. I had this idea since seeing the movie; and, well, I couldn’t do an ape spanking an ape like I wanted to after the second movie in the new Planet of the Apes franchise.

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The arrow whizzed past Caesar and he watched it fall to the ground. Turning, he snarled viciously at the human…Preacher…who aimed his crossbow at the ape’s heart. “The next one won’t miss!”

Forcing the human speech from his mouth grew easier with time, though it still felt like he was twisting his mouth into strange shapes. “He said you never miss.” He didn’t wait for a response, reaching to pick up the makeshift bomb. “I have to…protect my family.”

“Hey, donkey!” one of the humans yelled from the tower. “Stop standing there and give me my gun!”

There wasn’t time. He could hear his friends and family falling and dying. Was his son safe? Lake? But Caesar’s eyes were drawn to Koda’s ape on top of the tower, staring at him. The human with him aimed his gun at the ape’s head.

An arrow whizzed forward, piercing the human’s hand and making him drop the gun, screaming.

Caesar didn’t stop to wonder or question the human’s change of heart. As long as he wasn’t going to get an arrow or a bullet in his back, he could save those who still lived.

As soon as he threw what was in his paws, Caesar turned. The human was stood staring at the tank and Caesar let out a frustrated growl before grabbing Preacher round the waist and throwing him over his shoulder.

Cresting the rise, Caesar didn’t allow himself to see the bodies of his friends and comrades covering the ground. He refused to allow himself to feel anything when the planes and trucks came into view, carrying the second army.

Preacher was still and quiet over Caesar’s shoulder. Only the sense of his breathing indicated he was still alive. He was probably in shock. Or maybe the mutated virus had infected him and he would need someone to care for and protect him against a world that couldn’t understand.

Those who lived were clambering over the mountain and Caesar sighed in relief when he glimpsed Lake guiding his son. That relief was short-lived, however, when a rumbling reached his ears. Turning, he saw the explosion hadn’t only decimated the camp and the wall the soldiers had been building. An avalanche was quickly engulfing everything in its path.

“Hold on tight to me!” Caesar directed the human. He felt hands grip tight onto his fur as he began to scramble up one tree, then had to swing to another as a mass of snow and ice knocked it.

Caesar clung on tight to the trunk as the snow and ice lashed his fur, stinging the still-healing lash marks on his back. He only shifted his weight enough so he could slide Preacher down his body, using himself as a barrier of protection for the human.

When the avalanche settled, Caesar looked around and relaxed, seeing the rest of his people had found their way up the trees as well. His eyes sought out and found his son, held protectively by Lake. Maurice had the girl-child safely with him…and while many of his people had been killed, a lot still lived. They were safe.

Preacher was squirming against him and Caesar tightened his grip. “Don’t struggle. You will fall,” he warned.

The human looked up at him, eyes wide as he swallowed nervously. “Why did you save me?”

“You could have shot me. You did not.” Caesar shook himself, scattering snow and ice everywhere, and watched the human. “Should I leave you here, for your fellow humans to find?”

Preacher shifted slightly, glancing down at where the camp and the two armies had been, then at the apes holding onto the trees. “I can’t go with you.”

“Do you want to?”

“I don’t have a place to belong. Not with the humans. How he treated you was wrong.” Preacher hesitated.

Caesar waited; then, when Preacher didn’t continue, asked, “What do you want to do?”

“It doesn’t matter.” The human’s voice was low, filled with regret. “I don’t have a place anywhere. I won’t ever be accepted anywhere. Your people know me. They won’t forget what I did.”

Caesar looked down at the helmet-covered head, bowed low in shame. He raised his paw, letting it rest on the human, though he was aware that he had to hold back his strength so as not to break any bones. “You will come with me,” he decided. “With us. I spared your life once. I will save it again.”

Preacher shook his head. “I don’t deserve it.”

If one of his fellow apes had been tormented by so much guilt, Caesar would have cuffed him or her; displayed domination, making it clear he decided what penance they paid. But a human couldn’t stand up to the sort of pain an ape could take and Caesar remembered seeing how humans punished each other when it was necessary. The punishment he thought of was one he’d seen used on children, but in comparison to him, that was what Preacher was. Smaller. Weaker. In need of protection. Caesar could easily leave him here to fend for himself.

That didn’t feel like an option.

Caesar rested his paw on Preacher’s back, using just enough pressure that the human raised his head to look at him. “I can’t take care of you here and now, but there is a safe place for our kind. When we reach that place, I will punish you for your actions.”

Preacher looked torn, as if he wasn’t sure what to respond to first. Finally, he asked, “Our kind?”

“Yes.” Caesar looked across at Maurice, the human child clinging to his back. “Our kind.”

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During their trip into the desert, Caesar had kept the child, Nova, away from Preacher. He knew the doll she’d carried had infected the Colonel and didn’t know if she herself could infect other humans. Nova did seem wary of her fellow human, but not scared of him.

Caesar didn’t know if Preacher clung to him because he knew the danger of the mutated virus the child carried, or because he feared the rest of the apes. When riding, Preacher perched on the back of the horse, arms wrapped around Caesar’s waist, was an unfamiliar feeling. Caesar was used to the weight of other apes holding onto him, but a human was novel and he was very aware of how easy it would be for Preacher to fall.

The only ape who’d reacted badly to Preacher’s presence had been Red. The first time they’d stopped to rest, the ape who had been on Koba’s side had bounded up to Preacher, beating his chest and snarling viciously. Caesar needed to intervene directly, but fortunately, Red had backed down, even if he hadn’t been happy.

The journey hadn’t been short or easy by any means, but the apes had been in high spirits now they were free of their captivity. Caesar joined the rest of the apes as they settled, watching as Nova took his son’s paw and led him to play with the other children.

Maurice settled on the other side of Caesar and signed to him, We are home.

“Yes,” Caesar agreed.

Preacher stirred and Caesar felt rather than saw him look at them. “Will you teach me to sign and understand you?”

Caesar grunted. “You were not so eager to learn before.” He looked away, but not before glimpsing Preacher bowing his head in shame.

Maurice touched Caesar’s shoulder and signed to him: You are better than that. Do not hold past transgressions over his head. Punish. Forgive. Move on. Be better.

Caesar knew Maurice was right. When he’d seen the guilt on Preacher’s face before, it had been easy to decide to punish him in a way that was normal for humans. Clearly, Maurice had read his intentions and Caesar glanced towards his son.

I will watch over them, Maurice signed to him.

Caesar nodded and then lumbered to his feet. Reaching down, he grasped Preacher’s shoulder and gently pulled the human to his feet. “Come with me.” He didn’t wait for Preacher to voice a response and drew the human back, away from the rest of the apes.

“Are you going to kill me?” Preacher asked calmly. “You should have before. Back when you blew up the camp. I wouldn’t blame you.”

There was no point in talking at the human to convince him. Preacher was too far gone to listen. “Take off your pants,” Caesar directed.

The look of surprise on Preacher’s face was almost comical. “My pants? Not my shirt?”

“I’m not going to flog you,” Caesar said. It didn’t surprise him that Preacher was expecting that. The Colonel hadn’t seemed to care that much about the individual soldiers under his care, only in what they could do for him.

Preacher hesitated, but closed his eyes and gave a jerky half-nod. “Yes, sir.” Opening his eyes again, his fingers fumbled with the fastenings on his pants.

Caesar watched as he finally got the button and zipper undone, then shoved his pants down. The human then waited, as if for further instructions.

Caesar sat down on the ground and stretched his legs out. Patting the lap he made, he said, “Bend over.”

Preacher held still, a faint blush playing over his cheeks. “How does an ape know about a human punishment?”

“An ape raised by humans remembers much,” Caesar answered. He’d thought seriously about how he was going to punish Preacher and ultimately decided he would only use his paw. He was confident he could control his strength enough that the spanking would hurt but not damage.

Preacher took a hesitant step towards Caesar and then stopped, casting a glance towards the other apes seated on the bank. He swallowed and then quickly sped up, almost throwing himself over Caesar’s lap.

Caesar carefully measured his paw against Preacher’s backside, noting it was big enough to cover more than half of the human’s bottom.

Keeping his claws under careful control, Caesar raised his paw and swatted Preacher’s backside.

The human jerked, but didn’t make a sound. He didn’t even when Caeasr continued to swat him, his backside and thighs beginning to show pink through his underwear.

Pausing, Caesar leaned over so he could see the human’s face. It was flushed red, with tear tracks covering his cheeks and he was biting his lower lip, hard enough to draw beads of blood.

“You are not Ape.”

His voice must have startled the human, as Preacher jumped, releasing his lip and twisting his head to stare fully into Caesar’s eyes.

“You are not Ape,” Caesar repeated. “I am not showing dominance. I am punishing you as I would any human I cared for. Do not stop yourself reacting.”

Preacher closed his eyes, whispering, “Crying is a sign of weakness.”

“Do you think you are strong?” Caesar delivered a harder swat and felt the human jump.

“Not compared to an ape.” Preacher spoke through gritted teeth.

“You turned against your fellow humans.” Another harder smack.

Preacher groaned and squeezed his eyes shut as another tear slipped out. “He would have killed you. He made you slaves. I had to watch it.”

“We were on different sides of the war.” Caesar smacked again and heard a choked-off whimper. “You were prepared to kill me and my kind.” He paused, waiting for Preacher to relax his bottom, and then swatted him again.

“You spared me.” The admission was followed by what sounded like a sob.

“Apes don’t kill for sport. We kill to protect what is ours. We kill for survival. Humans torture and kill. Koba chose to kill your kind because of what they did to him.” Caesar paused speaking and begin smacking. While he controlled his strength, the swats were harder and he very quickly had Preacher shifting and writhing on his lap.

“I wouldn’t have….”

The human cut himself off, but Caesar finished his sentence for him. “You wouldn’t have run those kinds of tests on him. Tormented him. But you stood by and did nothing when my people were enslaved. You let the Colonel kill your kind and mine.”

Preacher held himself still and then he went limp over Caesar’s lap. His tears became audible as he sobbed.

Caesar paused, taken aback by the stab of empathy he felt. In a quiet voice, or at least as quiet as he could make it, he said, “You need to reach back and push your underwear down.” If he pulled them down himself, he was concerned his claws would shred either the material or Preacher’s skin.

Letting out another sob, Preacher reached back and hooked his fingers in the waistband of his underwear. He pushed them down without any hesitation, then pulled his hands back in front of him.

Caesar could see the dark pink spots on Preacher’s backside, with reddish marks that might leave bruises. “I’m going to give you twelve more smacks. After that, your punishment will be over. You will be forgiven, by me, and will be free to build a new life with me and my kind, free to move on.”

“Yes, sir,” Preacher whispered.

Caesar didn’t want to drag this out any longer than he had to. Holding Preacher down with one paw, he delivered the final twelve smacks at a carefully controlled force. Each one brought a gasp and moan from Preacher, mingling with his sobs.

By the time the twelve smacks were over with, Preacher’s entire bottom was red in colour and he was crying heavily. Caesar lifted his paw and moved it to the human’s head, touching his hair. “Your punishment is over with. You have a chance to start over.”

Preacher took a deep breath and then slowly pushed himself up, wiping at his eyes before he then tugged his clothing back into place with a wince.

Caesar rested his paw on Preacher’s shoulder and brought the human in close for a hug; another learned behaviour.

Preacher stiffened at first, but then leaned into the hug and closed his eyes. His tears wet Caesar’s fur, but it wasn’t long before the human stopped crying…though he didn’t immediately pull away; and Caesar didn’t immediately let him go.

The End