Rebuilding Trust

Summary: Set after the end of the movie. Mae lied to and deceived Noa. Instead of just letting her leave, he uses one of the pictures he saw in the human books as an inspiration for what to do with her
Warning(s): Ape spanking a human; spoilers for the Planet of the Apes franchise; specific spoilers for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes; references to violence and canon character death; AU
Author's Note: Yeah, okay. Kind of a crack fic. But when I saw this movie, this plot immediately came into my head. And it's actually not the first ape spanks a human I've written based on this franchise, so I do have precedent for this kind of plot.
I hope you enjoy anyway, in spite of the crackiness of the fic!

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Noa stared at the Echo, at Mae, the first human he'd met with the ability to speak and communicate. And all she'd done since meeting him the first time was deceive him and outright lie to him at times. And she'd endangered his clan when she'd flooded the vault anyway, despite them all being forced inside. "We found your books in the vaults," he said finally. "Apes in cages. If you give Echoes back the ability to speak, they will treat us as animals once more."

"Humans are not animals." Mae moved her hand behind her, sliding under the blue shawl she wore.

"Neither are apes!" Noa roared the words, but when she flinched, he forced himself to calm his temper. He'd learned a lot, and changed almost as much, since he'd gone on his egg hunt. "Was anything you told me true?"

Mae dropped her eyes to the ground. Noa couldn't read the emotion on her face, but she didn't say anything...which was answer enough.

Noa felt the anger seep out of him. She had used and manipulated him, it was true. But they'd also worked together. They'd helped each other. He'd saved her from Proximus' apes; she'd saved Soona from certain death. "What will you do now?" he asked.

"Try to save my people. The same way you saved your own." She finally raised her eyes to meet his. "It was never my intention to deceive you. It's true that I wasn't honest, but apes killed the people I was with. I couldn't know you weren't the same as them."

"After we travelled together? After I saved you from Proximus' apes? No. I proved myself to you," he said.

Mae looked at him for a long moment, her expression indecipherable, before she asked, "What do you want me to say?"

Noa didn't respond immediately, as he didn't know what he wanted from her. He could tell her he wanted the truth, but even if he did and she responded, how could he tell the truth from her lies? How could he trust any words she spoke?

As he thought about how to answer her question, Noa remembered the books he, Anaya and Soona had found in the human vault. There hadn't been a lot of time to look through them, but among the pictures of the apes locked in cages, behind bars, he'd noticed another picture...one of a human, of an Echo. A mother and a child, he'd assumed. The child had been over the older Echo's knee, with the mother's hand raised over the child's backside. It made him think of the way ape parents disciplined their children, although they didn't punish in the same way as the picture he'd seen.

Mae wasn't a child. And Noa wasn't her parent, or even an Echo. But after everything that had happened, he couldn't help but feel that she deserved some kind of punishment. Echoes were a lot weaker than apes, though, and the kind of punishment an ape could give a human would break bones, if not outright kill her.

"Noa." Mae's voice broke into his thoughts, drawing his attention back to her. She shifted slightly from one foot to the other as she said, "I need to leave. I need to...."

"The book." He felt tired, more than anything else. But that picture he'd seen in the book was still in in his mind and he asked, "How do Echoes, how do humans, punish those who have lied to them?"

A surprised look came over Mae's face before she narrowed her eyes slightly, clearly wary; maybe even suspicious. "Why do you ask?"

He had no interest in playing games or hiding what he meant behind half-truths and lies. He was honest when he answered her question. "I saw a picture in one of those books. Not just apes behind bars and trapped in cages, but a human mother and a child." He proceeded to describe the picture to her.

"Spanking." She shook her head. "It was an outdated form of punishment used by parents on their children. Children are too young to fully understand a physical punishment. They only understand that their mother or father is hurting them. Before we lost this world, spanking was against the law in a lot of countries."

"You are not a child."

"You're not a human."

The words hung in the air between them and they held eye contact with each other for several long moments before she was the first one to look away. "You'll break me."

"Echoes are weaker than apes. They cannot stand up to the punishment an ape would give." Noa moved a bit closer to her. "I understand the differences in us."

Her hand was back under her shawl again and her body was tense. She looked at him in a similar way to how she'd looked at the ape holding Soona, after she'd killed him. But Noa knew, if she wanted to kill him, she would have easily done so by now. She hadn't hesitated to kill her fellow human, after all. She hadn't hesitated to kill the ape who had threatened Soona either. If he'd learned anything about her, it was that she was ruthless and willing to do whatever she thought she needed for her survival; for the survival of her fellow humans.

But he wasn't threatening her. And he wasn't threatening her fellow humans. He was telling her that he wanted their two peoples to exist side by side in peace. But that was only possible if they got past the rift between them caused by her lies and deception.

Slowly, she moved her hand away, so that he could see it was empty. If she carried a weapon on her, she'd chosen not to use it. She took a step back, but the movement didn't seem to be borne out of fear. Instead, she seemed to be appraising him...making a decision about what to do next based on her experiences with him and the rest of the apes, and whatever her instincts were telling her to do. Finally, she asked, "What do I need to do?"

He hadn't truly expected her to agree to this, although it was a good sign that she had. It meant she was willing to at least try to repair things between them; to take the first step on a journey towards peace.

He knew it wouldn't be possible to punish her in the same way he'd seen the spanking carried out in the book. For one thing, if he used too much force when he swatted her, there was the chance he'd cause damage to her. He needed her in a position where he could control his own strength.

Looking around, Noa's gaze landed on one of the trees. He focused on Mae and gestured with one claw towards the tree. "You need to lean against that."

She hesitated. "If you use your claw, you might do more damage than you mean to."

She'd put voice to the same thought he had, and it was enough for him to consider maybe he should take a different approach to this. He opened his mouth to ask if she had any suggestions, but before he could put voice to that question, she began moving towards the tree.

Mae reached up and snapped a branch free, then drew a small knife from her belt and began to cut off the sharp twigs and leaves, leaving the branch a smooth length of wood. After looking over it with a critical eye, she then brought the branch over to him and held it out.

Slowly, he reached out and gripped the branch.

"It's called a switch," she explained. "I've only heard about it in stories, but the concept is simple enough. You don't need to swing too hard to make an impression."

Heard stories. "There are a lot more of you able to think and reason than you led me to believe. Aren't there?" he asked.

She looked away and didn't say anything.

He hadn't expected her to tell him about the other humans who were like her, but at least she wasn't lying to him again. He looked down at the branch, the switch, he held in his claw and gripped it tight before swinging it through the air, testing the strength. Once he was satisfied it wouldn't break when he used it, he looked towards her to find her eyes focused on his once more. "Lean against the tree," he ordered.

She breathed out slowly and nodded. Taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders, she walked over to the tree. Bracing her hands against the trunk, she leaned forward and her shawl rode up her back enough to allow him to glimpse the weapon she'd used to kill the ape threatening Soona.

He wasn't surprised to see the weapon on her. After everything they'd experienced together, he'd come to learn that she was much more dangerous than the Echoes, who couldn't think or reason and were unable to see anything past their immediate needs. It was further proof that Mae hadn't just been born randomly with intelligence and the ability to speak. After all, how could she have learned if there was no one who could teach her?

But there was no use in questioning her further. If he was going to believe anything that she said, he needed to heal the rift between them the lies and deceit had caused. And then perhaps they would be able to start over.

He rested a claw on her spine and drew the switch back, letting it snap against her backside with a dull thwap.

Mae's breath hissed out, but she didn't make a sound otherwise and stayed in position, though her hands clenched slightly against the tree trunk.

He hesitated, but only for a second, before he let the switch land a second time with the same dull thwap sound, just below where the first strike had been delivered.

She didn't make any sounds at the next few strokes from the switch, although her fingers continued to curl into fists every time the switch fell. She did let out a harsh whimper when Noa struck against the tops of her thighs.

He paused, waiting to see if she would tell him to stop, or tell him that she'd had enough. He wasn't sure he'd agree if she tried to tell him that, but he couldn't force her to submit any more than she had done already.

Mae didn't try to stop him. Her body tensed up, but she stayed in position and leaned forward more, in much the same way an ape might show submission to their elder.

Noa delivered another series of strokes with the switch, although he was careful to avoid her thighs a second time. He was about to begin a third series of strikes when an unfamiliar sound met his ears, and the scent of salt water reached his nose.

Carefully, he reached out with one claw and turned her face towards him. Her eyes were tightly closed, squeezed shut, but there were tears leaking out from beneath her eyelids. She opened her eyes and looked into his face, whispering softly, "I'm sorry."

The rest of his anger seeped out of him and he dropped the switch to the ground before leaning forward, letting his head rest against hers in the same way he would give affection to his family and close friends.

She closed her eyes again and let her head drop gently against his. For a few seconds, they just stood there like that, neither saying anything, but then she pulled away, her eyes still shimmering with tears. "I have to leave," she whispered.

"I must return to my people as well." He hesitated, not sure how to say farewell to her. She was the first Echo, the first human, he'd had any reason to interact with. "I hope we will see each other again, in better circumstances," he said finally.

"I would like that." She moved towards her horse, who had waited patiently, and took hold of its reins. She then led the animal away, only glancing back at him once.

Noa watched until she was out of sight, then walked away to return to his own people.

The End