What sings to you?
Was only a matter of time before I did some hurt/comfort with Mae and Noa, especially with Mae being such a mystery!
tw: mentions of blood and death
All it had taken was one snap of a branch and everything in Mae's life changed.
The chaos of that night, horrific screeching of apes, the blinding brightness of electricity, and blood. So much blood.
Leo had said he would take the first watch so Mae and the others of the party could sleep. Mae had offered to stay awake with him, as they had much to talk about.
For after they retrieved the satellite deciphering key, the second part of their mission was testing recolonization on the surface.
The air was clean and the Earth was fertile. And it was expected that Leo and Mae would have a child together.
She had liked him enough; they had grown up together. He was her comrade, intelligent, and had a cute little dimple when he smiled.
Even if his flippant personality was annoying at times, like when he told her she was worrying too much and to go to sleep. They would have all the time in the world to talk about their future.
And yet that time had never come. Proximus had made sure of that when his soldiers had descended on them like a terrifying horde.
Leo had pushed Mae into the bushes, the brambles giving her a thousand razor sharp scratches.
As Mae righted herself, she expected to find Leo after her. But he wasn't.
He was held in the grip of an ape, and with one slash, Leo's throat was burst open. Dark red blood gushing.
He fell to his knees, both hands hopelessly gripping his throat as his eyes bore into hers.
He slumped forward and landed on his front with a sickening thud. She had to run.
Mae.
Mae!
She bolted upright, adrenaline coursing through her veins as she wanted to run, to hide, to get away, to survive.
A large hand cupped her cheek and moved her head, meeting concerned spring green eyes.
Seeing Noa forced Mae to come back to her senses and her body. She wasn't at camp; she was in one of the sleeping quarters of the Eagle Clan.
And Proximus was no longer a threat. The hero in that regard was right here, holding onto her as her body trembled and her lungs felt heavy from each shaky breath.
Even though that other apes were mercifully still asleep, Mae needed to get out of here before she revealed more of these pitiful weaknesses. Like vomiting or crying so much snot dripped out of her nose; as she had done in the past.
"I need fresh air," Mae said, breaking from Noa's contact and struggling to get out of the hammock.
"Mhmm," Noa said with a nod, reaching to grab his sling and put it over his shoulder.
Mae jammed her feet into her boots and roughly tied the laces, "I don't want to talk."
Noa grabbed his staff, "I understand."
"So, there's no reason for you to come," Mae said curtly.
That had Noa pause. A long pause.
She only dared a peek at him. Trying to see if he was angry. He looked more confused than anything.
Mae brushed her brown hair back. "Look, if you need to come because you don't trust me, I get that--"
"Why do you think I'm also awake?"
Mae looked at him, eyebrows knit together. She assumed the answer was because in the short amount of time she had been staying with the clan, it was because the ape just rarely slept as is. Even on the road together, she had noticed that.
But the meekness of his body posture and downturn softness of his eyes told a different story.
Mae swallowed thickly and nodded. She grabbed her shawl to drape over her shoulders and fisted the fabric tightly around her like a shield. She headed down the long winding ramp, her ape shadow closely behind her.
Even though she had spoken with such conviction, once Mae got outside and felt the frigid early air on her face, she froze. Not sure where she wanted to go.
Her senses immediately heightened, the dark shadows of the forest making her whole body shudder as she wrapped the shawl tighter around herself. The uncertainty of what threats lied in there seizing her heart.
"Follow me," Noa said, his hands also signing his words.
Though Mae dreaded slightly that they would be heading to the unknown, to the shadows, they only went as far as the outer limit of the village.
There, Noa sat himself down on a large flat rock. He rested his staff close by, just in case, and hunched himself to rest his arms on his knees.
Mae followed suit and sat next to him, close enough to show their familiarity, but not too close for him to feel her current fragility.
The pair sat still and in silence for a good long while, watching as dawn was barely lightening the sky.
Suddenly, Noa picked up a small rock and threw it into the tall grass. Hundreds of fireflies then erupted alight.
Mae couldn't help as she gasped, their natural warm glow unlike any of the harsh white lights of the bunker she had grown up in. It was too magical and too perfect of a scene.
"You've done this before," Mae noted.
"Been doing this since I was small." Noa's eyes cast down, "Been coming here more. Sometimes with Anaya or Soona. Dark dreams."
Mae felt a hot flush of shame wash over her cheeks. She wasn't the only one that had lost so much because of Proximus. And she had been the reason they had come here, even though she had tried to deny it for so long. All justified means.
"Do you hate me?" Mae jolted as she realized she had said that out loud. "Never mind. Forget I just said that--"
"I do not hate you, Mae," Noa interjected with, turning his body towards her. "It is…confusing at times. I do not know what sings to you."
Mae perked up and turned to him as well. "Sings to me?"
Noa pressed a few knuckles to his chest, "What's in here."
"Yes. But also, something that lives deeper within you."
"Soul," Noa repeated slowly, testing the word. "Is that what humans call it?"
She casted her eyes down, "Though. I'm not sure I even have one. It never felt right. Too emotional for what needed to be done."
"And yet you feel deeply."
"How can you be so sure?" Mae asked defensively, but still noting the desperate plea that tinged her voice.
"You wouldn't have dark dreams if not." Noa pointed to his eyes, "Shed tears when Proximus taunted you."
Mae felt her bottom lip quiver, fresh tears stinging her eyes. One of her hands wrapped around Raka's pendant that hung from her neck as she never took it off.
"We are all alone," The wise orangutang had said. "But now, we have each other."
Alone. That's what had been gnawing at her. Even with the mission complete, she was still all alone now. A lone survivor.
However, she wasn't technically alone anymore. A single human among apes, sure, but not shrouded in solitude. And now, Mae was sick of the biting cold in her bones, and she was not one to idlily sit by.
Tentatively, Mae moved over until her and Noa were touching, shoulder-to-shoulder, knee-to-knee, side-to-side.
Noa's body tensed in surprised, but only momentarily as his body relaxed against hers. They gave each other small smiles before turning back to the climbing sunrise. A serene light filling the valley.
"You never answered my question," Noa then asked. "What sings to you?"
'Safety,' was the first word that came to mind. But now that Mae was next to someone she trusted, she let herself realize what the true answer was. Why she kept having those recurring nightmares.
Knowing what it would cost her to say out loud, Mae bent her head until it rested on Noa's strong shoulder. His own head instinctively resting on top of hers.
