Author's Note: Made by PoMlovah611 and I. And I'm not sure if this is a random oneshot or what…
~Natty.
Mission Antarctica.
~PoM~
"KOWALSKI!" The leader cried, hanging from the edge of the snow cliff.
"Skipper!" The lieutenant gasped, running toward him.
If the leader's flippers could turn white they would have from both fear and strain. He was slipping he could feel it in his flippers.
"Hang on Skipper!" Kowalski shouted, finally reaching him and grabbing his flippers, pulling on them.
The snow was slippery, cold ice beneath them.
"Kowalski..." Skipper whimpered in fear.
"It's gonna be okay Skipper!" Kowalski yelled, feet slipping in the snow as he pulled.
The leader knew it even if the other didn't. They couldn't both be pulled up with all this ice. They were both weakened from the previous avalanche. "L-Let go..."
"No! I can't Skipper!" The analyst whined.
The smaller's feet slipped, bringing them both further down. The commander shouted out in alarm as he felt his body hang off the edge further. Soon he'd be impaled on the jagged rocks below all that snowy powder.
"SKIPPER!" the scientist shrieked.
Their hold on each other still was strong, flippers gripping as hard as able.
Kowalski looked into the other's eyes desperately. His feet couldn't get a grip on the snow that turned more into slippery ice by the second. "Skipper! I-I can't-"
Chilled fog came out of Skipper's beak holes as he stared back. "I-I know..."
Kowalski panted, staring at the leader as if awaiting orders.
They couldn't both be saved and they still had a mission that needed to attend to. The others would finish it without him. He believed in them as their commander. He just hoped they could forgive him for what he was about to do. "I'm...I'm sorry Kowalski..." Skipper shut his eyes and his flippers let go.
"No!" The analyst screamed, reaching his flipper out to the now-falling leader. "SKIPPER!" he yelled, a few tears escaping his eyes.
As the leader disappeared into the fog below it felt as if the air got colder. The scientist stared down below, desperately searching for any sign of him.
Nada.
Zip.
Nothing at all. Not even blood.
The analyst climbed back up on his feet and lay on the snow, crying into it as he would do to a pillow. "Oh Skipper... why?"
It was then that the rest of the team caught up.
Private waddled as fast as he could to the analyst. "K'walski are you alright? Where's Skippah?"
The tallest penguin didn't reply, sobbing hard.
"K'walski?"
"Skipper... h-he... it's all my fault!" Kowalski cried.
"Wha 'appen?" Rico frowned.
"He fell and I wasn't able to save him! I'm responsible!" The analyst shouted, putting both flippers on his head.
Private paled in the arctic air. "W-what do you mean?"
"He slipped and fell! I tried to save him! He's... he's GONE!" The scientist shut his eyes, letting the ice-cold tears flow.
"Oh I'm sure he's alright..." Naive little Private waved off.
"How can you be so sure!? HOW can you be so SURE!?" Kowalski yelled again. "That's a LLOOOONNG fall! And to make it worse, there are sharp, pointy rocks down there! There's no way he could've survived!"
"B-but-" Private tried, not believing or wanting to believe it to be true. That couldn't be…
"NO! HE'S GONE AND THAT'S IT! IT'S MY FAULT FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO SAVE HIM!" Kowalski cried.
"I'm sure you couldn't help it..." Private tried to say.
"WHAT are you SAYING!? I COULD'VE helped! I'm sure of it!"
"Well why didn't you?!" Private huffed.
"I c-couldn't..." Kowalski said softly, realizing how much sense his words had.
Rico sniffed back some tears. "'kipper?"
Kowalski sighed. Covering his beak with his flippers. "I'm guilty as charged boys..."
Rico growled and coughed out a crowbar, hitting the analyst with it. The weapons expert stood over the taller bird. "YOUR FAULT!"
"AAH! I know...! Just put me out of my misery!" The analyst cried, cowering.
Rico paused.
Kowalski looked up from under his flippers. "What...!? Why'd you stop?"
"I-If what you say is true then...you're leader now." Private slowly saluted him.
Rico dropped the weapon and saluted too.
"No! I-I can't be! Not after I murdered the previous one!"
The two's salutes still stood strong, not faltering through the bitter icy wind.
Kowalski was panicking. No! He couldn't be leader! "No- stop that! It's against the code! I can't be the commander!"
The salutes didn't fall and the analyst felt his heart beating out of his chest. Leader…He couldn't be…
Private dropped his flipper. "Commander K'walski?"
"W-what?" Kowalski was shaking.
"I really hate Antarctica."
Leader. He was LEADER! "M-me too…"