The snowstorm was getting heavier, so Skipper almost didn´t see anything anymore. The weight of Private, who was lying unconsious in his wings, didn´t make things easier. Skipper felt a burning pain in his abdomen and his foot hurt like hell. Slowly he limped through the snow, in order to look after a save shelter for the night. This whole Operation to explore Anctarctica went terribly wrong.
Ice cold air crept under his feathers and made him shiver. After an hour in the fatal coldness outside, the leader found a small cave, where he limped into as fast as possible, to get out of the snowstorm. His steps echoed from the cave and left a nervous stinging in his stomach. Slowly he put Private to the ground and walked to the small entrance again.
With last strengh he tried to make a barrier made of snow to close the cave. After an hour he´d finally finished, but now it was completely dark inside. Cautiously, Skipper supported himself on the wall and made his way back to his little solidier. "Skipper, what happened?" Private muttered weakly. "Private, how are you feeling? We´ve been attackt by human hunters, remember?" Skipper gasped and pressed his wing to his aching belly. Something warm soaked his feathers and made him weaker and weaker.
"Skipper, where are Kowalski and Rico. Are they here too?" Private asked and turned to Skipper, who slipped down on the wall, breathing heavily. The leader remembered, that he had a small torch in his stomach, in order to regurgigate it like Rico used to do. He just wanted to try that in case of emergency. Skipper coughed and choked, to get it out his stomach. "Hey, are you allright?" Private asked and crawled toward him, although he didn´t see anything.
The leader choked and streched his flipper into his throat to make himself throwing up. And after a few attempts, he managed to cough the torch out. His stomach was revolting now. But he took the lamp to light the room. Skipper stared to Private, who had a bad wound on his head. "Private. are you Ok?" the leader groaned and the little penguin slipped at him. "Yes I´m fine, so far. What about you?" he asked but his gaze fell on Skippers belly.
"God, you´re bleeding, Skipper. Seems like you´ve been hit by a bullet too." Private screamed horrofied and pushed his flippers on Skippers abdomen, trying to stop the bleeding. The leader groaned loudly and gasped. "It´s not that bad. I don´t have a bullet in my body. It only grazed me, I think. But it hurts like hell." Skipper explained and trembled. After all this physical exhaustion, he felt the coldness took over him again.
"Are you cold, Skipper?" Private asked worried, but he started to tremble too. But the leader didn´t answer his question. "You´re cold too, right. We won´t survive the night, when we don´t manage to keep our temperature upright. Even we´re penguins, we´re not used to this environment anymore. It actually could kill us, I suppose." Skipper said thoughtfully. "But we can´t get out. We´re trapped. Facing the snowstorm would be fatal." Private mumbled afraid. Skipper nodded, but he had an idea. But this idea, would take a lot of their friendship.
"Private, if we snuggle together, we could keep each other warm. I know, that sounds kinda wrong, but it´s the only way." Skipper whispered, because fatigue took over him. "I don´t mind, Skipper. Actually there´s nothing wrong at all. We´re friends, so there´s nothing wrong with a little cuddling." Private said, slightly happy. "Ok, come here." the leader said weakly. The little penguin wrapped his flippers cautiously around Skipper and he did the same.
Private rested his head on Skippers chest and rubbed his cheek on it. Skipper put his head on Privates and started rubbing his back, so that he got warm again. "Is that better, Private." the leader whispered. "Much better..." Private sighed and closed his eyes. He listened to Skippers heart beat and breathing. His head moved everytime, Skipper inhaled and exhaled.
Private shighed, because he felt so comfortable now. Slowly he stroked over Skippers chest feathers and tried to fall asleep. "So, you didn´t answer my question before. Where are Rico and Kowalski?" Private asked, a little nervous now. Skipper felt a burning stinging in his heart all of the sudden. He didn´t know if he should tell Private. The leader tightened his hug and took a deep breath.
"Private, I don´t know, how to tell you. But... Kowalski and Rico... p-passed away... They died, because the humans shot them dead." Skipper stammered and fought back tears. The little penguin startled. "They´re dead? No!" he screamed and burst out crying. "Yes, I´m afraid they are, Private. But they died in honor on the battlefield. That makes them glorious heros." the leader said, stroking Privates back. But the little penguin heard Skippers sniffing suddenly. "Skipper, are you... crying?" Private asked and looked at him.
"I know, I´m not supposed to cry. But I can´t hold it back anymore. I´ve lost half of my family. I´m loosing everyone around me!" Skipper lamented. "What does that mean. You still have me, isn´t that something." the little soldier asked sadly. Suddenly he felt a little rejected. "You know, you´re the one, I´ve always had on my side. Since I was a child." Skipper said and hestiated suddenly.
"What. I know, we´ve been knowing each other a long time ago now. But this long?" Private asked curiously. "Yes, you´re one of my oldest friends. Maybe you don´t remember, because you´ve been a baby back then. Private, I´ve never told you but you´re my halfbrother. We share the same mother." the leader explained bitterly.
"What, how´s that possible? But wait, I don´t remember my parents. Actually I´ve always been thinking of you being my dad, Skipper." Private said thoughtfully. He would never have expected of holding his biological brother in his wings right now. "Well, I´m kind of you adoptive father. It´s all a bit complicated and I wanted you to know, when you´ve grown up. But since you know, that I´m your brother, I have to tell you the whole story, right? But I really have to warn you, it´s not a happy story." Skipper answered and allowed Private to snuggle more closer.
"I don´t mind, I think I´m old enough now and it doesn´t change anything right now." the little penguin said and was really excited about hearing this story. Skipper sighed. "Ok, my or better our mother, my father and I lived in Anctarctica. But one day, my father didn´t return from fish hunting. I was a little child back then and I remember, that my mother was coming into my room and told me, my father had died. He´d been shot dead by one of those hunters, the same kind of people, which attackted us, Kowalski and Rico." the leader told and paused for a second.
"I´m sorry, Skipper. It´s always hard to loose someone you love, but you always have to remember those people, who are still with you and who are really careing about you. They´ll always be there to comfort you." Private said and looked at Skipper. "Oh, that´s a really sweet term, Private. Maybe I´m forgetting, how sensitive you are, sometimes." the leader said and pushed Privates head more closly to his chest.
Skipper continued. "Well, of course I mourned for the loss of my father. Many days, months. But with the time passing by, my grief became easier and we almost managed to get back to a normal life. One day, when I was coming home from school, another, male penguin was at our home. His name was Tom and my mother told me, that he was a good friend of our family. But I didn´t like this guy from the first time I´d seen him. A few weeks later, he and my mom became a couple and he also became my stepfather. Fist he was friendly and nice, too friendly and nice. But after a while, he became more and more weird and agressive towards me and my mother."
"One day I actually got real beating from him for forgetting to take out the trash. My mom didn´t even interupt him, she just watched how he placed his punches all over my body. I started to feel real hate for him and tried to avoid him, whenever it was possible. After a few months of punishments and beatings, my mom told me, that she was pregnant... from this guy. I was so afraid of becoming just a useless and worthless little penguin. The worst fear of an only child. And the worst case happened..." Skipper said and closed his eyes. Private would bet his beak for that Skipper was hiding his tears right now.
But the leader regained focus again and continued. " Well, after my mom laid her egg, she got terrible depressions and didn´t even care about me anymore. Her boyfriend became even more agressive. He didn´t wanted this egg and ordered my mom to crash it. I heard them talking late in the night about these plans and I was petrified. How could this coward force my mom to kill my little brother? I decided to do something. One night, when my parents were sleeping I crept into their bedroom and stole the egg, your egg precisely. But they woke up and tried to get the egg from me. I refused and my stepfather took a long kitchen knife. This has been the first time, I was afraid for my life. I exactly remember, how he approached my and threatened my mom to not interupt. And she did, she just stood there and watched, how this son of a bitch was about to kill me. But as he attacked me, I tried to get out of his reach, but I failed. He grabbed your egg and pushed my against the wall. I even remember the disgusting smell of his breath and his mercyless gaze in his eyes..." Skipper paused again and trembled from the emotional pain, he was feeling right now.
Private was so proud of him, he risked his life for the little penguin even before he was born. "What happened then, Skipper?" the little soldier asked cautiously. " I watched, how he approached the egg with the knife after he´d let go of me. He wanted to stab the little embryo, or better, he wanted to stab you. Then all happened very quickly. I jumped up and tried to rip your egg from his flippers, but in this moment of carelessness, got me and slit open my stomach. But I just ignored the pain and the blood, wich was flowing out my body in plentiful amounts. I grabbed your egg and escaped from the house. I was running, just running, not even knowing where to go.
But this was the night of your birth. We were hiding in a small cave near the tribe, almost like we´re doing now. I rembember you cracking the shell of your egg and looking at me the first time. I was so happy, when I saw you, but my wound was deeper than I thought. More and more blood escaped my stomach and I felt how my life faded... You still can feel the scar, Private." the leader mumbled.
He took Privates flipper and placed it on his stomach to make him feel, what it took to save his little brothers life. Private felt it and startled. He was shocked, because he didn´t expected it being all across Skippers stomach. The leader groaned slightly, when Private touched it and the little penguin followed it´s trace with the tip of his flipper. He didn´t know, what to say now.
"How did you survive?" Private asked finally. "Well, I don´t know. Please don´t be mad at me, but I almost have no memory of this night anymore. I just remember, that I was totally determinded to force myself to stay alive, just to care about you. I remember the coldness and I put you into my wings to keep you warm. This was one of the most intensive and wonderful feelings, I´ve felt in my entire life. Holding my little brother in my flippers. We fell asleep in the early moring hours and some researchers found us. They took us into their lab and doctored me. I remember them suspecting me being your dad, although I was a young teenager back then. We stayed a few weeks there until you´d grown a little and I´d been strong enough to survive a journey. The researchers sent us to New York, Central Park Zoo and I´ve never heard any sign of life from my mom or that jerk, sorry I have to call your father like that. That´s it, Private. I hope, this wasn´t too unsettle for you. But saving you, was the most important mission I´ve ever had." Skipper added and ended the story.
Private was a little confused right now, but this feeling soon had been replaced by immesureable pride to have Skipper as a loving and careing father/brother. "Skipper, I don´t know, what to say. But I can´t believe, that such an amazing, courageous, brave... I don´t even know the right words, right now... penguin, is my real brother. I wish I could express somehow, what you mean to me, Skipper. I know, you aren´t my biological dad, but you are my real dad in my heart. You deserve just way more than a hug from me. You deserve the biggest part of my heart. I could never be any prouder of you, dad." Private said and a tear of joy rolled down his cheek.
"I love you, son..." Skipper mumbled and placed a kiss on Privates forehead, to show him, how grateful he was for Privates words.