A\N: The last chapter of the story. I´ve decided to put everything together becuz it´ll be longer and easier. Btw, this chapter is very sad (as sad as I can make it right now, I´m not too good at that stuff) there´s death and depressions in here.
Kowalski felt a dull pain shoot through his head as he fell backwards and hit his head on the cement floor. But it was nothing like the unbearable white-hot pain…that he never felt. Kowalski got up from the place to where his father had pushed him aside and saw Anthony lieing on the floor, clutching his middle where blood was seeping out of the wound. "YOU-" Skipper was too angry to finish. He tackled the smirking dolphin to the ground. "Not my intentions but good enough." Skipper growled lowly before knocking his arch out cold. "Rico, give me some rope!" The maniac did as he was told and the leader turned toward his soldier. "Kowalski?" The penguin awoke from his horrified stare.
"Dad!" The genius rushed over to him. "Oh no! No, no! This is really bad!" He kneeled next to his father, inspecting the dripping wound. "K-Kow-walski! G-go!" Anthony gave him a weak shove. "I d-don´t want you g-get hurt!" "Blowhole won´t cause us any trouble anymore." Skipper replied grimly, after having helped Rico and Private tie the doctor up. The elder shook his head though and rasped something, barely audible. "What?" Kowalski leaned down, clutching the bloody flipper. "H-he-" Anthony wheezed suddenly, and cringed from the extreme pain. "H-he placed b-bomb, o-only have mi-minute!" "He´s gonna blow this place up!" Skipper translated. He immediately looked around for anything left unfinished before grabbing Private´s flipper. "We have to leave now!" "What about my dad?" Kowalski yelled at his leader. "Self-destruct in fifteen seconds." Came the robotic voice. "L-leave me!" The scientist turned back to his father who tried pushing him towards the exit. "I´m not going to leave you!" "Ten seconds." "GO!" Skipper grabbed Rico too, seeing the weapon expert a little disturbed by the whole thing and not paying attention. "Bu-but-but-!" Anthony gave his son a weak, but loving smile. "I l-love you, d-don´t forget th-that! I´m s-sorry for not be-being a go-good father." "I love you too! More than anything on the world!" Kowalski sobbed, hugging his father. "Five…four…" "G-go now!" The last thing Kowalski remembered was seeing his father brace himself for the final moments of his life while Skipper was dragging him away. Then it hit. Debris shattered everywhere, the tense heat of the flames singeing their feathers and smoke filling their eyes and lungs. The penguins got to safety, and hid under the stage as the humans hurried to get the fire put out. "I´m sorry soldier." Skipper turned toward Kowalski. The scientist nodded, gasping for a shaky breath, before breaking down and crying till he was too exhausted and fell asleep. Skipper picked Kowalski up, which was kind of difficult because first he was taller than the leader and second, Private was holding his flipper in an iron grip, in pure horror of what he experienced. Rico helped him and they slowly made their way back to the zoo.
When Kowalski woke up, he was begging fate to tell him it was a bad dream. But the pain in his chest from crying and the smoke made it clear it wasn´t. No one was in the main room with him. Looking around, Kowalski could hear voices from his lab. Sleep drunk, he went in and saw Skipper, Private and Rico inspecting something black and burned. "What´s that?" The genius stepped closer before it clicked. He stared at the carcass as the other penguins didn´t know what to do. "We meant to put him into a coffin before you saw." Skipper said, awkwardly. "It´s...it´s okay." Kowalski wiped away the fresh tears that had sprouted again and sighed. "When are you guys going the funeral?" "Is today´s afternoon too early?" Private asked, checking the calendar. "No, it´s-it´s fine." The genius slowly waddled out.
Everyone came to the funeral. Marlene too, even though it was in the park. No one cared more or less about that fact though. Rico had picked out a beautiful black coffin that had black roses carved on its sides and golden roses on the lock. Mason spoke the prayer as everyone respectfully bowed their heads. Kowalski opened his eyes during the time the chimp was talking to glare at the sun. It´s almost like it was taunting him with it´s warm rays and bright light. Rain was cliché alright, but was always helpful when the mood is lower than the ocean´s depths. "Amen." It sounded from the others. Kowalski looked up when someone put their hand on his shoulder. He saw Marlene smiling sadly at him, almost comforting him. The ceremony continued, it almost seemed half-hearted with the whole sadness packed into it. Kowalski kept feeling people looking at him, some helpless to say anything, others walking up and hugging him or patting his back.
"Soldier?" The other looked up to see his leader waiting for him at the grave. Kowalski trotted forward, grabbing a flipper full of dirt and letting it rain down from his wing onto the black coffin. He just stared at it while the others also threw in a paw\flipper-full of dirt in before closing the entire grave.
The rest of the day, everyone went out of Kowalski´s way, it seemed like the whole zoo was coated in gloom. Finally, the sun went down, decorating the sky as it struggled to stay alive, before the moon took over, bathing the entire place in a ghostly, pale shimmer. The glow illuminated the water of the penguin´s habitat, casting an eerie look whenever someone looked out the window and saw the glowing water. The HQ itself was silent except for the soft breathing of the penguins. Skipper had his head buried under his pillow, almost as if he tried to prevent anything to wake him up. Rico was hugging Mrs. Perky while Private sucked on his flipper, curled into a tiny ball. Kowalski lay on his side, flipper over face while he moved around in discomfort. Of course, such experience wasn´t really the most pleasant one. Anthony´s short visit still lingered in the air. It was, other than the burned corpse, the closest thing he had of his father, even though sadly, the memory wasn´t a good one. But he´ll move on, he has too. That´s what his father would want him to do.
Kowalski…I…just wanted to say I love you. I didn´t want our relationship to end like that, I wish I could go back in time to fix my mistakes. But that´s not possible. I´m proud to be called your father and hope my death won´t scar you all too much. I hope one day you´ll find someone to start a family with. I just wish I could see your face when you do, when you hold your child for the first time and when you watch it learn and grow. I know you´ll make a great father. Goodbye now, I love you. Remember though, that goodbye isn´t the end.
With much love,
Anthony
A\N: Sorry if someone didn´t like the ending or thought it was too cheesy. I tried my hardest not to make it cheesy though. Songs I was listening to while writing this was by Epica: "Solitary ground" and "Higher High". Two sad, amazing songs by the Dutch band! XD Thanks for reading all of you and goodbye for now!
