Private sat in Marlene's cave, watching Rico pace. He could think of nothing to say, nothing to ease Rico's fear or his own. So he sat still in a makeshift bed, clutching a cup of water with both flippers and thinking on what had happened earlier. He could still feel the thing that had woken up inside of him looking around, elevating his heart rate and staring at Rico from behind his own eyes. He had never been one for fighting, but it took all his control not to walk over and slap the crazy penguin. Or worse.

Marlene was asleep, snoring away the night while the two penguins fought to stay awake and stay calm. Rico turned to face the entrance, and the thing purred inside of him, telling him that it was now or never. And Private heard a soft noise come from his beak, his vision narrowing on Rico's exposed back. He found his feet walking forward, his claws flexing with each step. Rico didn't turn to look at him, but he did speak, his grating tongue even more guttural than normal.

"I wouldn't try it if I were you."

Private stopped right behind him, the thing snarling at him to hurt the penguin that wouldn't answer his questions, to make him talk. But Private fought it. He was uneasy with this new thing. He shivered then reached out and hugged Rico, tears flowing from his big, blue eyes. Rico half-turned, a dark look on his face, but he relaxed when he realized what Private was doing. He lowered his face and nuzzled the poor boy.

"We'll get them back, Private," he whispered, nipping the side of the younger penguin's head affectionately.

"I…I'm scared, Rico," Private moaned.

Rico nodded. "I won't lie. This isn't good. I knew something was wrong when Blowhole sent that stupid picture. I should've guessed it was to lull them into planning mode, to make sure that they stayed in the base."

Private drew back, searching the icy gaze as it glared at nothing. "What do you mean?"

Rico rubbed his scar then sighed. "Come. Swim with me."

Startled by the request, Private obeyed, waddling out to the still water. Rico dove in, propelling himself around with powerful strokes of his flippers. Private watched with fascination. Rico was graceful as he swam around the small pool, twirling and spinning in tight circles, and the younger penguin suddenly wondered what it would be like to watch him swim in a huge pool of open water instead of an enclosure.

When Rico popped up to breathe, he arched his brow at Private, who obliged him and jumped in. He didn't feel as graceful, and he wasn't nearly as fast as Rico. But they played chase, dancing in the dark water, and Rico would occasionally bump into Private, nudge his flippers, his head, his feet. Private wondered if it was affection until Rico stopped in front of him quite suddenly. Private did a neat little circle around him, surprising himself so that he gasped.

After being dragged up onto the rocks, coughing the water out of his lungs, he looked up at Rico, his eyes wide.

"You were teaching me," he rasped.

Rico smirked and nodded. "There's more than one way to teach. That's the way I was taught. Older teaching younger through doing, not just talking."

Private nodded, laying back on the rock and staring up at the stars. Rico lay back beside him, and they didn't move for a while, their breathing syncing up as they took in the chilly night air. After about half an hour, Rico shifted, but his eyes stayed on the heavens.

"You asked me earlier who murdered your parents."

Private swallowed, nodding once. "Yeah."

"It was by Blowhole's orders. He wanted to send a message to Skipper. Lita and Pol were civilians staying with us. They were expecting. They took care of their egg with the delight and love of any good parents. They were wild-born penguins who were taken by the humans because of illness. Lita was very sick when she was discovered, and Pol didn't trust those humans at first. When the humans found out that they were a bonded pair, they took them both and brought them to a vet."

Rico stopped for a few minutes, and Private didn't push him, mulling over the information. His heart ached knowing that his parents were so happy, so excited waiting for him to hatch. He swallowed, letting out a shaky breath as tears pricked his eyes. Rico finally continued, his voice even and low.

"When Lita got better, Pol started to trust the humans, but they were still wild-born. They still had reservations about humankind. After they were accepted, they were brought to the London zoo, where we were stationed at the time. And then, Lita laid her first egg. They were gleeful, and Skipper and Kowalski acknowledged this, but neither of them cared much for the young. I congratulated them in the traditional way of my people, and they grew to like me very much.

"They were from another tribe, so their dialect was different, but they understood me where Skipper and Kowalski didn't. But again, they didn't notice. They were long used to my inability to speak English so that they didn't even think of my own language as something to learn. Lita and Pol could speak their tongue, so what did it matter? As long as I understood them and obeyed orders, they didn't care. I don't think they ever realized the chance they missed with Lita and Pol, the chance to learn skills they didn't have."

Private felt a vise around his heart, squeezing the tears from his eyes, filling his veins with pain. He said nothing as the pause stretched on for another minute. Rico sighed, closing his eyes.

"The attack was unexpected. Manfredi and Johnson were outside talking with your parents. It was nearly time for the egg to hatch, and they watched with great expectation every single day, waiting to welcome their chick into the world. Skipper, Kowalski, and I were in our base, working on a plan to derail Blowhole's latest scheme. We didn't think he was aware of what we knew. We didn't know that he had spies watching us, informing him of everything we did and said and thought.

"It was a perfect surprise. A canister was thrown down into our base, and we took two breaths before passing out. It was knockout gas. They took us down, and we didn't know anything for three hours. I woke up first to silence. We were still in the base, but there was silence above. The kind of still silence that sent my instincts screaming that something was wrong."

Rico let a hiss escape him, and Private could see tears sparkling on his face even as his expression was set as still as ice. It made the younger penguin hurt that Rico was hurting. He wasn't the only one who had lost somebody, Private realized, and he slid his flipper over to rest over the older penguin's. Rico took a deep breath then continued, his voice trembling with the force of memories and emotions.

"I checked to make sure Skipper and Kowalski were okay. They were breathing and starting to come to, so they were okay. I had to understand the silence. I had to know why my instincts were shouting at me. At the third rung, I knew why I was on edge. I smelled blood. Not just a drop or two. The scent was thick, sticking to the back of my throat, and it was edged with a familiar note that made my skin crawl."

Private swallowed, afraid of the answer, knowing what it was. Rico shivered.

"They were dead. Blood was everywhere. My instincts had been right. There were only two bodies, Lita and Pol. Manfredi and Johnson were nowhere to be seen, but there were marks of a fight in the blood. Lita and Pol had put up one heck of a fight, and there was only one thing that would make them fight so hard. I looked around, and I was right. There was no egg. It had been stolen. I took stock of the situation: two soldiers and an egg missing, and two civilians dead.

"I went back down and saw Skipper and Kowalski sitting up, still coming out of the haze. One look at my face and they knew something was wrong. They flew up the ladder and saw the carnage. Kowalski made sure they were really dead, something I already knew, and Skipper looked sick at what had happened to the two expectant parents.

"Both of them began to talk to each other, Skipper bemoaning how he had pushed them away, how he hadn't told them to be wary. It was Kowalski who asked about the egg, and when they realized that it was gone, not cracked open, they made up their minds to go after it for the sake of the dead parents. They talked of their own pain, but they didn't see my own. They were my friends, Private, the first wild-borns that I had run into since I left Antarctica. It tore me up that I couldn't save them. It hurt so…so bad."

Rico broke off and sat up, his eyes squeezed shut, tears glittering like ice on his feathers. He let out a sob, holding himself tightly. Private sat up, too, and he nuzzled Rico's face, ignoring the tears that fell from his own eyes. They sat there and hurt together, rubbing their faces into the other's feathers, mourning for two penguins that had died years ago. Private sobbed for the parents that he'd never known, that had never gotten to meet the chick they had longed for, and Rico sobbed for the friends he couldn't save, for the lives lost to Blowhole's violence.

It was almost an hour later that Private spoke, the horizon beginning to light up with the first rays of the sun. He and Rico were pressed together, wrapped in each other's flippers as they stared at the fading stars. It was more affection and intimacy than Rico had ever shown before. Private wanted to go and sleep now, exhausted from his pain and the long night, but he had one more question, one more thing he had to know.

"Rico?"

"Hm?"

"In the memory. You thought that Manfredi and Johnson might have stolen the egg." Rico nodded once, and Private's mouth felt as if it were filled with cotton. "Did they?"

Rico didn't answer. Minute after minute ticked by, and Rico stared at the sunrise, his expression tired, beyond tired. Just when Private was about to stand up, Rico squeezed him. He did not look at Private as his head dipped once, anger etched into the lines around his eyes. Private swallowed and nodded back. They both stood up, walking into the cave and heading for their beds.

Private lay down, his mind spinning, and it was only after a moment that he heard Rico shifting his bed closer. He looked over, and Rico paused, a stony expression on his face. Private could see a hint of embarrassment, a smidge of desperation as Rico stood there staring at him. He studied the expression. He doesn't want to be alone, Private realized. And he's embarrassed.

The younger penguin nodded once, shrugged a shoulder, and turned away. Rico fixed his bed then lay down beside Private. A flipper draped over Private's side, and he could feel Rico nuzzling his face into the back of his head, but he didn't mind. After all that he had learned about his parents, about their deaths, he didn't want to be alone either. It was a comfort as they drifted off to sleep in the early dawn hours, their bodies and minds both drained, pressed together as if that could stave off the knowledge of the past.

And for a while, they were swathed in blessed unconsciousness, giving them a small chance of peace before they had to face the next day and its troubles.