I know, it has been ages since I last updated this story.

But now, it's from hiatus again. :)

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 6: Leaving

"We have to move on." After Kowalski had said this, Private raised his head a little. "Move on?" His heart broke by the look on Private's face. "But, how can we move on?" Kowalski looked at his broken friend. "I don't know Private. I only know that I don't want to stay here."

Kowalski woke up early that morning. The first thing he saw was the young Private laying on the ground, the violin clenched in his flippers. Kowalski slowly climbed out of his bunk and waddled to his young friend. He softly poked Private, to wake him up. "Private, wake up." He said. The young penguin rolled over, but before he could harm his violin, Kowalski took it and lay it on the table. Kowalski poked him once more, a little harder now. "Private. Wake up." He said sternly, in a commando-like voice. The eyes of the young penguin opened.

It can't be true. That was Private's first thought. It was as if Skipper tried to wake him, poking him and calling his name. As if nothing had happened. Maybe nothing had happened, maybe he had just imagined, dreamed those horrible events. He didn't want to open his eyes. What if it wasn't Skipper calling to him? What if he woke up in an empty HQ, no traces of his friends except for their beloved belongings? He opened his eyes. He was right. It wasn't true.

Kowalski stood up and waddled through the HQ. He was looking for things he should bring to wherever he was going. It was weird. He had asked the question himself before, as philosopher and men alike. 'Why are we here?' He now knew the answer. He was here for his friends. Now that they were gone, he didn't even want to be here, or at least, not in this HQ.

The little penguin sat down at the table. He watched the scientist gather all sorts of stuff from around the HQ and he had asked him several times what he was doing. Private didn't get an answer, it was as if he was gone, just like Skipper and Rico. With the feeling of a stone dropping in his stomach, he waddled towards his bunk. There he picked up his little lunacorn doll and waddled with it back to the table. He then opened the fish plague and got out a small trunk and his butterscotch lolly. He did the lolly, the toy and his violin with fiddlestick in the trunk. He now knew where he was going, since he couldn't stay here. He knew exactly what Kowalski meant. All the traces of his friends, saying to him that they would return soon, but his mind told him that they wouldn't. And if they would… Then it wouldn't be anytime near 'soon'.

Kowalski heard the little penguin gathering his things. He became aware of his surroundings once more. He wasn't the only one left. The little penguin was here still too. He waddled towards him. "Private… Are you leaving too?" Private jumped and then turned around to face him. "Yes. Yes, I am." His eyes didn't hold any of the young, happiness Kowalski was used to see in them. His eyes seemed empty and darker than he remembered. "What is the point in staying Kowalski?" Private asked him, sounding defeated. "After all we've been through… Skipper said we would stay together. He… He promised us." Kowalski turned away from Private, he couldn't handle seeing his young companion broken, defeated. "He did, Private. But some promises have to be broken."

They both had gathered their things at the same time. On topside, in the bright shining sun, they said their goodbyes. Without looking back, just like their leader, they both followed their own, new way. Both without knowing where the road would bring them eventually. Both without knowing if their paths would cross each other again.

Still, Private wondered what Hans exactly had blown to pieces. They had found their HQ completely intact, to surprise of them both and there seemed to be no leaking info. Maybe there was a bigger plan behind this? But how harder Private thought of that, how fewer answers his mind provided him.

White, everything was white around him. And nothing exploded, or seemed to explode anytime soon. Rico took his surroundings in carefully. He knew that he had no weapons left in his body, he assumed that they were taken by the penguins who escorted him here. Rico felt lost. His friends, gone. He was alone. And why? Rico couldn't lay a flipper on it. His girlfriend wasn't here either. Two penguins entered the room he was in. They waddled towards him and escorted him out of the room. He was taken to another room, several unknown devices hang at the wall. No kabooms.

Kowalski waddled as far as his little feet could drag him and then sat down on the pavement, leaning against an office building. He didn't have a clue were to go. Suddenly, a large penguin, but not as large as Kowalski, came around the corner of the building. "Lieutenant Kowalski?" He asked him. Kowalski nodded. "Yes. That's me."

The strange penguin stood in front of him and handed him a letter. He gave him a smile and then waddled further, as if he was just a penguin taking a stroll to the next ice-cave. Kowalski looked at the letter, and then once again at the penguin. Who seemed to have disappeared.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you are liking the story so far :)