Here's the second chapter! Not all the songs in this chapter are by me. I think it's obvious which. Enjoy! There might be a 3rd chapter if I think there's blanks, or if I just can't fit it all in. This is not going to my only Happy Feet story.

What are Friends For?

Chapter 2

Somewhere

The time to find the one with the right song was bearing down on the two brothers. One with a voice that did nothing less than inspire those around him, the other, with a voice that hadn't been heard in, what seemed to be, to him, a lifetime. Erik had passed Penguin Elementary tests and exams with the highest scores and was deemed the top of the class, while Age refused to sing all those years. The whole time, all Age ever did was back his brother up in his voice, and think about Hayley. Erik also was starting to notice girls, but he only had his mind set on perfecting his opera skills. While the two began to make more progress with their new life, and Age even started hanging out with Atticus and Bo, Age still wanted to sing, but he couldn't. After all this time, after all this doubt, the still young penguin, still forever carrying the weight of his former nation on his shoulders, he still had no reason to sing. From what Age had told his family and friends, he also had the top voice in his class, but his singing voice had been silenced ever since. The day were they sang to each other to find the one was a week away, and Erik was determined to get his little brother to sing. One day he called on some reinforcements to help him out, meaning his buddies, to play a game they always had, Catch or Chorus. To play, the first to catch a fish was safe; everyone else had to sing the chorus of a song. Erik knew Age was a skilled fisher because of Roxy's training before her injury and death, so he figured this was gonna be easy, more or less.

"When he catches that fish, he'll have to sing it's the rules, and we all know how much Age is a rule follower!" Erik said while gathering Atticus and Bo. He was so confident in his plan.

"I don't know 'bout this man, I mean would it be possible if the guy, ya know, doesn't?" Atticus clearly felt a need to state the obvious.

"Come on Atticus, how dumb do you think Erik is? Of course he knows that could happen, he's smarter than that." Bo had been a great friend to both brothers, and she backed both of them up whenever she could and against anyone. "Besides we've got our plan all figured out. We'll delay in the water while he'll be the only one actually catching any fish, Erik you're a genius!"

"Don't flatter me Bo, anyone could've thought of it." Erik was so subtle. He never took full credit for anything. He always gave credit where credit was due; he was nothing short of, to Bo, a true friend.

She had always wondered what it would be like if she was the one that Erik liked. Her heartsong was beautiful to her parents, but over the years she'd never let Erik hear it. Sometimes, she even had fantasies of what their chicks would look like. Her fantasy son, Jake, running around singing slow, powerful, meaningful songs while Erik just smiled and said, 'That's my boy…'. Some days, she imagined a baby girl, Tori, dancing around to her grandpa's tapping. Bo felt a yearn to have a child more and more as each day went by. And now as the time finally came around, she only had one thing on her mind; find him and sing with him. But Bo knew better than to have such wild fantasies without attracting any attention. She kept all her thoughts to herself and died a little each day from heartbreak. But right now, Bo wasn't focusing on her own, deep desires, right now she needed to be there for her friend, and her wants didn't even cross his mind.

"Alright, if you say so." Bo said grinning at Erik, in which he grinned back as they continued towards the ocean. Erik felt a song well up in him because he loved when Bo looked at him like that. He took a deep breath and sang his opera. (This is just a piece; you'll hear the full version later)

Don't stop

Go on, forever

I love the way you look at me

Please be a heart in song

Be the storm of peace and quiet

And give me the hope, to

Love

Bo still couldn't believe how clear and sound Erik's voice was. It was almost like his voice was made for love songs. To her, no one was better than him. She felt a need to tell him he was the best so many times but she was afraid of making him think she liked him, because she did.

"Oh Erik, that was…beautiful." Was all she could say.

"Thanks Bo, I can't wait to hear your song next week. I know I'll charm someone, especially since the guys gotta sing to the girls." Erik never heard Bo's heartsong, but he supported her all the way regardless. "How about you Atticus? What do you have planned for next week?" Atticus had grown to be a plump emperor just like his pa. However he found no shame in that, in fact, girls actually seemed to like a bigger guy in the long, cold winter.

"Eh, I ain't doin' nothin'. Immna just do my thing, walk my walk, and if dat girl wants to roll my way, then let er'." Atticus seemed to know exactly what was gonna happen, which he didn't. No one did, it was completely unpredictable, the week of pairings. As soon as Bo took in that thought, she was instantly outraged by what she thought it meant.

"Atticus! You make it sound like you're just gonna pick the girl you like the best. Don't you care about true love?" The words boiled up from her throat like an enraged krill being fired from a hungry whale's mouth.

"No, not really, I don't believe in true love. That's something my pa taught me. He said his true love was taken away from him and he had to settle for my mama, which was just another girl on his back up list in case he didn't get choice number one."

"That's horrible Atticus! Who snatched away his true love?" Erik asked, because he was just that kind of penguin.

"I don't know, he won't say. He's never said anything about it after the day you and me became buds. He was about to tell me when my Uncle Mumble and you met up with us for the first time, since then, he hasn't said a word about it." (That's referring to how Seymour kept trying to impress Gloria in the first Happy Feet, and how he was destroyed when she chose Mumble over him.)

"Aww! Well that's way too bad, but you really shouldn't rant on true love. You can't hide from it, it kind of, hunts you down." Erik said thinking about his Ma and Pa,…and Bo.

"Eh, maybe your right…, but Immna not think 'bout that right now. We gots some things that needs doing, so let git going y'all." He said clapping his flipper and waddling ahead of the other two.

Erik looked at Bo, and she looked at him, they both just shook their heads and hurried after their friend. Erik was beginning to focus on the task at hand, he had to hurry and find his brother. There was uncertainty in Erik's mind about his plan, but he figured he'd have to try. In his heart he knew there was only one penguin that could make his little brother sing, but she had been long since dead. So he abandoned all hope of finding her, and focused on doing it himself. At the same time, he also couldn't shake this feeling of serenity walking side by side with Bo. Perhaps it was an omen of something?

(At Age's secret spot where he went to think)

The sun was still high in the sky, and the ice crevasse that hid a young, adolescent, silenced penguin seemed smaller than it normally did. The light reflected into the narrow passage way and the refractions danced off the ice walls. Inside, a penguin leans against the wall, staring into the ocean, wondering if his time had come, if it was finally time to break his streak of silence.

Maybe there is someone else? It's a big world, there always someone else to have, to hold, to love,… to push away! He screamed in his head, he was always angry at himself for the pain and suffering his singing had caused. The fact that the thing he loved to do the most destroyed the things he cared about the most made him hate his own voice. In a way, one could say, he hasn't heard himself sing aloud in almost his whole childhood and teenaged years. Often he sang in his head, but when he tried out loud, he always whimpered and backed out at the last minute. He also had started talking to himself, a sure fire way of telling he was losing it.

"Oh, Hayley, where ever you are, whether you're here with me or watching me from above, I miss you. And I promise I'll never forget about you, no matter who likes my song next week." He said to himself, and then turned to walk away.

Soon the four friends found one another, and they tricked Age into playing Catch or Chorus with them. It happened in a more or less, mind tricking manner.

"Age! There you are! We've been looking all over for you! Where have you been?" Erik said to his brother.

"Oh nowhere, just been away…thinking."

"Again? Wow little bro, you really got to get to your senses, that's the fifth time in the last…" looks at the sun, "day and a half."

"I know, hey, anyone wanna play a game?" the perfect set up, just what the three we're waiting for.

"I know! We can go sledding, or play that silly dancing game, or, ooooo! Maybe we can even play Catch or Chorus, Age willing." Bo was a surprisingly good at acting on her little play by play. The two boys waited for Age's answer.

"Alright, I could use a little rush right now." He said with a weak smile. Erik managed to hold in his jump for joy and simply said,

"Good, let's go." Erik said proudly and began to walk in the direction of the ocean. He made sure not to go to the same spot where Roxy had passed away. They came upon a spot not far away and readied to play. "Alright, everyone knows the rules, line up." They all lined up on the edge of the ice, and waited of the mark, "And, go!" they then hurled themselves into the frigid water.

Erik and Atticus went through with the plan to trick there friend, but Bo decided to be more, convincing. She constantly chased around fish she saw and made sure Age could see. She always made sure to get close enough to the fish to make it seem believable, while Erik and Atticus kind of just floated around occasionally swimming after something, fish or not. Age had managed to disregard their actions and focus on catching a fish, even though he thought by how Bo was doing, he definitely wouldn't win. Just as he was about to catch a fish, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye, a black blur of sorts. He decided to look and found it to be a silhouette of a big whale lurking in the murk. Just then, a second blur came into sight and he found the third to follow. It was a family, a father, a mother, and a child, all calm and together, like a real family should. Bo noticed there was no movement coming from her opponent and decided to check it out.

"Hey, Age is everything okay?" she asked calmly. His blank, hypnotic stare into the distance abyss made Bo wonder what he was looking at, so she also turned her head and found the family, just swimming by. They together watched them for a while until they were almost gone, vanishing into the distance. It was then that Age caught Bo off guard with a very, personal question.

"Bo, do you want kids?" Bo wasn't sure how to respond, but found it was the appropriate moment for a talk of her future.

"Yeah, I do actually."

"That's nice; I'd like a chick of my own one day too."

"Well, you might be getting it soon, if you would just…you know."

"I know, but I still can't seem to forgive myself for what happened. My singing tore down my whole nation. How many penguins can say that?" Bo stared at him in disbelief, singing was never completely out of a penguin's life, but she knew he wasn't lying; the urge to sing over the years would've been too great for him to resist if he was lying. She shook her head, "I'm sorry Bo, but I just can't sing." This gave Bo an idea.

"Then I guess I'll have to make you…" she said to him then darted off. He realized what was happening, she was trying to catch a fish before him, only now she was actually trying. He couldn't let that happen, so he also swam off in search of a fish. The only problem was, they spotted the same fish.

They both absolutely drilled through the water, panting, gasping, and striving to catch that fish. They chased it in loops, whirls, underwater ice passages and right back to the surface. In the end they found themselves neck in neck pushing them because the fish was heading for the shore. To Age, he'd never been in so much pressure, he had to catch that fish and be safe from singing. On the other hand, Bo needed to catch that fish to break Age of his silence and make him remember that singing is all about meaning and showing people who you are, not thinking that your voice is a weapon of destruction. The fish showed no signs of turning and the two forced themselves to jump out of the water and found that they both grabbed the fish at the same time. Bo felt a sharp pain hit her belly and yelped in pain causing her to let go. Age fell back to the ice and dropped the fish but then searched through the cloud of kicked up loose snow for it. After Bo got up, she turned to see what hit her. What she found was Erik lying on the ice rubbing his head with his flipper and Atticus on the side rushing out to help him.

"Oh my gosh Erik, Erik!" she said frantically trying to help him up.

"Calm down Bo, I'm fine. But I think you gave me a bump. Hey, am I bleeding?" Erik said. Atticus looked at the back of his head.

"No dude, you're good." Erik then turned to Bo.

"Hey Bo, are you alright?" She looked at the impact point and said,

"Looks like you gave me a bruise, but I'll be fine."

"Good, hey where's Age?" he asked.

"I'm sorry Erik, but, it seems he's won." Bo replied.

"What?" Atticus said almost like he was actually shocked about something.

"Yeah, look…" she pointed over to the cloud of kicked up snow, and Age slowly appeared from it. He had found the fish just seconds before and held it firmly in his mouth. Age then gave them a look like 'Ha! Take that you guys!'.

"Aww no, now he won't have to sing!" Atticus sighed and let his flippers droop. Bo shot him a quick look with wide eyes, he had accidentally exposed their purpose behind playing. Age's beak fell open and let the fish drop and rushed over to Bo.

"Bo…? You…and them? I…I…I can't believe you! How could you trick me like that?" Bo felt horrible for tricking her friend, especially after the talk they had when they saw the whales. Erik was quick to step in and help his friend out.

"Age no, it wasn't Bo's fault. It was mine; I tried to trick you into playing this game so you'd sing." Age turned to Erik in disbelief, had his brother just confessed to betraying him?

"You? It was, you?" Erik nodded. "I'd expect this kind of thing from Atticus, but you?" Atticus shrugged his shoulders like he wanted to say 'Did I do anything?' but didn't.

"Age, I just wanted you to sing, I miss your voice, even if I never heard it." Erik let his head fall in shame of what he did.

"Well guess what? You're never going to hear it now, I just wanted a reason to sing, a reason that would come to me when the time was right, but for you to try and force this on me…I…I…" Erik waited; while Bo was beginning to tear up, "I can't be around anyone right now, thanks for ruining my day!" he yelled this then waddled away as fast as he could. Erik was feeling horrible, as was Atticus and Bo. Erik started after his brother when Atticus stopped him.

"Dude, no…" Erik stopped and just watched Age disappear up a high glacier and into the mountains, "He just needs some time, let him be. You know he won't talk to you anyway." The two boys then began to go home while Bo stayed behind. Long after they were gone, Bo still stood there, weeping at the pain she caused her friend, and after such a personal moment. She threw her head up in the air and sang to the wind, hoping Age could hear her. This was pretty much her first public song.

What have we done?

We should have known better

Then make them turn around and run

He's no scarlet letter

We're sorry for what we,

Did

Please find a way, to forgive us

Give us a day to, and because

You mean the world to us

There's no stay, if there's heart delay

Please forgive us, for what we,

Did

Please forgive us, for what we,

Did…

Her voice went unheard by Age, but Erik and Atticus were close enough to hear. Erik stared back in the direction from which they came, and couldn't speak.

(Back in Age's secret hideaway)

Age slowly walked back into his escape, still in disbelief of what he had just seen. His own brother, and friends, turning their backs on him like that; there was no one in the world that could make Age smile right now. He was so busy talking to himself he didn't even notice there was another set of footprints in the snow. He continued to his usual spot where he'd look out over the ocean, when he heard a small patter of feet. He turned around to see no one.

"Hello? Is someone else here?" he said to the walls and air, no response. "Eh, maybe I'm finally losing it." He said to himself. Just then, a voice broke out.

"No…you're not."

(Back at home with Erik, Mumble and Gloria)

"I still can't believe what I did! He's my brother! I don't know what came over me!"

"Erik, Erik sweetie, calm down, it's okay. You were just trying to help him, we're not mad at you." Gloria tried to comfort her son.

"I know, but still…Pa?" Mumble looked at his son and awaited his question, "Did you ever do something horrible to someone you knew, and deathly regretted it later?"

Mumble thought hard and remembered the worst one he'd ever done. "Well, your mama would know this one. Gloria, remember when you came after me after I got exiled?" She nodded, "And remember how I pushed you away like a, what you called, a stubborn fool?"

"Yeah, why did you do that? Couldn't you tell I wanted to be with you then?"

"Gloria…that's exactly why I did it." She stared at him in confusion. "Gloria, I cared about you too much to let you get hurt and have it be my fault. And I knew if you came you'd get hurt. So I tried to show you how much I loved you by forcing you to go home, that way you wouldn't get hurt." Gloria found the words to say, they came straight from her heart.

"Mumble…why didn't you just tell me that? I would have believed you, especially if you told me that you loved me. I loved you then too, and I still do, and I always will. You really made me mad that day; I thought you didn't care about me, that's why you insulted my singing."

"Gloria, your singing can break anyone's heart and bring them back to life, over and over again, I was trying to keep you safe. What I said that day, it killed me, in so many ways, I felt like I was about to die from speaking to you that way. But I had to do it, for you. If I didn't, we might not be where we are now. Married, safe, chicks, and in each other's flippers." Mumble's speech made Gloria feel like she died and was brought back to life. He may not be able to sing; but he had a way with words.

"Oh Mumble…" Gloria kissed him, very deeply.

Erik had watched the whole thing and knew what he had to do. He had to find Age …and Bo.

(With Age and the Stranger)

"Hi, I come here when I need to think too." The penguin said. To Age, she was absolutely stunning, he'd never seen anyone like her since he last saw Hayley. "Oh, I'm sorry where are my manners, nice to meet you. What's your name?" Age felt like he couldn't speak straight.

"I'm…I'm…" she waited for his answer. Age hasn't felt this way since he first met Hayley, so just like before, the only word he could say was "Cold…". The Penguin laughed.

"Ha ha ha, your name is Cold?" she clearly was just being playful.

"No, I'm…sorry. It's just…" she noticed a look of sadness and seriousness in his eyes. "You remind me of someone I lost, a long time ago." She looked at him with kind eyes and an equally sad face.

"I'm so sorry; I lost a friend when I was young too."

"Please don't be a trickster miss. I'm really hurting emotionally right now." There was no anger in this girl's eyes.

"Well call me tricky, because I am too." He looked in her eyes, and she gazed back, their visions seemed to become one, and Age felt this overwhelming flood of emotion he hadn't felt since Mumble and Gloria adopted him. He dare not mention it though. He should have though, because she suddenly felt the same way, feeling a part of her so long forgotten be reawaken by what seemed to be a look of real love.

"I'm sorry miss, forgive me for staring but, you're so…beautiful." She blushed very pink.

"Thanks…" she looked deeper into Age's eyes. "And you, you are so…" he couldn't wait for her description, "So, so…somewhere." Age knew what she meant. "I feel like you're using your eyes to stare not into my eyes, but my, soul, and my heart."

"Miss, you make me wanna sing, loud and proud." Age said, at long last.

"You too…Cold…" he giggled.

"What's your name?"

"I said call me a trickster, so please, call me Trixie."

"Trixie…it's very, nice to meet you." He closed her eyes and she felt like she had strayed into a dream.

"So Cold…do you want to sing together?" she asked him. Age couldn't believe what he was about to say.

"Why there's nothing I'd rather be doing right now, with anyone."

They then lowered their beaks to make a crest around the others and nearly kissed. But Trixie began to sing, and Age never heard anything like it, almost as if he'd heard it before, from somewhere, a dream?

Please, I know you

I don't where

Or how, but I do know

What we need to do

Because

I'm on the ground

Nowhere to go

But still I'll soar

Higher and higher

Till I touch the sky

Oh, oh

Higher and higher

Age still couldn't recall where he heard this before, he knew that it couldn't be the first time no song had ever touched him so much. And then for only the second time in his life, Age sang.

Please let me know

Please let me go

I need to see just how much you've grown

How does it feel to know?

How is it to see?

Tell me everything that you've ever known

And then they sang together, for the very first time in both of their lives.

I know what it takes to fly

I know what it takes to forgive

Hold on to my heart, and we, will

For the time of peace, a winter's chill

And we must see, to have, to share

For someone, somewhere, someday…

Somehow

For Someone

Someday

(Come with me, I'll show you the way)

This is my prayer

For

You

The song ended with a long and passionate kiss that seemed endless to the both of them. Never had either of the ever felt this way around another penguin. Age and Trixie, two penguins who barely knew each other, were now suddenly bound by the bonds of love. But what they didn't know is, they already were.

"Oh, Cold…that was indescribable with words."

"Please, call me Age."

"Age…" he smiled at her.

"Well then Age, I love you. And yet I feel like I have my whole life, as if we had already met." Trixie was dumbfounded by this boy.

"We've never met, trust me. I'd remember someone like you. Those eyes, your kindness…" she started blushing again. "Your voice, my ancestry, that voice could soothe even the darkest souls back to the light."

"Oh Age, never leave me." She had just met the boy, and she felt she had found true love already.

"I wish I couldn't, but I have a home, and a life. But I'm telling you, be here every day when the sun touches the mountain top, I'll be here."

"I believe you Age, I love you so much."

"I love you too, Trixie." For some reason, Age didn't feel like he was cheating on Hayley with Trixie.

After a long and seemingly endless snuggle between the two, Trixie spoke once more.

"You remind me of the friend I lost, when I was young. His name was Cold."

Cold? Where have I heard that before? Age didn't even remember his former name; he'd been going by the name of Age for so long.

"He tried to help me…" she started to cry, "And because I didn't let him, our whole nation got wiped out by an avalanche, caused by me. The last thing I heard him say was my name."

Age couldn't shake the feeling he's heard all this somewhere before, him being with Trixie made him completely forget about the outside world, it was as if all his past memories had been erased by this girl he met, and everything was okay…and perfect.

"Wow, Trixie, so the last this he said was 'Trixie!'?" Age asked. Trixie was still crying when she shook her head and Age raised his brow in confusion.

"Age, my name wasn't always Trixie. That's the name my Uncle gave me after the disaster, because he thought I'd have to be a real trickster to survive that. No Age, no. The last thing I heard Cold shout was my real name…Hayley."

Age stared, not knowing what to think or say. Could this penguin really be Hayley? His long lost love from chick hood? The one who also witnessed an entire penguin nation fall to the ground? She survived? These questions and more went through his mind until he found his heart almost erupting from his chest, and the next words to come from his beak seemed like they were spoken by the Great Guin himself.

"Hayley? Is…is that you?" She looked up and stared into his eyes, she noticed something she hadn't before. A look of depression, a look of loss, a look of hope. The she remembered everything, and she didn't know what came out of her mouth after that.

"Cold…? Is it really you?"

"Yeah…yeah…it's me Hayley, I'm here…I'm here."

She threw her flippers around Age and cried with happiness, shock, and other emotions she couldn't describe right now. Age held Hayley as tight as he could, he never wanted to let her go, not ever.

"Oh Cold! It's you! It's really you! I can't believe it! The fight, the screaming the avalanche, the sound of crushed penguins and the regret I felt…and still it's you!" she was sobbing very violently and couldn't stop, but Age didn't care he had her back, and that's all that mattered to him at the moment.

"Shhh…it's okay Hayley, I'm alright, I'm safe." Age was trying so desperately to be comforting.

"Oh Cold I'm so sorry for what happened, it was all my fault, I over reacted and the whole nation paid for it! I've never been able to forgive myself, but you're here, and you're alive!" she was still crying and holding Age tightly. Age continued his warm and comforting embrace as he kept trying to calm Hayley down.

"Hayley…look at me…" she looked up at him, and the look in his eyes made her instantly stop crying, "We're okay, that's all that matter, we'll never move on with our lives unless we forgive ourselves for what happened. You're alive, to me that means our nation has a future, a chance at redemption. You are, to me, a symbol of hope. A symbol of starting over, and a symbol of love." She kissed him for the longest time, and then she spoke with a smile.

"Cold, with you here, I have the strength and the willpower to forgive myself, because now I know that not everything that came out of that tragedy was bad."

"And you've given me the courage to face the world, the courage to sing. Did you know I haven't sung since that day?"

"Cold…"

"It's okay though, we're together now, and we will be forever. I told your pa I'd take care of you, and I swore this on his last breath. He told me we're bonded to each other, and from the moment we met, I should've known he was right."

Just then a voice broke out from the side of the entrance where from which Hayley came from. "Trixie! Trixie! Trixie honey where are you?" it was a male voice.

"Hayley, who's that?" Age asked Hayley with a somewhat suddenly stressed voice.

"Shh Cold, keep it down, look, I love you…" she then pulled away after a quick kiss, "be here tomorrow, and I'll prove it." She then walked out of the hideaway.

On his way home, Age couldn't decide if he was dreaming. Did that really just happen to him? He decided that it was a dream come to life, and he hasn't lost his mind. But the male voice calling for Hayley still intrigued him. Who was he? What did he want with her? More and more questions rattled his mind, but his mind was settled when he remembered something. He turned around towards the mountain, lifted his head up high and sang one last note to her.

This is my prayer

For

You

He then waddled the rest of the way home. No one knew he sang. On the other side of the mountain the voice was carried by the wind and hit Hayley's ears. She froze in place at the sound, and turned around.

"Oh Cold…"

That was the longest chapter of anything I've ever written, hope you enjoyed it! I'm really liking how this story is turning out. I've decided to put in one final chapter and use some songs that aren't mine. Yes, all songs used in this chapter also ended up being by me. No worries, the last chapter will be out after the holidays. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy Reading!