Chapter 9 – Hard confession

A/N: Hi everyone! Sorry for the late update I got busy with something else. Anyway here's chapter nine and I hope you enjoy it.

~PoM~

Everyone sat in the penguin base and listened to Skipper's story.

"Four years ago, before I came to New York City and met you boys I was living in Antarctica with my father. I was newly recruited in the army so I had so much to learn. Our life wasn't easy though because the human hunters kept coming and take some of us every now and then. We tried everything we can to defend ourselves but we failed eventually."

"One day, a penguin in the army named Weston said he had a plan to save our colony. He asked the other penguins for help, and they of course agreed to help him with his project believing it will save them, but he was only tricking them and hiding his true intentions."

"What was his project then?" Marlene asked suddenly.

"His plan was to create a weapon of destruction, one that can freeze a whole city into a block of ice" he explained. Everyone in the room gasped.

"Of course once I found out I sneaked into the lab and stole its power source which is now inside that box" he gestured to the small box on the table in front of him.

"So this 'key' Weston mentioned is actually a battery?" Kowalski concluded.

Skipper nodded. "Correct and without it the weapon is useless" he stated.

"But Skippah, how did you discover all of that" Private asked, looking confused at him.

At this Skipper became nervous. As much as he didn't want to tell them he knew he had no choice. They deserve to know. He thought.

"Because….I…..I was one of them" he finally said.

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Everyone in the room fell silent after hearing that. No one knew how to react. Private himself couldn't believe what he had heard.

Kowalski was the first to speak. "You helped creating a weapon!" he muttered, showing some anger in his voice.

"I told you Weston tricked me! He told us he was going to help us save the other penguins. I didn't know he was creating a weapon!" Skipper replied.

"Well that doesn't make much difference. You knew something was up from the beginning and you still kept it a secret!"

"That's because it's my past Kowalski. I don't want anyone to get involved"

"Get Involved!? Rico, Private, and Agent Buck Rockgut were attacked. Julian and Private's Uncle Nigel were kidnapped. Can't you see we're all involved now?"

After hearing that, Skipper looked down in guilt. Kowalski was right. Everything that happened so far was because of him. Maybe if he told them from the start it wouldn't have come to this. Looking around, he saw everyone giving him angry, confused, and disappointed glares. He wanted to say he was sorry to them but he knew it was too late for that since the damage had been done. Turning to leave, all of the animals walked out of door leaving him alone in the room. Private looked back to his leader who was still looking down in sadness and felt bad for him. As much as he wanted to comfort him he didn't know what to say. Sighing, he followed the others out of the room.

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Private sat on his chair feeling down after what happened today and what he found out. He glanced to Rico who was looking confused and then to Kowalski who was still angry with Skipper for keeping secrets from them.

"I still can't believe that Skipper helped that guy!"" Kowalski uttered.

"He didn't know Weston was tricking him. All he wanted was to save his friends and home" said Private.

"But why he had to keep hidden from us?"

"He was just trying to protect us"

Kowalski raised a brow. "By putting us into more danger?" he scoffed. At this Private fell silent and didn't know what to say.

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Later that night, Skipper was leaning against the wall with so many thoughts going through his mind. He held a small, golden, circle-shaped locket in his flipper and stared at it thoughtfully. "How did this happen? What could have been?" he thought.

"Skippah?" a voice suddenly spoke. Skipper jumped back in surprise only to see Private staring at him sheepishly.

"Sorry if I startled you" he apologized while rubbing his neck.

"What are you doing this late at night solider?" the leader asked, raising a brow.

"I saw you sneak out of your bunk so I decided to follow you, just curious" he explained. Skipper slapped his forehead in disbelieve. He thought for sure he didn't make any noise back there. Private then noticed the locket in his flipper.

"Wow where did you get that?" he asked in astonishment.

"It's from my father; he gave it to me before the day the hunters caught him" Skipper explained, looking down at it in clear sadness.

Private immediately regretted opening that subject and lowered his head. "I'm sorry" he then took a deep breath and looked up at him. "Skippah listen, I don't care what the others are saying about you. You still my leader and you still my friend. I don't blame you for what happened to Uncle Nigel or Julian. It's not your fault" he said and smiled at him.

Skipper was shocked. He expected Private would be angry with him for being the cause of all this mess, for being the reason his friends got hurt and his uncle got kidnapped, but he didn't show the slightest hint of anger or disappointment.

Skipper smiled, glad that someone still trusts him.

"Thanks Private"

A/N: That's it for this chapter. I hope it answered some of your questions about the story. I would also like to thank the people who read my story and reviewed so far specifically: Aquade, Thewriterstory, JustAnotherLoneWolf, Cubabear, and Mikadaphne28

The Next Chapter will be about Nigel and Julian! :D