Hello again!

Well, the humor will not be present in this chapter D:

It's time to start developing the real story.

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Chapter 6: Not that simple

"Son! You are AWESOME!" Mumble shouted, but Erik was too busy singing and he didn't hear him. Mumble then tried to approach to him, but when he was very close, he accidently stepped on half melted snow and he slipped. Everything turned out wrong… he fell and hit something fluffy with his head.

When he raised the head again, Erik had fell from the cliff and his head was stuck on the snow below. Feeling the cold of the snow in that way, Erik couldn't hold it anymore and his fluids spilled around him. Every chick there began to laugh wildly of him, while their parents began to chatter with each other. Some of them said things like 'Oh! Poor boy!' and someone shouted very ugly things to the little chick, like 'Look at that sucker!'. Erik was hearing everything and trying desperately to pull his head out of the snow, but he was stuck.

"IS NOT FUNNY!" Boadicea hurried in defending his friend, pushing a male chick close to Erik, pointing at him and making fun of him. The other chick quickly stood up and was about to punch Bo, but Atticus appeared from behind her.

"You'd better leave ma' friends alone" He said. That was enough to make that chick run away.

"Shut up everyone! Don't laugh!" Bo shouted to the crowd, but at the same time, she looked a bit… distant.

"Erik!" Gloria's voice echoed in the middle of crowd's laughs, giggles and sniggers. She had arrived only a few minutes ago, attracted by all the singing. She quickly run next to her son, pushing some penguins in the way. Mumble was frozen in the top of the little cliff, witnessing the whole scene that HE had caused "Hold on, son. Mommy is here" Gloria said as she helped Erik to finally stand up. The other chicks were still laughing of him and throwing joke after joke at him. When Mumble finally reacted, he jumped to the ground and approached to his family.

"Son… I'm sorry… I" Erik didn't wait until his father finished his phrase. As soon as he saw him approaching, his eyes widened in fear as he began to walk backward. He didn't distrusted of his father anymore… he was scared of him. No one can even imagine the pain that Mumble felt in his chest when he noticed Erik's reaction. He run away as fast as his tiny feet allowed to him "No, Erik! Please, wait! It wasn't my intention" Nothing that he could say would console the blue eyed chick. On his way, Erik spotted a little crack in which only a small penguin could ingress. Wasting no time, he jumped in it and curled up against one of its walls. Tears began to fall from his eyes as his world seemed to be breaking apart.

"Erik… honey, it wasn't so bad" Gloria tried to comfort her son .

"Champ… I… I'm sorry. Please come here… s-so we can talk"

"I DON'T WANT TO TALK WITH YOU!" Erik shouted in respond from inside the crack.

"Son, I…" Mumble spoke again, but Gloria stopped him, placing a flipper on his shoulder.

"Mumble…" Mumble directed his gaze to his mate "When you are in a deep hole… you have to stop digging"

"I-I know… b-b-but I can't leave him in a hole!"

"We will talk to him, Mr. Mumble" Boadicea, who had followed Erik to the border of the crack, said as she jumped inside.

"Yeah, don't worry" Atticus said, following his cousin inside the crack.

Mumble was feeling so helpless. He knew that every word he could say would only worsen the situation. Instead, he remained silent, hoping that Atticus and Bo could calm Erik. But when they had spent only five minutes in that hole, he began to get impatient

"Erik... son, I... I'm sorry... it was an accident! I didn't"

"GO AWAY! I... DON'T WANT... TO TALK... WITH YOU!" Erik shouted sobbing. From outside, Mumble could hear his tears splashing in the puddle recently formed by them. Not knowing what to do, he turned to Gloria, seeking an idea.

"Gloria… help me, please!… w-w-what should I do!"

"Mumble… I… I think you should leave him alone for a while. Let the little ones solve this by themselves" She replied, with an air of confidence in her voice. She was his mother, so she was the best to know what to do with him. Still, Mumble wasn't very sure.

"But, Gloria… I… it wasn't my… I can't…" Mumble was very nervous. His thought and words mixed in his mind, preventing him to think clearly.

"Mumble…" Gloria grabbed Mumble's head and made him stare at her eyes "Easy, honey…" Gloria's eyes had the same effect in him than his in Gloria. He felt so peaceful when to looked at those lovely brown eyes "Like you said: let him be. He has Bo and Atticus… and I think that some minutes alone with them will help him"

"Yeah… yeah, you are right." Gloria's confidence had kind of convinced Mumble. He still wasn't completely sure; but if she believed that it was the best, he would do it.

"Now let's go home, honey. You need some time alone, too"

"Yeah… I guess so" Mumble forced a smile. It wasn't very much, but it was a improvement.

"Don't worry, dears. I will look after your son" Miss Viola, who had arrived at that spot of the square some minutes ago, offered. The young couple smiled to their old teacher and slowly made their way out of the square, to their home.

While they were walking, a certainly small penguin appeared. He seemed pretty hurry, like if he was escaping from something. He turned his head to look behind him and when he did so, he bumped into the couple. Since the emperor penguins are two times taller and heavier that adelies, Ramon bounced against them and fell on the floor. He was about to shout angrily, but he then realized with who he had bounced

"Hi Love-birds! Nice to see you but I'm in a hurry, so I can't talk right now" He greeted, standing up and continuing his way, but walking this time.

"What happened? Are you ok?" Gloria asked. She didn't like Ramon very much, but he was Mumble's friend. Mumble, on the other hand, was too immersed in his own problems to worry about Ramon.

"Let's say that the empress I tried to get already got an emperor… and he didn't like that I said piropos to her. Now, I have to run to Adelie-Land before he found Ramon. See ya, amigos!" Ramon said waving a flipper, before running away to the exit of the territory, passing near where Erik and the others were.

Gloria looked at Mumble, noticing that he was staring to a random piece of ice in the ground. She hugged him with one of her flippers and walked along him to their cave. In matter of minutes, they were there. Without the tiny voice of their son, the cave looked so… empty. Mumble walked to one of the walls and smashed his head against it.

"Mumble, don't do that! You are going to hurt yourself!" Gloria told to him, really scared by this sudden and strange action.

"I don't care…" He replied "Everything seemed too easy… I should have knew that it couldn't be truth"

"Don't be so hard with you, honey. I'm the one who always overreact, but this time it's you"

"Erik hates me Gloria… my own son hates me! You don't know how that feels"

"No, I don't. But I want to try to help you… you weren't the only guilty" Mumble shook his head.

"You tried to stop me… and I ignore you. I deserve to be blame"

"Yeah, I tried to stop you, but you were so focused in that 'son and dad singing' that you didn't listen! Why was that so important! Maybe with other song…" Mumble was very angry at this. He had already had enough criticism about the decision to sing.

"The song had nothing to do with what happened! It was a great song and… why would I explain you? What you could possibly know about singing? You don't have a single word in your heart!" He finished shouting. Gloria's eyes widened in shock and her face was a shocked one to. But not because she was angry or scare… her face was a sad one. Her eyes began to get wet as she dropped her gaze. When he noticed Gloria's reaction, Mumble regretted every word he had said "Gloria, I… I'm sorry… I" He tried to apologies, but Gloria interrupted him.

"Maybe I can't sing, but I can interpret songs... and also create them. I do have words in my heart, Mumble... but I just can't express them" This revelation was really shocking for him. Gloria had never said that she actually had songs in her "I'm a normal penguin trapped in the body of… of a… of a 'Gloria', I guess" She concluded, kicking some random snow and dropping her head again.

Mumble always thought that Gloria had overcome those things. He never imagined that after all these years, she still was trying to sing... and that she actually had created songs, but then again, she couldn't perform them. Unknown for Mumble, Gloria always felt an inner pain due to her lack of voice, but this pain was eased by Mumble's love. Now that Mumble seemed not to give her much attention, she was starting to feel that pain again.

"Gloria… I… I didn't know…" He couldn't think in anything better "Why… why didn't you tell me that before? Maybe I could help you, like I did with Kath"

"When, Mumble? When we were chicks, you were too busy to help me… helping Kath, parting and also studying. After that, when we graduated, all kind of weird stuff happened: that leopard seal, the caves, the Amigos, Adelie-Land, the Aliens and your kidnapping. Then, when you returned, it was all so… so quickly. We never stopped to think what we were doing" Gloria explained, while Mumble listened, unable to say something, because he knew that everything that Gloria had said was true.

"I…"

"With this issue about you and Erik, I spent a whole night alone… and I… thought about a lot of things… do you realize that we never actually dated, Mumble? I know that according to the traditions we come to the world already bonded with someone; but usually, the couples… you know… spend a lot of time together to form that bond, even before the singing ritual. We… we never had the opportunity to form that bonds"

"But… we have a bond. We are mates" Gloria sighed and shook gently her head.

"Mating is a powerful and beautiful way to show someone that you love him or her, but it's only a physical bond. What I meant was something more... spiritual. A true bond of love. The kind of bond that two penguins have since chicks, that they strengthen through the years, that they confirm by singing and that they consummate by mating. We… we didn't have that bond, Mumble. We were friends one day, the next day we were fighting and then we became mates… it was everything so confusing. Don't get me wrong, I loved what happened between us and I would do it again if I have the change to chose, but… I don't know…"

"It's my fault, Gloria. If only I had told you how I felt around you, we…"

"No, honey. Even if you had confessed to me that, everything was going to be the same. We do have a kind of bond; we were great friends too… more than friends… but we never tested that bond to see if it was love… because… I can't"

"You… you are right, Gloria… maybe this fatherhood thing was a mistake" Mumble unexpectedly said, shocking Gloria very much. Was Mumble regretting of the only thing that kept them united as a couple?

"Are you… are you saying that Erik… was a mistake? That our love was a mistake?" She asked, fearing the answer.

"No… he's not a mistake" Mumble answered, making Gloria wanted to ask another one. But it wasn't necessary because Mumble quickly added something that answered that question too "I'm the mistake… I'm not ready to be a father… I'm a shame to my family and I have failed to everything I love… The nation may believe that I'm the best and a hero but… I don't deserve to have a mate… I don't deserve to have a son…"

"No, Mumble. You are the best father that Erik could ever have. I think that you are just nervous"

"Gloria, I'm a terrible father. I acted like a jerk in front of him and his friends and I made him cry. Then, due to some miracle, I had another chance with him... and when he was forgiving me, I hurt him again! I promised to him that nobody was going to laugh of him, and because of me, all the colony laughed of him! Now… I don't know if he will want to see me again… if I was him, I wouldn't"

"Honey… I… I…" Gloria sighed. Mumble's words were completely true. Gloria wouldn't forgive Mumble if she was Erik. But sometimes, the lie it's better that the truth "Erik is young, Mumble. I'm sure he will forgive you again… I just think that you have to give him some time, like the first time"

"But this time is different, Gloria. The first time, he knew that I did that unintentional… what excuse can I say now? I can't say I slipped, he wouldn't believe me! I was the one who asked him to sing! I was the one who took him to the square! And I was the one who caused all of this… if only I would have stayed with him, I could have told him to not climbing up there and anything would happened…"

"If only you would have stayed with him?" Gloria asked puzzled "What do you mean? Weren't you with him like you promised" Mumble realized late that he hadn't explained to Gloria the whole Katherine's episode.

"Well… no I… I…"

"You weren't with him! But you promised it! Where were you? What could be more important that our son?" Mumble couldn't think in a better way to say it, so he just did.

"I was talking with Kath…"

"You… were talking… with that chick!" Gloria shouted angrily. Mumble gulped before answering, knowing that Gloria would be more than just upset.

"Yes… I know I shouldn't have done that, but…"

"You shouldn't? Of course you shouldn't!"

"I know, I know… but she needed me"

"She needed you? You had to be with your son! Not with that girl! He is your family! I'm your family! We are more important than that Katherine! Why the heck did she need you?"

"Because she was fired, Gloria… she was practicing to be a teacher and she was fired" All Gloria's anger suddenly turned into pity. Katherine, even when she seemed to be attracting Mumble's attention, was still her friend. All her life, Kath had wanted to be a teacher… and Gloria knew pretty well how it felt when your dreams were broken into pieces.

"Oh, Guin… that's terrible… but I still don't understand why you had to be with her"

"Because she was fired because me… I was the reason because she lost her opportunity to become a teacher. I know that I shouldn't have left Erik alone but I felt in my heart that I had to apologies… I understand if you are mad"

"I'm not mad with you… because I know I would have done the same" She then got close and pulled him into a hug "You are a good father, a great friend and a loving mate, Mumble" She said as she snuggled into his neck. Mumble smiled at the compliments and accepted the kiss. "Everything is going to be alright… I love you… and Erik does too…" His heart was still hurting, but Gloria made him believe those words.

"Why you are always so positive?" He asked giggling.

"After all I have been through, I learnt that you have to be like that if you want to be really happy and achieve your objectives… you were mine" She winked at him, causing that Mumble blushed a bit "Besides, if I wasn't, who would cheer you up? It's like a kind of job to me"

"Yeah… I guess you are right. Lately, I need of your services a lot" Gloria giggled at Mumble's joke and came up with an idea.

"But… I have my price… and I'm very expensive" She said playfully.

"Really? Well, how can I pay you?"

"A kiss would be a good start…" Only then Mumble realized what Gloria was up to (He isn't the fastest penguin, is he?) He leaned his head and she raised her. Their open beaks met in the halfway. This rare practice of kissing with their beaks instead of the traditional neck-kiss was something that Mumble found very nice and pleasant. Gloria had discovered this way of showing affection and nobody knew that they did that thing (Apart from Gloria's mother, who saw them).

"Maybe we can… start with that of dating now… better late than never" Mumble said, separating his beak for a few second to breath, before connecting them again. Gloria affirmed by moaning softly. Both of them had their eyes closed, they didn't need to see each other to share their feelings.

With the renewed hope of recovering his son and the love of his loyal mate, Mumble felt that this moment couldn't be more perfect… but the destiny have the cruel habit of make you believe that everything is fine… just to show you that you are wrong.

"MUMBLE!" A scream cut the romantic moment. Mumble and Gloria separated and saw how a very exhausted penguin came into the cave. It was obvious that that penguin had run a long distance to be there "Mr.… Mumble… Mrs. Gloria… I've got… news for you…" The penguin managed to say.

"What happen?" Mumble quickly asked. The expression on the face of this messenger told him that this news weren't good at all.

"It's your son… he… Viola's and Seymour's ones… disappeared!"

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Half an hour earlier, right after Ramon's departure:

Mumble and the others parents dispersed, thinking that It would be better that the chicks solve this by themselves.

Erik was on his 'knees', crying inconsolable. He couldn't believe that he had just made ridiculous in front of Atticus, Bo, his mother and the whole penguin colony! And it was his father's fault! He was the one who encouraged him to sing! He was the one who had cause him suffer! And not only once, but twice! How his own father could do that to him? He felt stupid for having forgiven him at the first time. Sure, they had had some fun in the past, but that didn't make up for this.

Atticus and Bo were there too. They just couldn't leave his friend went through this alone. Atticus was staring at the crying Erik, feeling completely helpless. What could he do? He wasn't that kind of penguin who is good at giving tips and cheering the people up.

Boadicea was holding Erik in her flippers, trying to console him, but it was useless. She was felling a sharp pain in her chest, like if each tear was one leopard seal's bite in her heart.

"Please, bro. stop crying… it's not gonna take you anywhere" Atticus told to the little male penguin. He couldn't take any more. If he continued to see Erik crying, his armor of 'tough guy' would break apart as a snowflake in water and he would start crying too.

"Atticus is right, Erik. You have to be strong… for you, for your family… for us" Erik stopped crying, but didn't calm at all.

"I'm little…" He said.

"There is nothing bad in being different, Erik. Look at me! I'm exaggeratedly big! And a bit fat too, but I don't care"

"I'm weird…" He said, sobbing.

"No, no, no. Erik, you are not that!" Atticus quickly replied.

"Yes, I am… everyone laughed of me!"

"I didn't…" Erik directed his gaze at Bo, with watery yet hopeful and happy eyes "I didn't and I never will, Erik, because I…" She wasn't able to finish because Erik, needing someone to understand him, felt so happy that he instinctively snuggled into her neck. Bo was completely taken by surprise. She didn't expect that from Erik… even in that state. At first she moved her head back in shock, but soon she accepted and placed her head over his. After all, they had already kissed once in the past, so why she would be shy about it? And actually, this wasn't technically a kiss at all.

"Yeah, and I'm sure that those suckers who laughed of you are all a big bunch of loser. I bet that no one can do a double back flip, finish with a head stand and pee in that position. Of course they can't do that! It's…"

"Atticus…" Boadicea cut his cousin's statement "Shut… YOUR STUPID BEAK UP!" She shouted. Erik started to cry again right after Atticus's words. Although the rapping penguin had good intentions, he only managed to make Erik feel worst.

He was watering all the Boadicea's fluffy plumage, but she didn't care. The idea of letting him go never crossed her mind; instead, she squeezed him even more. She would be capable of holding him during the whole life if it was needed.

"What my gross cousin wanted to say is that... you are special, Erik, in a good way" Boadicea comforted "Pay no attention to what others say"

"Yeah! That! That what I wanted to say!" Atticus quickly said "And also, that you are not gonna make regret for this by crying, my friend" Erik stopped sobbing and directed his gaze to his friend "You gotta prove they're wrong! By doing something that they wouldn't expect you to do"

"Hey that's… that's not a bad idea. But what can he do, Atticus?" Bo asked.

"Well, I dunno. How about… no, that's not gonna work, but how about… nope, that's not gonna work too" Atticus remained in silence, thinking in which heroic act Erik could do.

But Erik had already a plan. He had noticed Ramon when he was leaving the territory. This adelie was going to Adelie-Land… and he was going too. He broke the hug with Bo, stood up and wiped away the few tears that he still had.

"I know what I'm going to do" He said.

"Oh, really? What?" Atticus asked.

"Are you better now?" Bo asked, but she didn't get an answer "Erik?"

Without paying attention to his two friends, he pocked his head out of the crack, checked that there wasn't any adult penguin in sigh and jumped out of it. Then, he started waddling quickly toward the exit of the territory.

"Erik… Where are you going?" Asked a very worried Bo, trying to stop her friend.

"Where do you think?" He replied coldly. Driven by sadness, he only wanted to run away, to be far from those who had laughed of him; but particularly, he wanted to be very far away from his father, who Erik believed that was the main causative of his accident… and that strange Adelie penguin was his best chance of doing it. That land called Adelie-Land it was known to be a great place to live. He had heard about it from his mother, since she and his father had been there in the past.

"It's a bad idea, bro. I wouldn't do that if I was you" Atticus opined. He had already guessed what Erik was up to.

"I don't want to stay a second more in this place… I'm running away to Adelie-Land and I'm not asking you to follow me…"

"Man, you know what? You can…" Atticus was a bit upset with Erik's sudden behavior.

"But we will!" Boadicea interceded.

"W-W-WHAT!" Atticus asked "Why?"

"Because… he is our friend, and… we can't leave him go alone" She answered, as she walked to Erik and putted a flipper in his shoulder "We'll go with you" She whispered.

"Ehm… ok…" Erik replied, blushing.

"Ok…" Atticus sighed defeated. He didn't want to even try to argue with his cousin. It was useless... she always won. Still, he started to suspect that she was hiding something from him. He would have to find out the truth later, for now, they had an escape to do "But if gonna escape, we gotta do it right now!" Erik nodded and continued his way out of the colony, with Boadicea and Atticus following him closely.

Follow Ramon isn't a hard task at all. The footprints made by his feet were easily distinguishable on the snowy ice surface... not to mention the hundreds of times that he tripped and left holes in the snow even easier to follow. Erik remained in silence during the walking, glad that Bo and Atticus had come with him, because (even when running away was his idea) he wasn't brave enough to do it alone. The fact of having abandoned his family was killing him, but he didn't belong to there. He needed to find his place.

They walked for hours, but their little feet weren't able to keep the pace of Ramon. The night fall and they were forced to find a safe place to spend it. Guin was in good mood that day, because they soon found a little cave which had enough space for them. Erik was totally exhausted, so he got into the cave, rested his head in his shoulder and fell asleep in standing position, as usual for a penguin. When he closed his eyes and felt the cold night wind, he realized how he missed his mother's feathers right now, and especially, her warm and comfortable brood pouch.

Boadicea wasn't tired. She had a very gymnastic body for an emperor penguin's chick. She used to practice what she like to call 'freerunning' back in Emperor-Land; but this kind of gift wasn't something she learnt, she born with it. Her father had been a freerunnner too when he was young, but his parents obliged him to quit that practice and focus in singing... her pa always hold a grudge for that, so he decided that he wasn't going to do that with her daughter. If she was a freerunner, she would freerun all she wanted to.

Atticus noticed that Erik went to sleep but Boadicea didn't… and took his chance. Now was the time to get some answers. Doing his best effort to hide his truly intentions, he asked Boadicea to go with him for a walk because he wasn't sleepy and he didn't want to go alone. Boadicea thought that Atticus was missing his family (Because she missed hers too) and he needed some family love, so she accepted. She liked to walk, anyways.

They walked away together, talking about random topics, nothing really important. Atticus talked about his favorite type of fish, for example. Soon, a little ice formation came in sight and Atticus decided that it had been enough walking.

"Hey! Let's check what that is!" Atticus said. Boadicea was always ready for an adventure, no matter how little that adventure could be, so she accepted.

"Well… this is only a pile of ice, Atticus. Nothing interesting…" She commented when they arrived there.

"Hmm… from the distance this seemed cool…"

"Yeah… well… let's head back to our shelter. I want to see if Erik is alright"

"Thank for remind me that, Bo. Let's talk about something"

"Huh?" Before she could react, Atticus pushed her against the icy wall and hold her pressed against it with both flippers "Atticus… what are you doing!"

"Okay, that's it! Now, tell me why are we doing this?" Atticus asked upset.

"What do you mean?" She asked, scared of Atticus suddenly aggressive treat.

"Why we have to come with this… mini-penguin?"

"I-I-I already told you! H-he is our friend and we can't…" Boadicea tried to answer, but Atticus didn't believe anything.

"Friend, my tail feathers! We've escaped from our nation! We are... how it was that weird word that your father uses? We are... oh, yeah! Disertors!"

"We are not DESERTERS, Atticus! We are helping a friend"

"We'd plenty of friends back in the colony, so why we had to leave 'em all for this particular one? Erik is a good guy and my friend too… but I know you've been hidin' something, and I wanna know what!" He demanded.

"Atticus, I… I don't know what you are talking about" She tried to dodge the question, but Atticus was determined to know the truth.

"Of course ya' know! Answer me, Boadicea" Bo felt defeated. Her cousin wasn't going to give up, so there was no point in hiding it anymore.

"Well… I… I… feel something…"

"You feel something? For Erik?" Atticus said, completely shocked, releasing Boadicea from his grip.

"NO!... I mean… not what you think…"

"THEN WHAT!"

"It's not that simple… I… I…" She tried to explain his cousin her actions, but she couldn't find the words… well, actually she knew them very well, but she couldn't pronounce them "Come close…" She commanded and Atticus obeyed. He leaned his head and Bo approached her beak to his ear and whispered something inaudible.

"OH… MY… GUIN!" Atticus shouted, as soon as he heard Bo's words. If he hadn't had feathers, his face would be white in this moment "You… you… you…?"

"Yes…" She replied, as she dropped her gaze to the floor and wrapped her body with her own flippers.

"Boadicea you… you… you have to tell him! He needs to know!"

"I can't!… not after what happened… it's too sudden"

"But… you can't hide that kind of stuff! Sooner or later, he will find out"

"Atticus, I swear that I'll tell him, but not now. It'll have to wait until… until…" She didn't know how to finish her own phrase. When it'd be a good time to confess her secret? It was impossible to know. Realizing that Bo didn't have an answer, Atticus sighed and gave her a look of understanding.

"Look, cousin, you're a strange penguin… well, all girls are strange… but, if that's what you feel it's ok, I'm with ya" He spoke with a softly and reassuringly voice, taking Boadicea by surprise. Her cousin was a penguin who didn't like secrets. What he respected the most in a penguin was sincerity, and keeping secrets was something that he never agreed to do "And don't worry, my beak is a grave"

"Thanks you" She said, hugging Atticus.

"You're welcome… Now, please, let get's some sleep. This day was very stressing" Bo nodded and both chicks walked back to where Erik was sleeping. In the way, they remained in silence and tried not to cross their gazes.

When they got to their little cave, Erik was awake waiting for them. He had woke up, and when he couldn't find them, he scared so much that he wasn't able to fall asleep

As soon as he noticed Atticus and Boadicea walking inside the cave, he smiled to then. They smiled back. Boadicea because she was happy to see Erik smiling again; Atticus had to force himself to smile. Without saying a word, the chicks approached as much as possible to keep them warm during the night and fell asleep.

"I don't like this… when she makes up her mind… it'd be too late… Erik is innocent, but not stupid…" Atticus thought.

He took one last look at the sky. A storm seemed to be approaching.

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Many kilometers behind, an adult emperor penguin took shelter in a small formation of ice. Mumble had followed the trail left by the chicks. Unfortunately, as soon as night fell, an intense snow storm was unleashed, making it impossible to walk. Gloria had stayed in Emperor-Land, she was very shocked by the fact that her only child had run away.

Mumble took a look at the moon. He hardly could see it through the white and cold breeze. Its pure light illuminated the frozen valleys and mountains, as well as Mumble heart. The only thing the wished was that the Great Guin had mercy of his little boy. That he helped him to bring him back to their home. That he give him the strength to overcome all the bad events that caused this situation.

His body was trembling uncontrollably due to the cold wind that ran through his feathers and chilled his skin. A lonely penguin is a dead one… he knew that when he left. They depend on numbers to survive, one alone can't face a blizzard on his own, he needs his fellows with him.

His eyelids were heavy and his mind wasn't working normally. He was sleepy... very sleepy. He was forcing his eyes to keep them open. However, in matter of minutes, they were closed… but he was still conscious.

He was about to fall asleep, when suddenly two flippers wrapped around him, transferring some of the warmth of the other body to his. He opened lazily his eyes, only to see a female penguin next to him.

"Good night, Mumble…" She whispered.

Then darkness…

He fell asleep…

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Well, this was chapter 6. I hope you liked it

I was a bit down because chapter 5 didn't get so many reviews as I expected :( but I overcome it XD you can't win all the time, right?

What Mumble will do now? How Gloria would react? What is going to happen with Kath? What is Boadicea hiding? When she will confess it? I will stop ruining romantic moments? Why the heck did I write these questions?

You will have to keep reading if you want to know ;)

Read you soon.