Kowalski stuck his head through hole in the box. He analyzed a yellow sticker on the side of their crate that said, SHIP TO KENYA WILDLIFE RESERVE AFRICA.

Skipper stuck his head out.

"Progress report."

"It's an older code, Skipper. I can't make it out."

The leader hummed in thought and turned to the crate before them. "You, higher mammal."

Mason leaned against the side of his crate and hummed in response.

"Can you read?" Skipper asks.

"No. Phil can read, though. Phil." The other chimp picked himself up from underneath a bunch of cans. Kowalski looks at him and tapped his flipper repeatedly against the yellow sticker. Phil began to sign language as Mason read out dialect from his hands. "Ship to Kenya Wildlife Preserve, Africa!"

"Africa? That ain't going to fly. Rico."

Rick stuck his head out and coughs up a paper clip. He twisted it around and made a key for the lock.

Then, all four penguins got out of the box, and stealthily made their way to the control room of the ship.

They began their hijacking by knocking out an unsuspecting man walking by. He whistled happily but it stops as soon as he turned the corner and was met with a slap. The penguins dragged his body to the side and glanced out to see if the coast was clear.

One by one, they hopped down and waddle to a box. They kept their backs on the front of it as Skipper snuck behind a pole to look out for his team. As soon as it was okay, he signaled them.

The other three penguins made a formation in case of any sudden attacks, while Skipper rolled near a ladder. His team waddled over and the leader hoisted them up.

Skipper kicked open the door to the control room. He and the rest of the black and white animals slid on their stomachs inside, before continuing to waddle. There, the captain was sitting in his chair, sipping a hot cup of coffee, and didn't hear the penguins because he had headphones on.

When he least expects it, Rico raised his fin and whacks him in his neck, resulting in him being knocked out and dropping his cup on the ground.

"Now tie him up." Skipper commanded.

As Kowalski and Rico used duct tape from one of the drawers to wrap the grown man's body up to the chair, Private perked up.

"And me, Skipper?"

Skipper turned to him, then the controls. It was about time that the youngest member of the group had time to shine, so he looked to a computer. Finally, he looks back at Private and smirks.

"You'll be in control of finding the code so we can get this tin can in our control."

Once he said that Private happily waddled away to the keyboards.

Kowalski and Rico just finished tying up the captain and awaited Skipper's orders. Kowalski jumped down onto the floor.

"Sir, the captain has been restrained."

"Good. Kowalski, you're on navigation. Find directions to Antarctica, pronto!" Skipper commanded, and Kowalski obeyed before the leader focused his attention on Rico.

The penguin actively started at Skipper with a slack-jaw smile and his tongue hanging from his mouth.

"Rico." Skipper called. "You'll need to keep out prisoner in check."

The penguin nodded his head rapidly, his tongue flapping through each motion. Rick then ran onto a desk where the rolling chair resided and stood guard.

After a while, Skipper gazed out of the window of the ship. He wondered how his team was doing and turned to Private first. "Status."

The young penguin tapped the keyboard with his feet, trying to get the code. His expression especially didn't say "I almost got the codes." or "I've got the codes."

"It's no good, Skipper. I don't know the codes."

"Don't give me excuses." The leader growled after he hopped down from his position. "Give me results!" Skipper explained as he slapped him at a rapid speed and pushed him.

In hopes the others were doing better, he turned to Kowalski. "Navigation."

Kowalski looked at the map with a confused expression and only shrugged his shoulders.

"All right. Let me think. And shut him up!"

Rico did as he was told, and slaps the captain who continuously mumbled from the tape over his mouth.

Finally, they got the code and Private glanced at the computer screen that said, in big and bright yellow words.

"I did it!" Private exclaimed happily.

"Let's get this tin can turned around!"

Rick followed Skipper's orders and twisted the ship's wheel. The boat turned sharply. Unbeknownst to them, the five Zoosters onboard lunged from their position and slid off deck and into the sea.

The Zoosters. They hit the water hard. It was a wonder that their crate did not shatter into millions of pieces.

"Guys? Oh, no. Gloria! Melman! Marty! Ayana!"

The leopard heard the lion's call and she spotted his wooden box just a couple of dozen meters away. With each second, he drifted further and further.

"Alex!" Her call clashed with Marty's. Gathering enough strength, she busted through the lid of her crate. Then she began to paddle.

When she leaned on the side of the box too much, she gets ducked underwater and end up with saltwater in her mouth. Her eyes began to burn, and she started to feel sick.

She had never been so afraid in her entire life. Ayana faced some dangerous situations, but this seemed to take the cake. Losing her friends after a brutal argument that only just calmed down? Now, everyone is drifting away along with a ton a regret hanging over their heads.

Ayana breathed in and breathed out.

Ayana's arms surged through the thrashing waves with a new burst of power, the fish in the air began to taint the oxygen. However, this was one of the freshest breaths she's ever had in her life.

"Ally!"

"Ayana?! Ayana!" Alex shouted from his crate. The moment she got close, she latched her claws on the sodden wood. Ayana let out a heavy sigh, slumping against the loose wood. She looked up and saw the lid had been torn from the crate. So she did what anyone would've done in that situation; carelessly tossed the lid into the waves.

"Ayana!" Alex exclaimed, emerging from the now torn off roof of his crate. He reached, grabbing her closer, hitching his paws under her arms, hefting her into the crate with him.

Her wet and soggy fur plopped on the dry wood floor. Ayana curls in on herself trying to warm herself up. Alex immediately swooped on her, promptly muttering apologies and encircling her in one of his famous bear hugs the Ayana so. But she had no energy to return it.

She could only breathe shakily and squint through burning dark brown eyes at the golden frenzy of the lion.

She was safe. He was safe. They were safe.

That's all that mattered.

"Alex..." Ayana stuttered, teeth shaking.

"I'm here, I'm here. Everything's going to be okay." He said softly into her clogged ear. Her small body fit perfectly in his arms, allowing him to cradle her.

Ayana managed to rope her arms around her friend and buried her face into the fluffy hair of his caramel chest. "It's okay. We're okay." He murmured. Reluctantly, the female leopard clung to him, but her tiny paw hooking itself under his chin.

A stray tear leaking with the water of the sea sponge into her fur.

"I'm sorry, Alex." She apologized numbly, "life is just awful..."

Alex blinked, stunned at her words. Ayana easier herself out of his grip and placed a hand on his back, comforting her friend.

"This never should have happened - "

"It's okay," Alex breathed, embracing her again, this time Ayana had the energy to return the strong hug. "It's alright, Nana. Everything's going to be alright."

"Ok, Ally," Ayana murmured, still unsure if that was true. "I believe you."

The two continued holding paws and looked out to the increasing waves that nearly killed them. She shivered and Alex caressed her paw, rubbing his thumbs in soft circles on her backhand. It felt warm.

Three small brown dots roamed far away into the endless horizon, dipping up and down through the horrendous bloating of the ocean.

Their friends were sailing away, all in completely different directions.

The two witness their friends disappear in the horizon before their very eyes and Ayana could swear a part of herself has left entirely.

Alex's ocean blue eyes were glued to the waves, the colors seemed to be repulsing each other.

The sky started to turn into a deeper shade of grey, the crate swaying from the thick waves. They settled in a corner where the wood benefited their backs the most, clutching one another with a death grip. Ayana nuzzled against Alex in almost an instant.

"They're...they're...G-gone-" Alex couldn't finish, leaning forward to bury his face into Ayana's neck with a sob. "Gone." Ayana finished, though she shut her eyes, a few boiling tears managed to squeeze through.

Ayana feels a piece of herself has left entirely. The piece of herself that's still stuck in the past when she was just a teenager standing still in the middle of the human camp.

Levi embraces her, his arms were still warm. Still there.

Then the tranquilizer hits her in the back, and Levi's tears drip on her fur.

"I love you."

She breathes in, breathes out.

And both cats are left to wonder one thing: how many more sacrifices it'll take before this nightmare is finally all over.

-/-

A/N: I didn't want to change the ending because I knew it was perfect for the chapter! And Ayana's backstory is more clear!