Kenny wanted to cry, scream, do anything, but all he could do was sit there and watch as his best friend and the person he loves most in the world fall in love.
His story starts like this: he is lying in a hospital bed, sick and dying, and Stan won't visit him even though Kenny just wants to hold his hand one more time, and Kyle is crying so hard that he probably can't even see as he's begging for Kenny to hold on and that Cartman's coming back, that they probably have a cure and can save him, but. Kenny's eyes are dull and faded, and he doesn't even have the energy to smile. He's so scared. What if this is the last time?
It feels cruel, but he's not even looking at Kyle anymore, or at his sister sobbing into his brother's chest, or his parents holding onto each other in the corner of the room. He stares at the door, in the hope that his other best friend will come in to see him. "Where's Stan?" He barely whispers, and, somehow, Kyle hears him.
"He'll be here soon, he'll be here soon, Kenny, I promise. Just a little bit longer okay? Okay?!"
He nods slowly and then closes his eyes. He's so tired of waiting, but then he feels this creeping coldness and his eyes snap open. Not yet. He turns his head back toward the door, and his eyes stay open, but he just keeps getting colder and colder. Please, just a little more, he hears and wonders if that was his own thought or Kyle's voice.
And then, his eyes are blank and staring and his mom is practically screaming and so is Kyle and Kenny is dead. He can't leave the Earth, though, he is tied down by a red string, so he sees Eric walk in with his doctor, who is holding a small box. He sees Eric take one look around the room, grab the box, and run away, and Kenny thinks he hears him sob.
And then he sees Stan walk in sometime later and his heart shatters into a million pieces. He sees him fall to the ground as Kyle, still wiping his eyes, tells him what happened. Kenny wants to hold him, but he can't, so he lets Kyle do it and watches them cry.
Kenny hopes though, he still hopes, that maybe this wasn't the last time and that he can come home soon.
Everything was horrible and Kenny prayed with all his heart that he wouldn't come back. Then, he would have a reason to be happy that Stan had moved on, that he and Kyle could laugh and smile and hold hands, but he just felt cheated. He still held onto the possibility that he will come back, so that is why he sobbed into his hands and screamed at the happy couple, "Don't do this! Don't do this, please don't! Please, please, Kyle, don't take him away from me!"
Stan had never actually been his, but that didn't mean Kenny hadn't had a chance. He could've been the one in Kyle's place, he could've been the one who swung their joint hands merrily as they walked, or the one who made Stan smile just by being by his side. Watching that possibility crumble apart hurt worse than watching Stan mourn him.
And that was how he faded from the Earth, crying loudly even though no one could hear him, and his red string lying severed on the ground.
A few notes, I don't actually know much about grief, not having experienced much of it, so yeah. I'm sorry if I should've put more in there, or if it was inaccurate, but this was all I knew.
Kenny-centric, because Kenny. One-sided Stenny tho, even though it's one of my favorite ships, because Style.
You can't convince me that Cartman and Kenny's parents didn't care.
This really is gonna be hot-off-the-press so yeah.
It's actually really hard for me to write a lot, so bear (bare?) with me.
South Park and its characters belong to Matt Stone and Trey Parker, but this fic is mine.