A.N: Thank you for picking this up! This is set in a prison for criminals under the age of twenty (not exactly a juvie), which was created by the futuristic government as a type of "dumpster" for society. It will portray nothing of the prisons today, I hope. Hope you get through to the story.
Explanasium: This story is a little SciFi in the way that it is set in a world a few hundred years from now. All in all, the world is buggered. Raging climate change, a lazy psycho government and world after WW6 does not make a good mix. There is a large wall between the middle/upper classes, and the lower class that lives in slums. Think Nausicaa, no.6 and something else mixed together. I won't go into detail, but to sum it up in one word: dystopia. Be aware there won't be much detail in the story either. It doesn't really matter hopefully. That much…
Disclaimeration: Everything everyone else and I've said in the stories that I haven't forgotten: I don't own nothin'. Even the story is influenced by another. I was into it with my friend, she is doing her version, and now I am too and of course fanfiction.
Warninogamy: When you press on an M-rated story you would probably expect violence, language, sex, adult themes, in some cases murder or even rape… I don't know how bad this story is going to get, but expect the worst. That includes my writing skills.
If you hadn't run away yet, then welcome to Hell, Beautiful.
1
The whole room is illuminated red from the light of the full moon shining through the giant window, bouncing off the leaking fluid and making it glow. But I know that is not possible because of two reasons. One, because outside is a thunderstorm, covering the whole sky with thick rain clouds and not letting a speck of moonlight through. And second, because the room is too big to be covered with the blood of only two people.
My father's body is lying beside the door, letting it be obvious that his throat was cut the second he had opened the door. And here, is my mother. I draw the knife out of her chest and drop it beside her. I can't move a single muscle in my face, but there are tears falling down my cheeks as if my eyes have turned into a waterfall. I don't have the right to cry, but I can't help it. I hear the door creak open a little wider behind me and I finally take my eyes off my dead mother to look at who had come in.
'Kyle?' He says my name, eyes wide with disbelief as they spot my bloodied hands. 'Brother? What are you—'
'Ike…' I call his name with my lips that are trying to quiver into a smile. I hear the front doors slam open in the distance, then the roaring of the footsteps rushing towards this room, and I know it's over. The police blast into the room knocking Ike off his feet with the impact and not seeming to care, and they all point their guns at me.
I don't hear what they say because I've finally been able to give a smile to my brother, but I know this is when I put my hands in the air, and that is what I do. They don't care how unarmed I am by both body-mass and weapon; they push me down deep into the floor ripping my arms to my back. I can feel my mother's blood lick my cheek as they cuff my hands and I open my eyes to find myself staring into her visage-mort. My eyes widen and I want to scream, but I keep it in with one last tear. This is what I did. This is what I did.
They pull me up to my feet and begin pulling me out of the room. Ike had got himself off the floor and is now staring at me with horror on his face. I can't help but feel regret as I look at him. I know that he is going to be left alone now, without love and family, but without pain or hate too, which is good. He will be okay. He will grow up himself to be strong and gentle. But now, he is still a child, unable to process what is going on.
'Where are you taking him?' He whispers, but no one listens to him and an instant flame ignites in his eyes. 'You can't take him away! You can't! He didn't do this! He couldn't have!'
'I'm sorry Ike. But it's okay,' I smile a lie: 'It's all going to be okay…'
It's the first time that I'm walking out of the walls of this mansion freely, well, not exactly freely with the cuffs around my wrists. It is a moment I have always dreamed of, yet I had never imagined it to come like this.
But I did this all for him.
It was the right thing to do, wasn't it?
.
Kyle's eyes opened wide. For a second he sat there like a statue, and then the next second he took a long, burning breath realising that he had not been breathing the whole time he was daydreaming, coughing on the hot air agonisingly. He lost his balance as he did and fell onto the boy's shoulder sitting next to him.
'Don't fucking touch me, asshole.' The brunet glared, injecting enough malice in his monotonous voice to make Kyle shiver.
'Sorry,' Kyle whispered. The boy's deep blue eyes widened, almost in shock at Kyle's word, and then a roaring voice came from the front of the van.
'Shut your fucking mouths bitches! Or I'll cut your tongues off and shove them down your fucking throats!'
Kyle sighed and sat back up straight, ignoring the strange stare the brunet sitting next to him was giving his way. Kyle already knew how different he was, just by observing the other kids in the van. They all sat differently from him, hunching their shoulders, and hiding their faces with shadow, while Kyle sat up and kept his eyes focused, although with hesitation. And the boy sitting next to him, Kyle noticed his teeth with the single sentence he said. The front were yellowed and he could see one missing at the back, making Kyle realise that his own white positioned teeth was something not everybody had.
A heavy ice was sinking into his chest that he instinctively knew not to show. A heavy ice of fear.
.
The group of vans all divided away to the four different entrances, but Kyle didn't know that until he was finally let out of the van along with the other kids, and again the kids were divided into two groups, yet that was simply by the van.
Kyle expected the Colorado sun to burn them the second they stepped out, but found that they had entered something similar to a cloud forest some short time ago, a place almost unimaginable from the hours of driving through desert heat. But before Kyle could dwell much on his surroundings he was taken, along with the other prisoners, into the large concrete monster that was going to become his home. Inside it seemed so dark and gloomy that moss could grow on the walls and floor, only they didn't.
Kyle and seven other boys were placed in two rows in a cold empty room. He was in the front row, second from the right. He grit his teeth as one of the young guards (barely a couple of years older than him) patted his body for search. He felt uncomfortable, not experiencing such treatment in his gentle, protected life, but he could stand that. What he didn't like was the guard's eyes that stared at him, into him. He seemed harmless compared to the other fat guard who was glaring and towering over the kids threateningly, but Kyle couldn't rub off that look in his eye. He looked down to the guard's badge, which read: Marsh.
'Now turn around with your hands in the air and bend over,' the fat guard said, making Kyle fling his eyes off of Marsh.
'Why?' Kyle demanded, although the guard wasn't speaking to him yet. The redhead instantly noticed his mistake as the guard turned toward him with the face of a brick wall. The first boy in line also looked at him, a bead of sweat rolling down his neck. But Kyle kept his strong eyes on the guard, even as he moved his way.
'Why?' The fat guard repeated, without his previous shouting. Kyle couldn't nod, but kept on staring without blinking. The guard cracked his neck, and then slammed his baton into Kyle's cheek, smashing him to the ground. Sharp pain tore through his mouth and he could taste blood spread along his tongue. It was the first time he had ever been hit. Ever. And he thought nothing could be worse than that, until a second later.
Kyle felt cold, and it wasn't just his lower body being exposed, but it was the strong shiver in his chest. The next moment he had let out a harsh cry. Two fingers dug into him from behind, ignoring Kyle's agonising voice if not responding to them by scissoring him wider and deeper. Even in the physical pain, he could hear the voice of the younger guard, the bark of the one on top of him, and feel the humiliation. He could feel the eyes digging into him, some in horror, some in amusement, some in distaste.
'For rectal examination. That's why.' The guard finally answered over quickened breaths, drawing his gloved fingers out of Kyle. The redhead lay there gritting his teeth as he tried to keep his eyes shadowed with his fringe. Tears were leaking out of him, tears that he never experienced. Tears of hate and shame. 'You pass. Get up.'
Kyle dragged his pants up back to his hips and stood up, glaring with burning eyes. The guard pointed his baton under Kyle's jaw, and the redhead waited for another hit. But the guard merely smirked and went back to the beginning of the line.
'You didn't have to be so rough Cartman. He's new.' Marsh muttered to the fat guard.
'He's a fucking criminal you pussy! They all are! And besides, they need their introduction.' Kyle felt the guard's eyes glimmer towards him one last time as he said those words. It made him gulp, but he kept his eyes as he burned the guard's name into his head: Cartman.
No one dared to repeat the mistake Kyle had done: show defiance— a hint of their identity.
.
Showering was a strange experience, and not because of the eyes or the lack of hygienic feeling the stained tiles and cheap shower gave. The heavy water, big thumps of painful drops, to Kyle, did not seem to be washing him clean, but seemed to sink heavy and dense into his skin like acid. He slid on the prison uniform he was given, feeling as if it was to lock his skin and heart underneath the dark fabric like a mask for his body. He was a soldier now. A soldier fighting to survive.
After the quick body checks and showering were done, they were put back into their two lines, and Kyle noticed that some heads were shaven clean.
The group was divided into two: four prisoners to a guard. Kyle was glad that he wasn't put into the group with the fat sadistic guard, but that didn't mean that he enjoyed the company of the Marsh. He had a strange flick in his eyes that Kyle couldn't grab a hold of.
They walked through damp and dark corridors filled with black heavy-looking doors. Yet although the doors looked thick and heavy, they could hear the endless echoes of voices and laughs and shouts and cries from behind them. Or maybe it was only his imagination. Kyle thought that any scream would be quickly sucked into the moisture on the walls, making it audible to nobody.
'Number 46659: Tucker, Craig.'
The first boy was called before one of those heavy doors and Kyle found that it was the brunet he had accidently fell onto in the van. The boy didn't say anything as he walked into his room, but Kyle swore that he saw him point his middle finger in the air before the door closed shut behind him.
After ten minutes, half the group were called and sent into behind those heavy doors. Kyle was the last, so he expected to be at the end of the corridor. But Marsh had turned back around, taking Kyle with him on a long U turn.
'Number 46664: Broflovski, Kyle.' Kyle stepped forward, still wondering in his head.
'Why was I kept to the last? Would it not have been possible to walk from one side to the other? Or was it necessary to walk all the way to the end of the corridor and come back?'
Marsh sighed before opening the door.
'No questions. And don't speak against the guards. That's advise.' He said, waving his finger for emphasis before he checked in the dark room. 'Your cellmate doesn't seem to be in right now… To give you another advise, watch out for your cellmate. He's feared around here.' Marsh said, pulling his head back out to look at Kyle. 'Be careful.'
'Why would you give me any advise at all?' Kyle asked, with suspicion more than gratefulness. Marsh twitched a corner of his lip, either trying to make a smile, or hole one in.
'Because I'm not a blood-thirsty guard like some of them.'
Kyle still eyed Marsh with a frown until he took his steps into the cell and the door closed shut behind him. He didn't hear it lock though, so maybe he was free to open and walk about. He did see prisoners wondering about on his way there. He found their eyes and cheers provoking and uncomfortable.
Inside the cell, it was so dark that Kyle thought the lights were out, but then he noticed the flickering bulb above him. He let out a small breath of annoyance as he dropped his change of clothes, cup and toothbrush on the clean bed. He gave his bed one good look, telling himself that that was now his only private room.
'That's not too bad.' Kyle murmured to himself positively, and turned around. He paused, and then his heart jumped as he noticed something in the dark. It didn't move, so it took Kyle a moment to notice that it was a boy sitting on the other bed.
Kyle thought it must be the dark uniform and bad light that made it hard to identify him properly; no wonder Marsh hadn't notice him before. A second past looking at him, and Kyle realised that the boy was staring straight back with eyes of obsidian. Even under the flickering light, Kyle could tell his charcoal hair and snow-white skin, and that he had a bedevilling beauty like a whisper in the dark.
'Hello. I'm Kyle Broflovski.' Kyle managed after a gulp. 'Are you my cellmate?' The boy didn't speak back, but continued to stare with his wide eyes. Kyle wondered if he would ever blink, and thought that he might actually not.
Kyle opened his mouth to repeat himself, but the boy stood up to his feet, cutting off his words. He was still staring, swallowing Kyle whole with his eyes. Kyle was frozen, but then he jumped as the boy extended his white hand towards him. It landed on his swelled cheek, and it was comfortable to him like a pack of ice. Another hand rested on his other cheek, and if it was ever possible, the boy's eyes widened even more. His lips finally parted as he leaned into the redhead, slowly slitting into a smile so great, yet so subtle, as if he was feeling an explosion inside that he could not express. It looked as if he was glad to see Kyle, so much so that it seemed that he had been waiting for this moment his whole life.
Kyle somehow thought that he was going to be consumed by the boy and disappear into shadow, but then the boy let go and turned to the door way. The door opened, letting a white light pierce into the room and onto the boy's back as he hung by his hands on the doorframe. Kyle still couldn't say anything as the boy kept his wide smile and eyes on him.
'Welcome to Hell,' was all he said, his voice a mixture of man, woman and child, as portrayed by his face. And he stepped back into the light and let the door close back shut, leaving Kyle alone in his dark cell.
Kyle blinked, and looked back up to the flickering light, but the impact of the closing door seemed to have fixed its fuse, because it was no longer flickering. Kyle watched it with suspicion for a minute, until the sound of the heavy door opening again broke his concentration.
He thought that it was the shadow-like boy returning, but the boy who had entered couldn't have been more different. He was bright. With his tall height, icy blue eyes and scruffy blond hair, he had an unavoidable presence. He was handsome, but so completely different from the raven boy's subtle and yet haunting elegance.
Kyle couldn't help but stare at him, while the blond's eyes stared back with contemplation. Yet even without blinking as he stared, it took Kyle a second to notice that the blond was smiling. It was a smile that was only a lift of the lips that didn't move, until they opened to speak.
'So, the fucker finally sent one over huh? Just in time. I was gonna stop waiting.' He said, and the door closed behind him. With the heavy door closing, the light flickered again, but only for a second as the blond walked over to Kyle. Kyle kept his feet from stepping back, knowing that he would hit the bed if he did. But the blond kept on towering over him, leaving Kyle with nothing to do but gulp. He was confused. What was this blond doing here if the two beds belonged to Kyle and the earlier raven boy? But his thoughts were cut off by the other's words. 'Worth the wait though. Finally a looker.'
'Huh?' Kyle frowned in confusion. 'How can you tell my eyesight?'
The blond chuckled hollowly.
'Do me a favour and don't attempt at humour again while we do this.'
Kyle was about to repeat his 'Huh?' again, until he was suddenly pushed down into the bed by the tall boy.
'What!' Kyle said instead with more passion, but it was difficult to gather his thoughts to form a whole sentence as the blond was climbing up on him. 'What do you think you're doing?' He managed to snap.
'What? Fucking you. Obviously.'
'Huh?' The redhead's mind lingered over the unfamiliar word for a second, but his mind snapped back when he felt cold hands slip underneath his top. 'What are you doing!' Kyle yelled again, thrashing his arms at the blond who seemed to be moving so naturally. Under Kyle's protest the blond finally seemed to adopt confusion. His smile dropped and he drew his hands out of Kyle's shirt.
'Calm down!' He said, grabbing at Kyle's violent arms. 'Didn't he fucking tell you anything?'
'What are you talking about? Let me go!'
A deep, hollow sound that seemed to be a knock on the door interfered with the two's actions, freezing them on the bed. The blond stared at the door for a second until the knocking came again, and he sent Kyle a brief glance before letting him go to head for the door. Kyle sat up, still feeling himself burning, and stared as the blond opened the door only enough for himself to look out.
'Um… I was sent here…' A soft voice said, letting Kyle detect a hint of shaking in it. But the blond didn't say anything as he kept on staring at the knocker. 'I was sent here by… Leo…' Kyle thought he detected a twitch in the blond's back.
'Get out…' He said softly to the knocker outside.
'But—'
'Get the fuck out!' The blond shouted, his voice more threatening than its volume. Even Kyle froze before the door was shut back with a thud. The blond turned and looked back at him on the bed and Kyle managed a glare as he did so. The blond sighed silently, and moved to the bed opposite to Kyle's.
'Why the hell didn't you say something? I nearly fucking raped you.' The blond asked, without the empty smile now. Kyle frowned with this question.
'Well I'm sorry if my screams weren't loud enough for you. Or maybe you should get your ears checked?'
'Fine. Whatever.' Kenny rubbed his eyes frustratingly before turning them back to Kyle. 'What the fuck are you doing here though?'
Kyle began to feel more irritated by the minute talking to this blond.
'I was assigned here. This is my room.'
The blond looked up at Kyle, and then lied back on his mattress with his back on him.
'Great. I have a fucking cellmate now...'
'What?' Kyle muttered. The blond was his cellmate? Then who was that raven boy earlier? Kyle opened his mouth to ask the blond if he was familiar with such a haunting boy, but something made him stop before any words came out. Instead he said,
'My name is Kyle.' The blond turned, just enough to send Kyle a confused gaze. So Kyle added, 'Kyle Broflovski.'
'What are you doing?'
'Introducing myself obviously.' Kyle tried to hide his own absurdity with a confident voice. 'Although you're unbelievably rude and touched me quite inappropriately, I thought we might as well be civil if we are going to be locked in this cell together. So? What's your name?'
The blond scoffed and shook his head before turning his body to Kyle.
'You're not gonna last here long kid…' He said with a soft voice. 'Especially if you think I'm rude.'
Kyle ignored the latter statement and kept to the first, trying to keep his voice strong as he did.
'I am going to be here long though. For the rest of my life actually, unless I receive immortality or something along those lines.'
'That's what I mean though. The rest of your life is not going to be long. You're gonna be raped, bashed, diseased, exhausted, left on the ground like an old rag to your death.'
For a second, Kyle forgot to breathe. He couldn't deny that he was scared, and that his feeling was just fed by the blond's brutal words. But he wasn't hopeless, and he continued although softly now.
'Well, you're wrong. I'm not going to die. Not soon anyway.'
'Oh, are you blind too? In that case you will definitely find your way around. Honestly though, look at yourself!' The blond backslapped the air and pointed his hand at Kyle, indicating his physique. 'You look like you were birthed by twigs and raised in a warm cradle in a fucking palace, fed nothing but gold-coated berries! You have graciousness shining out your eyes and ignorance leaking out your ears! And being pretty is not an asset here. I couldn't even hope that you would last a month.'
'Well, I do!' Kyle wanted to stand up for emphasis, but his body did it without command. Strangely, strength had returned back to him, maybe because of the frustration and anger, or just his stubborn belief. But he felt ensured. 'I hope I would last a month, a think I will last for years! Heck, I have faith that I'll even get out of here alive someday.'
The blond stared at him with round eyes, smile gone but the ice quivering in the blues.
'How could you?'
Kyle huffed.
'Why wouldn't I?'
…
The blond stared at him with firm eyes, trying to look through those bright emeralds to see the true colour inside. But without any luck, the blond turned his back back on Kyle without another word. It had turned quiet again.
Kyle looked around the room to try and take his mind off the silence. The light was still dark and there were no windows, but it was light enough to detect the colours of the room, although that was hardly necessary since everything in the room was only different shades of grey to black. Kyle turned his eyes back to the boy lying on the other bed. Well, at least the people gave the room a little colour.
Kyle's eyes continued to linger on the blond. The tall boy had a strong presence when he was awake, but now that he was sleeping (or just pretending to, Kyle couldn't tell), it was as if he couldn't detect that he was there, even while staring at him. It made him feel nervous.
'Hey?' the boy didn't reply, but somehow Kyle could tell that he had heard him, and so released a breath of relief. 'You still haven't told me your name yet…'
For a second Kyle didn't expect an answer, until he heard the blond reply with a heavy voice, stripped of its earlier (almost intimidating) hollow friendliness.
'Kenny McCormick.'
A warm smile crept onto Kyle's lips, something he didn't think he would do in such a gloomy place.
'Nice to meet you Kenny.'
Kyle didn't know what time it was, but he copied Kenny's position and lied onto his bed. Only, as he did Kenny sat back up, glaring at Kyle.
'What the fuck do you mean, "nice to meet you"?' He mimicked Kyle's words. 'Look kid, there's no nice meeting anybody here. Especially me. Don't think we're friends just because I haven't killed you.'
'Do you kill often?' Kyle asked, eyes round. The blond blinked, then flicked his wrist in the air.
'Never really intentionally. It's just that, when I stop punching someone in a fight, it's usually when the other guy's dead.'
Those words made Kyle's stomach flip; he couldn't deny it, it wasn't something he was expecting. The blond was tall, but not exactly the biggest person he had seen there so far. He didn't have scars and tattoos covering his body, and he would've even said that he was slim, with sharp muscles instead of looking like a bus.
'Is that why you're here? Because you "unintentionally" kill people?' Kyle asked emotionally as a hint of contempt began to simmer inside him. 'Are lives that hollow to you? I bet then that everyone's scared of you, huh? Maybe the people you kill get what they deserve for picking a fight with you in the first place.'
Kenny stared at him as he talked, face showing nothing but cold as apposed to the heat bubbling inside Kyle. Kyle didn't even know why he was angry. This guy was a criminal, along with everybody in there. His light-hearted approach towards people's lives was probably just a normal thing— And then Kyle realised. He was a murderer too.
'That's right,' Kenny suddenly said, making Kyle's simmering freeze as the blond stood up. 'People get themselves killed. They only get what they asked for. That's why people know not to mess with me, touch me, talk to me. They even give me stupid names like the Immortal Prince or the Hoodless Reaper. But I guess you're just a newbie, so you don't know.'
Kenny was right up at Kyle's bed, and just as Kyle opened his mouth nervously, Kenny's arms grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him back deep into the bed, making him choke.
'But I'm not sentenced here because I unintentionally killed someone. I'm here because, well, the usual. Although I did kill that one guy, but they didn't sent me to jail for that, I was too young. So, the usual. I whored before I was ten, then dealt and pimped, just a little though. I liked drugs and girls but not selling them to other people. Yeah, then I stole from penguins to baldies; they didn't like that. Um, what else?' Kenny's hands were sliding away from Kyle's shoulders, reaching in and in until they were around Kyle's neck. And still they continued to reach in. 'Oh yeah.' He said with a smile. 'There was that one time I wiped out a group of soldiers and the leaders of a small village… But that's about it.'
Kyle whispered something out of his closing throat.
'Huh?' His hands around Kyle's neck loosed a bit to let more voice come out of him.
'Why are you telling me this?' Kenny frowned in confusion, until Kyle continued: 'Why would you be scared of me?'
Kenny let go of Kyle's throat as if the skin suddenly burnt his hands. Kyle barely coughed but took in a deep air as Kenny looked at him with round eyes.
'What do you mean?' He asked as the redhead leaned back up.
'Isn't that why you are telling me such brutal stories? To intimidate me?' Kyle asked with his full voice regained. 'Why would you feel the need to intimidate me?'
'I don't know what you're talking about,' the blond muttered and walked back to his bed. He sat down but didn't lie down with his back on Kyle this time. He hunched his shoulders and looked down at the floor between his feet.
'Is that true?' Kyle asked once the heat in the silence wared out.
'You can believe what you like.' Kenny answered monotonously. Kyle knew that that was his cue to stop talking, but he chose not to. He never really did.
'I'd like to believe that that isn't true then…' Kenny looked up. 'I'd like to believe that such a tragic story didn't happen. But then again I have lived my life locked up in a mansion, divided from the world with tall walls. And although I had my own—' Kyle felt a sharp pain squeeze his chest like a shock, stopping his words. He sighed, before continuing. 'Nothing compared to the pain others have faced.'
It was difficult to read the expression on Kenny's face, whether it was shock, disbelief or distaste. Whatever it was, it crooked his handsome features.
'So you really were raised in a palace? You haven't even seen the deserts or the slums? This is the first time you've been outside the wall? You know—' he slapped his knee in frustration, 'what the fuck is a princess like you even doing in a place like this anyway?'
'What do you mean?'
'I mean, what are you in for? Forgot to do your homework? Sneezed on the mayor? What?'
Kyle's eyes widened and his face turned grave.
'For murder…'
'Murder? Kicked around one of your maids too much? Didn't think you had it in you,' Kenny joked sardonically. 'So, what's your sentence? Thirty, forty years?'
'One hundred and twenty-six—' Kyle interrupted Kenny's words. He wasn't blinking and he was looking straight ahead, but Kenny's grin dropping with shock didn't enter his eyes. 'For parricide.' Kyle looked into Kenny's eyes. 'For the murder of my parents…'
Silence filled the room, making the air heavy like water, and cold like ice.
'Is that true?'
Kyle blinked and smiled heavily.
'You can believe what you like.'
Kyle had prepared for the worst as he made his confession. Even while being raised in a cradle Kyle knew the condemnation of parricide, one of the worst crimes there could be, and in his case, for two. It was probably what had given him such a long sentence. As he stared into Kenny's eyes he waited for the blond to stand up and come to hurt him, maybe even kill him out of the sheer disgust of his confession. But Kenny didn't do anything. He lied back down with his back on Kyle and killed down any hint of presence his woken self held once again.
'You shouldn't go around telling people that so light-heartedly.' Kenny's voice said.
'I know.' And heavy silence surrounded them.
A deep sigh leaked out of Kyle's mouth, but he kept it quiet. He lied down on his side like Kenny had once again, but unlike Kenny, he didn't put his back to him. He didn't want to sleep facing the wall, not while having his back on someone.
.
He heard a chime and opened his eyes from his shallow sleep what felt like only minutes later. It went off after a few times and Kyle turned his attention to Kenny who was getting up from his bed.
'What does that bell mean?' Kyle asked. Kenny looked at him briefly.
'It tells the time.'
'How?'
'By beeping the number of hours, duh.'
Kyle grimaced by the sheer obviousness of it. And they told him he was smart.
'What time is it now then?'
'Seven O'clock. Dinner time.' Kenny answered before opening the door. He didn't offer his company but Kyle chose to follow him anyway.
'I didn't imagine that we'd be able to walk around so freely. I thought we would be watched by the guards like dogs on a leash, you know? I expected everything to be more organised at least, with set rules and guides, et cetera.'
'It's a fucking prison, what would you expect?' Kenny smirked. 'It's the most disorganised place out there. They don't give a shit about us. They just want us to be locked up far away enough to be harmless. That's what this is. A huge fucking dumpster.'
The corridors were soon packed with prisoners that all seemed to be going to the same destination. Kyle could tell straight away the new prisoners, and not only by some of their freshly shaven heads. They had a certain vibe around them, or a glimmer in their eye that hinted their puppy-dog fear of being thrown into a pack of wolves. Kyle just hoped he didn't show as much as the others did, although he was somehow confident that he didn't. He had his own ignorance to thank for that.
Although Kyle was busy memorising every turn they made and every door they passed, Kenny didn't seem to be able to lose him. Even as they were lining up with their trays in hand waiting for their food, Kyle was still right behind him, copying any (analytically) important action the blond made (for example, picking up the trays, lining up in cue, smiling at the bored servers who happened to be convicts as well). The one original action of asking 'Is this pork?' earned Kyle a polite 'Fuck off' from one of the servers. Well, Kyle decided that whatever it was he didn't have a choice if he wanted to survive. The food (with all apologies to the chef) neither looked delicious nor healthy.
It was after they had received their meals that Kenny finally looked back at him.
'I think I've been enough of a fucking angel now. So now that you've got your food, can you stop following me like fish crap.'
Kyle blinked. To be honest he was in no way surprised by this request. He looked around as Kenny watched him, looking for a nice table. Preferably one with many open seats, or… Kyle looked around far and close, but couldn't seem to spot the boy with the raven hair. He realised that he had forgotten to tell Kenny about him, but decided now wasn't the time as he stood around with his tray of food. Kyle stretched his neck as he found a good candidate with only one boy occupying it.
'See you then,' Kyle turned to Kenny before heading to the chosen table. Kyle almost smiled as he approached his table. The boy didn't have a single shadow or a sharpness sticking out of him. Even when he noticed Kyle's presence and looked up, a smile broke on his face instead of a scowl. His smile felt like the brightest light Kyle had seen in the mossy prison so far.
'Well, hello there! You must be new.' He said, pleasantness sewn onto his words. Kyle nodded.
'Mind if I take a seat?'
The smiling blond chuckled.
'Oh gosh, help yourself!'
Kyle took the seat across him and took his cutlery into his hands, but something stopped him as he still felt the small blond's eyes on him. He looked up questioningly. The blond was still smiling at him.
'I'm Butters,' he said, and Kyle relaxed as he noticed what the blond wanted. He gulped, although he hadn't taken a single speck of food yet, before introducing his name.
'I'm Kyle. Kyle Broflovski.'
The blond's smile widened as he opened his mouth to speak, but a voice from Kyle's back interfered him.
'What's up with you and introducing yourself?' It was Kenny's voice. Yet Kyle looked up anyway to check those icy-blue eyes staring down at him unimpressed.
'I thought you told me to stay away from you. Besides, he's the one who introduced himself first.'
'I told you to stop following me. Didn't say I wouldn't return the favour. Or do you have some special plans reserved for these empty chairs?' Kenny dropped himself into the chair next to Kyle. 'Didn't think so. Besides, Butters, as he introduced himself, is a fucking nickname. It'll be like you introducing yourself as Duck Sucker. Unlike your Kyle Broflovski. I even remember the fucking tongue twister now.'
'I don't suck ducks.'
Kyle could have scowled, but instead he chuckled (as well as Butters in the background). Kyle knew how annoying his last name was; everyone always needed practice saying it.
'Is Kenny McCormick a nickname too?'
Kenny slid a glance at him before beginning to eat.
'No.'
Butters was looking at the two questioningly as they began to eat, blue eyes wide in their puffy sockets. He seemed to have forgotten his own food, until Kenny talked to him, between one mouthful of food to the next. He leaned in though, loud enough for Butters, but not quite reaching Kyle under the sounds of his own chewing and mutterings in the hall. But when Kenny leaned back out, Butters looked a little taken aback, even shocked.
'Why?'
'Well, I can come up with three reasons. One: because they suck, in a non-entertaining way. Two: because I'm sick of dealing with you. And three: because I have a cellmate now.'
Butter's expression dimmed until he heard the last point and frowned in confusion.
'You? Cellmate? Have? That's pretty new I'd say, Kenny.'
'It's the first fucking time Buttface.'
Kyle twitched at the name, but the smaller blond didn't seem to care.
'So what does it matter though, if you have a cellmate? Can't you just ignore him or kick him out? Why not have a threesome, you'd enjoy that.'
'Because he's a noisy little bitch and would probably give me a long speech or lecture if I try do any of those things.'
Kyle paused as he was called a "noisy little bitch", but was impressed by how much his cellmate already knew of his character. He did have the tendency to give speeches.
'So why don't you shut his mouth? Bash him, rape him, mess him up a bit. It'll definitely keep him quiet.'
Kyle almost dropped his knife and fork onto his plate. Butters' voice was as innocent and casual as it was when he welcomed Kyle to sit, and it made Kyle hard to grasp his words. But once he did process them, it was hard to believe that they came out of his mouth.
'You know Butters. Sometimes you really make me sick.' Kenny said, making Butters' face twitch.
'Oh, hamburgers, it was only a joke, Kenny!'
'What a fucked up sense of humour you have then Mr. Teddy bear.'
Kyle began to feel a bitter taste in his mouth as he looked between Kenny and Butters. He was beginning to doubt the sweetness of Butters' smile and stuttering voice. Kyle looked up, and briefly met Butters' eyes before they moved back to Kenny.
'So, who is it?'
'Who is?'
'Your cellmate?'
Kenny eyed Butters as he stuffed another mountain of stew onto his spoon. 'What's it to you?' He said, before taking the spoon into his mouth. Butters didn't say anything, but glanced at Kyle again, who sat there trying to concentrate on his food as the chairs around them were filling up. It was beginning to get really loud, so he looked up to Kenny before it became impossible to talk.
'Why don't you just tell him?' He hissed. Kenny simply raised his brow. 'Why don't you just tell him who your cellmate is?'
'I don't give anyone any information unless it has some merit.'
'You gave me your name?'
'That was to shut your pretty little mouth.'
Kyle brushed his lips at Kenny's words, feeling a little warm at the unexpected compliment, (was it?), until a wide toothy grin spread them wide.
'It didn't really work though did it?'
Kenny gave him a glance, then scoffed. But unlike his other dry emotionless grins, this one seemed to have a hint of sincerity in it, even if it was one of satire.
'Yeah. I'm still on the look for what will make you shut up.'
Kyle opened his mouth again, but at that second a loud bang echoed around them, shutting Kyle's mouth and swinging his attention around to the noise.
'Well that did it,' Kenny shrugged and followed Kyle's gaze. He almost grunted as he saw the source of the noise. 'The fucking Boy's at it again.'
A large boy with thick hard muscle appearing from underneath ripped sleaves was standing menacingly over a boy he seemed to have just pushed over. Kyle noticed the tray raised up in his hand and immediately understood that he had taken the dinner off one of the other prisoners. Kyle began to rise up like a meerkat in a herd of rats without noticing that everyone in the hall had frozen. He noticed the big boy beginning to turn his gaze towards him, but he was quickly pulled back into his seat by Kenny's hand.
'What are you doing?'
'No, what are you doing?' Kenny hissed Kyle's words back at him. 'He's not someone you can handle. Just sit down and eat your own dinner.'
'But that guy just got his dinner taken off of him and we only get one serving each!'
'And we only get one life each. I'm telling you, it's none of your fucking business. Use your big fucking eyes and observe. You think you can beat that guy?' Kenny pointed at the big one going back to his seat with the extra tray. He confirmed Kyle's silence. 'I didn't think so.'
'Why don't you go then?' Kyle asked abruptly, making Kenny frown.
'Excuse me?'
'Why don't you go there and help him? He looks bigger than you but you're the Immortal Prince or whatever, right? So that's like a king, right?' Kenny still didn't say anything, confused at Kyle's words. So the redhead stood up with his bread without another word. Kenny watched as Kyle crossed the hall that was now full of voices again, and towards the boy who had gotten himself up and began brushing himself off. Another newbie, Kenny judged with a single glance.
'Here.' Kyle said, handing the boy his bread. The boy paused and looked up with cold eyes, making Kyle freeze, but not because of the anger in them. 'You!' He said.
'What are you doing.' The boy said, or asked, with his monotonous voice. Kyle tried to grin at the familiar face, but couldn't brush off the awkwardness between them. Letting out a cough, he held his bread further towards him.
'I thought you would be hungry.'
The brunet glared a shade darker at Kyle and slapped the bread out of his hand. They both watched it fall to the ground, both with their own share of shock, before the brunet regained his glare back on Kyle.
'I don't need charity. Especially from a princess-whore like you.' He spat on the bread on the floor lying beside Kyle's feet, and headed off towards the exit of the dining hall. Kyle looked at the pitiful piece of bread and picked it up, patting the dirt off of it.
'Hey, are you gonna eat that?' He heard a voice in the distance, but muttered a small confirmation before returning back to his seat beside Kenny. Kyle was still hungry, even though he had eaten most of his meal already. That brunet must be starving then, that brunet from the same van. What was his name again? Number 46659. Tucker. Craig.
'Are you gonna eat that princess-whore?' Kenny chuckled sardonically as Kyle sat back down.
'Why did he call me that?' Kyle asked, with more curiosity than hurt.
'Well I thought I already told you. You have properness and ignorance leaking out of you like a princess, and you're a whore because you sell away your charity.'
'It's not charity then is it, if I'm selling it? And why princess instead of prince?'
'Because a prince is someone like me, while you're more like a soft peach. Don't get too bruised my love.'
Kyle glared at the blond distastefully.
'Not so much of a prince on a white horse are you, if you don't go to help the ones in need.'
'Says the person who got spat on.'
Kyle's heart thumped a little before he took the dropped bread into his mouth, but at least it made it possible to ignore Kenny's sneer. It was the first time he had eaten something off the floor, or even the first time he had picked food off the ground at all. He was experiencing many new things in that one day. And it wasn't even over yet.
A.N: Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed it.
I don't have the next chapter (first time since T&R. I'm updating as I go), I don't have a plan, I don't even have a pairing or even more shockingly, an ending, which is the first time. The only thing I have are ideas. If I continue, this is going to be a big journey. Not all chapters are gonna be this long though I think.
Please review if you care for another chapter! If you don't, well, say so anyway? With reasons preferably. But flamers stay away because this shit's inflammable.