I strongly suggest listening to "River Flows in You" by Yiruma while reading this. It's a beautiful song that touched me deeply. Out of a vision I had, this story arose. Sure, you don't have to listen to the song while you read it, but it takes some of the magic away from the fic.

~*~*Thanks for the Memories*~*~

I heard the news and rushed over the site of the accident as fast as I could. The police looked pale and explained the accident in detail. Karen was killed by some thugs that tried to rob her for money that she didn't have. My ears heard the words, but my mind didn't process them and my heart couldn't accept them. This was my baby sister that we were talking about! Memories flooded back to me, reminding me of what was now stolen from me by the cruel fates of the world.

£~*£~*Flashbacks*~£*~£

Karen was a baby, mewling in my arms. My mother told me that this was my new baby sister. Karen's big, innocent eyes looked up at me and grabbed at the strings of my parka. She was unusually small and the doctor that had signed her birth certificate said that she might not live, because she was born dangerously underweight. Yet, she survived... My little fighter DID survive.

When my parents were off screaming and fighting, I would wrap Karen in some of my old blankets and kiss her goodnight. I rocked her back and forth, watching as her eyes fell asleep. And, those occasions when she would get fussy, I would sing her a little lullaby to carry her softly to sleep. She made me forget all of the pain that was slowly wearing away at me.

I fed her her first bottle, watching as she suckled on the nipple of the bottle. Mom told me not to squeeze the bottle because it would inflate her stomach and make her throw up, so I let Karen drink at her own pace, squeezing the bottle very slightly. Soon, she could hold the bottle herself and she would give me a crooked smile after she was done, as if she was satisfied. That was a rarity at best for the rest of my family, but I was glad that she could experience it, because it might've been the only time in her life that she had felt full.

I remember that we were all sitting on the couch and I was holding Karen. She looked up at me with her lips were quivering and eyebrows furrowed in concentration before she managed to choke out, "Keh-nee!" We all looked at her in amazement at the one year old, who was giving me a smug smile that I translated as 'I knew I could do it!'

I remember spooning her baby food and smiled as she refused the semi-solid baby gunk. She would look at me with her gorgeous blue eyes, her plump cheeks rosey. I would make silly faces, and she would laugh hysterically. Her mouth would open widely and I spooned a quick bite in her mouth, laughing when her face contorted in disgust. She would spit it out on her highchair and frown at me.

She was out in the yard, sitting in the grass when she called for my attention. I looked over to see her wobble to her feet. Her had the brightest, happiest smile as she took her wobbly first steps... torward me. I had met her halfway through the yard and picked her up, spinning her around to hear her bell-like laughter.

It was her third birthday, and I had used some of the money I was sticking back to get Karen a small cake about the size of a tea saucer. She joined us singing 'Happy Birthday', but with her own words. "Happy Birthday to me!" She paused before whispering the word 'cake' to herself. Mom cut into her cake after Karen blew out the candles and gave a thick slice to Karen before giving everyone else thin slices. I leaned over to Karen to tell her what a special birthday girl she was when she smashed her slice of cake into my face, earning a chorus of laighter before Karen licked a small smear of icing off of my nose.

It was just me and Karen in the meadow behind our old house, I was chasing her, though keeping a respective distance so that she would think that she could outrun me before I quickened my pace and scooped her up in my arms. She shrieked in suprise and I spun around, holding her like a princess in my arms. She clutched onto me, her childish laughter filling my ears like a beautiful song.

Though my little sister was a happy child, she still cried. Some things she wouldn't even tell me as her big brother. So I became Mysterion, guardian angel of my little angel. Mysterion could succeed where Kenny would fail. Mysterion was a person that she could talk to about anything and he would never be dissappointed in her like she thought her big brother would. What she didn't know was that I would never judge her, no matter what happened. She could've pulled the trigger on a hundred people, but she would still be the innocent baby mewling in her big brother's eyes.

It was the first day of Elementary school for Karen and she looked at me nervously. I leaned down and ruffled her hair. I led her down the hallway to her classroom and hugged her goodbye in the classroom. She begged me to stay with her hypnotic eyes, but I knew that I couldn't. I stood outside of the classroom and waved until I knew that I had to get to class.

"Higher, higher!" Karen shrieked, swinging on the swingset at recess. Sure, I would get made fun of by Cartman and Craig, but I know that Kyle and Stan would defend my manly honor until I recovered from my brotherly state of mind. Every time she would come flying backwards at me, I would tickle her back, earning little giggles and a soft kick to the chest. After a while, Karen spread her arms, as if she was taking off in flight. I imagined Karen as an angel, with pure white wings as she flitted across the blue sky gracefully.

When Karen would get sick, I would have to stay home with her. I didn't mind missing whatever I had previously had planned at all because my sister came first. She was above everything else in my entire life, the light of my existence. I would fix her hot Earl Grey tea and wipe her forehead with a cool rag when she had a fever. I would give up my bed so that she had a comfier place to sleep and I would pamper her as much as I could because angels shouldn't have to suffer through the flu and colds. That's for earthly people to undergo, not a perfect creation of the Lord's.

On those moments when we would have school closed because we would get more snow than usual, I would take Karen out into the yard to play. She made a snowman and called it Kenny, so I made a smaller one with a twig arm reaching out to hold Kenny the Snowman's stick hand and named it Karen. It was only fitting that the head of Kenny the Snowman fell off, so we rebuilt it together after Karen yelled, "Oh my God, we killed Kenny!"

I remember the crushed look on her face when her boyfriend dumped her for a girl with more matured body parts. She would sit in her room and cry. Even Mysterion couldn't cheer her up. But I had stood outside her window in my old ratty parka and picked up the guitar my family had saved up to buy me for my growing music obsession. I played her the lullaby that I had sang to her as a child and she walked over to the window with new tears staining her cheeks. How could that prick do this to my sister? What kind of sick bastard would break a poor girl's heart in two just because she hasn't matured yet? Karen looked out and smiled at me. I crawled into her window and sat beside her on the bed, letting her vent her grief. Things were all back to normal when Ike Broflovski heard about the break up and came to cheer her up better than I ever could have.

Here she goes, walking down the aisle of the church in a lovely ivory dress that had a transparent train trailing after her. She looked like a floating fairy, pure bliss on her face. But I couldn't do that to her if she didn't want to. She has grown to be a beautiful woman, her round, adorable face was replaced by a petite, beautiful face that would've put Snow White to shame. While we were walking down the aisle together, I think of my baby Karen, the one who would've rather kissed a frog than kiss a boy. Then it's not the church we're walking through and it's not Karen in a white wedding gown, it's Karen as a little girl, tugging on my hand as she leads me through the old meadow. I gave her away at the altar, though I wanted to just keep her to myself forever. I hadn't realized that I had tears welling up in my eyes until Karen leaned over and kissed my cheek.

£~*£~*Flashbacks over*~£*~£

I was suddenly jolted into the present once again when I saw the all too familiar sight of wavy brunette hair. The sight of her dead, adult body nearly crushed my heart. Suddenly, she wasn't an adult anymore. She was the innocent five year old that I would chase around the meadow behind our old house. Tears ran down my face and a nostalgic smile reached from ear-to-ear. I was so torn up, that I just engulfed myself in the memories and never wanted to wake up.

I will never forget the happiness, joy, comfort, and love that she made me experience. Most of all, I will never forget Karen McCormick and the memories of our life together.