Kenny walked alone at six to Tweak's Bros. Coffehouse to meet his friends, his hands stuffed into the pocket of his parka and head down in thought. He wondered why Fable had lied but knew without much to go on that it was probably something trivial. Still, he couldn't shake it, even as he entered the well-lit coffeshop and was waved over by his friends to a curved booth in the back. He gave them a lazy half-smirk and slid in next to Kyle. He sat in silence as the group chatted about something or another and Clyde came over to take their coffee orders, Kenny's on the house as per usual.
"Yeah, that new girl said she came from Indiana." He heard Stan say to Wendy and his attention was once again back to the group.
Cartman grinned at him from around Kyle, " 'ey, Keeny, didya know that ginger was part of the Cult?"
"What?" Kenny managed after a moment of trying to relax his instantly stiff posture. The Cult?
"Yeah, told Kyle and me during first period!"
"He's exaggerating, Kenny." Kyle said, much to Cartman's annoyance. "Her mother was in the Cult but died, which was why she moved with her father."
Kenny relaxed slightly and nodded, sipping his coffee. The conversation moved on to their opinions of her but Kenny knew he would have to check her out now. She may be a threat.
"I think she's pretty cool. Knew Latin, who knows Latin anymore?" Wendy mused enthusiastically.
Stan gave a weak chuckle at his girlfriend's intellectual side and said, "We should invite her to hang out with us some more. " The group murmured in agreement aside from Cartman, who mumbled something along the lines of, "...infecting us...ginger whore…."
Kenny chose to ignore that and held back the glare he had for his friend while the topic moved from Fable to Token's upcoming Halloween party. He zoned out was more until it was only him left and he wandered home, stopping outside Fable's house. One light in the eery place was on, shining through a window above the porch, and Kenny saw a small figure's shadow fall over it before moving away. With that in mind, he returned home and ducked into his room, avoiding the heated, drunken fight between his dad and mom in the kitchen. After checking that Karen was asleep-used to the loud yelling-, he shut the door behind him and brought out a suitcase in the bottom of his closet.
Fable yawned, tired from a day's work of doing chores her step-mother should be doing, and sat down on her iron day bed, looking around at her royal purple room. She slipped out of her outfit and into a dark, over-sized t-shirt before once more flopping on her neatly made bed, now staring at her ceiling. She knew she had work to do but didn't want to do it and soon her eyes drifted shut, only to be startled awake by the sliding open of her window. With alert eyes, she sat up and noted a rather tall and muscular figure slip through and into the light of her table lamp. The person was dressed in the oddest attire, lavender body suit with a dark purple speedo that matched the cape draped over his shoulders, wrapped around his neck, and covering his head, keeping his masked face in the shadows. There was a bright green M on his chest as well as a green question mark bobbing from a spring on his head, causing Fable to laugh despite her initial danger.
"Do I amuse you?" The person asked, voice deep and gravelly, making Fable shiver slightly though she kept her smile as she stood.
"Yes, yes you do. How may I help you- wow, never thought I'd be kind to some creep breaking and entering in costume. Who are you?" Fable asked.
"Mysterion. "
"Ah...Nope, doesn't ring a bell. Is there something you need?" She asked, oddly pleasant.
Mysterion smirked though it was barely visible, Fable still caught it. "Yes, answers. What is your involvement in the Cult?"
The reaction was instantaneous. She stiffened and glared, her words a hiss, "And who is asking?"
He held his hands up, knowing he would have to tread carefully to get information out of her. Or maybe he just didn't want to scare her. "Someone who protects this town."
She seemed to relax a bit at that but was still peeved. "I have none aside I want to crush it."
"Why?"
"It's their fault my mother died. Some stupid sacrifice she was forced into."
Mysterion opened his mouth to ask her another question when they heard another voice. "Fable, are you up? It's a school night, you need to be asleep!"
"Sorry, father, I lost track of time! Crawling into bed now!" Fable called but Mysterion noted her eyes widen a bit, something that triggered a warning bell in his head before she pushed him towards her window. "Look, we can't talk here, go before you get me in trouble."
He crawled out of her window without objection, knowing that look in her eyes and bit back the anger he felt rise. There was nothing he could do without proof of his assumptions and was forced to make his nightly rounds with none of his questions answered.
Fable sighed in relief when he left and crawled back into bed, reaching over and turning out the light until she merely laid there in darkness while the silence in the house nearly suffocated her. She felt her throat close up a bit and tears prick her eyes but she closed them before they could fall. No, she would not cry tonight. So Fable fell into a rough, gritty sleep filled with nightmares of an older woman looking similar to Fable lying in a pool of blood surrounded by black candles. Chanting filled her head until it crescendo-ed into a scream that made her jump in her bed, her chest heaving with the breaths she struggled to take.
Her heart hammered in her chest and she wiped at her eyes, her hands shaking. She looked around and found her alarm clock, it's glaring red numbers reading: 6:30. Though she still felt the uncomfortable adrenaline clinging to her like wet wool, Fable forced herself out of bed and dug through her closet until she found a dark green sweater dress and white knit leggings. She pulled on a pair of winter boots with white fur trim before heading across the hall to the bathroom, brushing her teeth and brushing through her hair until its curls rested nicely down her back then gathered her school things in her room before dashing downstairs, wincing when she heard a "Fable!" from the kitchen.
She walked in with her well-practiced fake smiled to see her father, a short balding thing of a man, and step-mother, an average blonde middle aged woman, sitting at the kitchen table. "Yes, father?"
"Heading off to school without a goodbye?" His voice was rough and threatening even though his gaze never looked up from the morning newspaper.
"Sorry, sir. I was running late and it skipped my mind. " The lie tumbled out easily, expertly.
He looked up, his brown eyes as cold as the coffee in his mug. "Be more careful with your time, Fable. " She nodded before he went back to reading. "You are dismissed, have a good day at school."
Fable averted her eyes and quickly hurried out of the house, wondering why he seemed to be in such a good mood this morning until she bumped head first into something solid and warm hands steadied her. "Woah, there, Fable. Everything okay?"
She looked up to see the rather tired looking face of Kenny, his thin lips tugged into a worried half-smile despite the dark circles under his eyes, which was a nice shade of blue, she noted. "Oh, yeah, why?"
"No reason, you just looked worried." He said quietly. "So, ready to go to school?"
She nodded and they walked silently towards the school building until her curiosity burned her thoughts too much and she asked, "Kenny, who's Mysterion?"
He raised his eyebrows at her, "Mysterion? He's the local superhero, a lot of people in town respect him….Why?"
"He broke into my room last night. " her voice was quiet and she gazed around the town as if it was no big deal.
But to Kenny, it was. He looked at her in a sort of lazy shock. "Really? Why? What did he want?"
Fable's delicate shoulders shrugged, "Asking about my mom...She died in the Cult."
He nearly tripped over his feet as he glanced at her in wonder, noting the way her eyes were now downcast and her voice small. Kenny hadn't expected her to tell him. Sure, she told Cartman and Kyle but that was probably because he had riled her up, but now she told him, someone she met yesterday, about this, which obviously affected her more than he let on. He suddenly wanted to tell her about his own experience but didn't and instead slipped his hand through hers and squeezed gently.
She looked up at him, her eyes softening as Kenny spoke with a lopsided smile. "It's okay. I'm sure he's just checking up on things, it's his job."
For some reason, that made Fable feel a bit better. Or maybe it was his warm hand still holding hers. The thought caused her to blush and Kenny chuckled a bit, letting go of her hand and opening the door for her. They walked into the school, which was rather deserted since they were early today, and then into the cafeteria, claiming the table she recalled from yesterday. Kenny sat across from her and she smiled at him. "So, how was coffee? I'm sorry I couldn't make it."
"Dull. " Kenny said honestly. "But you can make it up to me by coming to a Halloween party this Friday."
"I don't think-"
"Come on, please?" His bottom lip jutted out and he pouted.
He kept it up even as Stan, Kyle, and Cartman walked up, looking at the pair oddly before Fable burst into a fit of giggles, reaching over the table to shove Kenny's shoulder. "Okay, okay, I'll go, just stop looking at me like that!"
Kenny grinned instantly and turned that wide smile to his friends as they sat down, Kyle next to Fable and Stan and Cartman next to him. Cartman shot Kenny a glare, "Date with the ginger? We all know why you're interested in her."
"And what do you mean by that?" Kenny's smile morphed into a glare and his jaw clenched. Fable looked confused as she watched the exchange.
"Well, you have you- the playboy of the school- and her- the slut." Cartman said smugly, as if that was the wittiest thing he's ever said.
