A/N: Just to let you know, this chapter is going to be in multiple POV's (points of view, if you don't know the abbreviation). First is Stan's, then Kyle's, then finally Cartman's.

Butters' POV will be in the next chapter, once he actually finds out. Or maybe it will be the whole next chapter, I'm not sure yet.

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Stan's POV

"Yeah, it was him. It was Kenny."

Those words shocked me to my very soul. Kenny... dead? It was about as impossible as Rosie O'Donnell (whoever the hell she was; I just hear my dad talking about her all the time) winning the Presidency. At least that's what we thought. Until now.

And I hate to say it, but myself and Kyle have always been quite apathetic about Kenny dying. Sure, the first time or two scared the living daylights out of us, but after that, we kinda accepted it as reality that no matter how many times he died, no matter how gruesome or painful his death was, that he was going to come back. That's why it scared the hell out of us, when he died after getting that disease. We honestly thought he wasn't coming back. And we knew that our group just... wasn't going to be the same without him.

I heard a voice, dim and unrecognizable, but honestly, I didn't care what he (maybe "he" was actually a she, I couldn't tell) had said. It was only when one of the police officers that had drove us down here appeared at my side, that I, at least for the moment, brought myself back into the world of the awake.

"What'd you say?"

Sure enough, it had been that police officer that had spoken to me. "I'm very sorry for your loss, son. Would you like me to take you home?"

I looked up at him, at least a bit grateful for his generosity. But something told me that I'd better just walk home. Maybe it was because I felt I just needed some time alone... "No, thank you," I replied. "I'll just walk home. My place isn't too far from here."

The officer looked at me sorrowfully, as though he were genuinely sad that Kenny had died, and that his friends were feeling this immense pain. And I could see that in his eyes, and I had to turn away. Not because I didn't want him to feel sorry for me, but... because his caring nature reminded me so much of Kenny. He was always standing up for those who couldn't stand up for themselves, and if you ever just needed a listening ear- well, Kenny was always there for you.

I turned away and began to walk towards the exit, when I felt a hand lightly touch my shoulder. I looked to the side, and saw Kyle standing there, tears in his eyes, as well. He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out, so all he could do was nod at me. I didn't mind though, because through that simple gesture, I could see that he was feeling the same pain that I was, and that... I could count on him. Kyle walked ahead of me, and turned towards his house. I did the same, though I had to go in the opposite direction of Kyle.

Where Cartman went after that, I don't know. And at the time, I frankly didn't care. Cartman never really cared all that much about Kenny- well, I take that back. It's not really that he didn't care about him, it's more that he never really showed it. But, I'm rambling...

I found as I walked along the road that I really didn't even want to go home, for some odd reason; if I went home, my parents would notice that I was down about something, then they'd ask me what was wrong, then I'd have to tell them... and that would mean facing the fact that Kenny was dead, that he wasn't coming back. And I just wasn't ready to do that, yet. Deep down inside, I kept hoping that this was all just a crazy dream, that in a moment I would wake up in my bed, and go out to meet Stan and Cartman, and Kenny would be there with them. Or maybe, I thought, he really had died, but this time was just like every other time, and he would sporadically appear out of nowhere, parka and all.

And so, I kept walking, fearing that this wasn't a dream, that he really was gone...

Finally, my legs could go no further, even though I'd walked much longer before. I sank to my knees, the tears flowing freely.

I'd never prayed before in my life (or at least, I couldn't remember ever doing so), but this seemed like as good a time as ever to start. So, I just started talking, asking him if Kenny really was dead, and if so, was he going to come back? I couldn't tell you how long I sat there, my knees punching an ever-growing dent into the earth beneath me- maybe ten minutes, maybe an hour. I couldn't tell. All I knew, was that when I finally got up and started to walk again, I had no more answers then than when I'd begun to pray...

Finally, I made it back to my house. For about fifteen minutes, I just sat out on our front porch steps, remembering all the great times we'd had with Kenny- going to Casa Bonita with Butters and Kyle (and Cartman, who had eventually almost ruined the whole thing for us), his help in procuring The List (and his joyfulness when he found out he was pretty high up on it), and all the times we'd just been hanging out, playing football or space pirates... And somewhere amidst my memories, I found fresh tears to cry.

I heard the door open, and I tried to brush my tears from my face. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a vain task, as new ones replaced the old tears that I swept aside.

"Stan?" That was my dad. "Are you alright?"

"If only you knew..." was all I could say. I knew my parents knew Kenny and his family- they'd met them a few times before. But somehow, I knew they wouldn't care. Not like I did.

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Kyle's POV

"Yeah, it was him. It was Kenny."

I swear to you, my heart stopped beating when I heard that. The first thing out of my mouth was almost, "Alright, Cartman. Stop with the joke. Was it him or not?" But just the look on his face gave me the answer to that question. Cartman may be a jackass about a lot of things, but he really did treasure his friendship with Kenny. I mean, in terms of "best friendship", it was pretty obvious that me and Stan were best friends. And since Butters didn't officially join our group until much later... well, the only one left for Cartman to befriend was Kenny...

Even so, I was shocked that I couldn't bring myself to cry, not at first. It was as though God were laughing at me, wondering if I would ever let the tears flow, but stopping them as soon as they were about to come. And I hated it; I knew that I cared about Kenny, and that this was the biggest shock of my life to that time, but... how did it look to everyone else? I looked at Stan- tears were forming in his eyes. I looked at Cartman- he was weeping openly, crying as though he'd never stop. I looked at Butters-

Wait, what the hell? Was that really Butters? I glanced over towards the door, and sure enough, Butters was standing there, glancing in. I think he recognized that it was me, because his face flushed, and he took off in the same direction he'd just come from. I saw him walk by again a bit later, though he didn't look into the window his second time past.

My next thought was about his parents. Everyone in our group knew that Kenny's family wasn't the richest family in South Park, so... how would they take this? Would they be happy, that they had one less mouth to feed? I shuddered at that thought- could any parents be that uncaring? Sometimes, though, poverty drove you to extremes...

I shook my head, trying to clear it of that line of thought. A song came into my head, unbidden: I give it all to you, letting go of me... Nothing left to lose... It's already over now... I didn't think much of it at the time, but later, I would come to realize two things: one, that I'd never even heard of that song before it came to me. And second, that those words really described Kenny perfectly- he was always very giving and caring, though he didn't have very much to give anyways...

Again, I shook my head, more violently than before, trying to stop myself from thinking about Kenny. I felt somehow, that a walk would calm my soul, if even for a bit. As I walked towards the door, though, I saw Stan on his knees, shaking, and I knew that he was taking this far worse than I was. Stan had always been the mediator of our group, sticking up for Kenny when Cartman teased him incessantly about being poor. I knew he felt a sort of connection with Kenny, and I felt he must be taking this the hardest out of all of us, with maybe the exception of Cartman.

I diverted, and walked over to him. For a moment, I simply stood behind him, not exactly sure what to do. I mean, every other time Kenny had died, we just kinda brushed it off... Finally, I summoned my strength, and simply placed my hand on his shoulder. He looked up at me, the tears now beginning to flow more freely. And I saw something in his eyes that I'd never seen before- a certain lostness, a pleading for some sort of understanding, as to what the hell had just happened. And I couldn't give him any answers, which hurt almost as much as knowing Kenny was dead- Stan was my best friend, and here I was, not able to help him through his pain... I opened my mouth to give him some sort of encouragement, but... nothing came out. I tried again to speak, but again with the same results. So finally, I simply let my eyes communicate what I needed to say: We're all in pain, man. We all hate that Kenny's gone. And if you ever need someone to talk to... I'm here for you. His eyes flashed briefly, and I knew he understood what I'd been trying to say.

It still hurt that I couldn't say anything, though, so I simply walked away, out the door, and into the outside world. It was nearing winter, but the temperature was still pretty warm out. Nevertheless, I felt so... cold. Like my soul had flown away, and I was just left with this shell of a body. Whether all people feel like that when someone they know and- dare I say it- love has died, I don't know. But that's how I felt. And I hated it.

I turned to the right, and just began walking towards my house. I simply wanted to go there, to lock myself in my room, to never come out. Kenny was gone, and I wasn't ready to face that yet. Kenny was a "security blanket" of sorts- when you were around him, you just felt safe, like no demonic hand could touch you. Now that he was gone... I knew, no matter what happened, that I could never feel safe again.

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Cartman's POV

"Yeah, it was him. It was Kenny."

I didn't want to say those words; who would? I wanted to tell them that, "No, it wasn't him, it wasn't even someone that we knew. Kenny's still out there somewhere." And I guess, I could have told them that. But, that would have just made it worse, when they found out the truth...

I expected myself to cry; I'd just lost my best friend. What was really unexpected, though, was how much I was crying. It was as though I had a reservoir of tears in my mind, and the dam broke, and all the tears I'd built up over the years were flowing now. My knees gave out, and I fell to the ground. I expected some kind of fat-ass comment, about how my weight finally got to me- but it never came. I looked up, and I found out why- Stan and Kyle were crying, like I was.

A police officer came over to me, and placed his hand on my shoulder, but I shrugged it off. If I was going to go through this, I wanted to do it alone. Later, I would come to realize that may not have been the right thing to think. But at the time... I didn't want any more pain than I already had...

As I sat there, just... speechless, a thought came to my mind: Hey, Kenny's died before, right? So, he'll just do the same thing that he always does- somehow, we'll all be somewhere, and Kenny will be with us, even though we just saw him die a few hours earlier... And I wanted that to be true, so badly. Yes, I gave Kenny a lot of shit for being poor, but he really was my best friend. That was one of the only true things I've ever shared with him- he really was my best friend. I kept saying that to myself- he really was my best friend.

Slowly but surely, though, I realized that he hadn't really gotten a chance to find that out for himself. I was always putting him down, or making fun of him, for something. And I didn't think anything of it at the time- nothing at all. It wasn't like I didn't care, though- I wanted to stop. He was just so... accepting, I guess. He didn't let anything get to him. He'd just shrug it off, and we'd all be friends again. I never stopped to think, though, was this hurting him? Did he really care, even though it seemed to the rest of us that he would just let it go in one ear and out the other...?

I don't even know how long I sat there, my eyes closed, my face buried in my pudgy hands, but when I looked up again... everyone was gone. Stan, Kyle, the police officers... they'd all left me there. I was surprised to realize, though, that I didn't really even care that much. I just got up, and went out of the police station, headed for my house.

It wasn't long before I got to my house, but I found that I didn't want to go in at all. So, I decided to do something that I hadn't done in a very long time, maybe not ever- I decided to go see Kenny's parents. They had to find out somehow, I guess. Kenny's house wasn't very far from mine, so it didn't take me very long to get there. I knocked on the door, and waited for a second. Kenny's dad answered.

"Yeah, what do you want?" I could smell the beer on his breath, and I didn't like it at all- I'm tolerant of a lot of things, but drinking I don't like.

"Uh, hey..." I said, not knowing exactly what to say. "I'm Eric Cartman, but you can just call me-"

"I know who you are." He took another swig of beer. "You're one of Kenny's friends."

I swallowed, hating what I was about to do. I told him the news, and waited for a response.

"He'll be back," was all he said, then shut the door.

I just stood there for a second, dumbfounded. Did his dad not realize that his son had just died! Then, the realization hit me- he didn't care. I didn't know what else to do now, except to head back to my house. When I got there, I went inside, and headed back to my room. I got up there, and went over to the window to look out. I noticed something odd on the sill, so I looked down to see what it was. When I recognized it, the tears flowed again, and I jumped onto my bed, burying my face into my pillow. There, sitting on my windowsill, was a single orange thread- one that I was sure had come off of Kenny's favorite parka...

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A/N: This was the most depressing thing I've ever written... Well, hope you guys liked it. Chapter four will be up soon.

BTW, the song that "pops into" Kyle's head is "Already Over" by RED. I was listening to it while I was writing this piece, and I thought it'd be nice to put it in, seeing as the song kinda fits Kenny perfectly. So once again, RED owns that song, I do not.