She woke up in her own bed.

Elizabeth shot up into sitting position, whimpering out her sister's name.

"Hold it!" Wendy took a hold of her before she could get out of bed, easing her back down and sighing. "You're not in any shape to stand, Liz."

Elizabeth turned her head to look at Wendy wearily, "Where's Kyle?"

She pursed her lips together, "Down in the basement with Stan, showing him the journals."

The brunette stared at Wendy silently for a moment, the question on her tongue forming but never making it past her lips.

Wendy didn't seem entirely shocked about everything, watching her friend's sister evenly and smiling kindly. "It's a lot to take in, honestly, but Kyle put fourth a convincing argument." She said softly, motioning to Elizabeth's still covered hands.

She hid them under the sheets with a newfound nervousness, swallowing and looking away. "Imagine growing up knowing this shit, and having to adjust to not being able to touch anyone." She breathed out, "I need to leave." She said then.

"I know." Wendy responded, still sitting calmly. "Butters is unstable enough with his disability, and I'm fearing that the curse would just amplify it."

Elizabeth frowned, "Disability?"

"Multiple personality disorder." Wendy said factually, "His home life isn't a good one…"

The brunette groaned, holding her head in her hands.

"Is she awake?" Kyle knocked on the closed door, nudging it open to peer in and see Elizabeth doing her best not to break down. "Hey," He tried to smile.

Wendy looked over at him, finally standing. "Where's Stan?"

Kyle's smile was short lived, "He's trying to process everything, in the living room." He added quickly, taking over for Wendy while the girl decided to leave to care for her boyfriend. Kyle took Wendy's place at the chair next to the bed, watching Elizabeth quietly.

"Why aren't we looking for her right now?" Elizabeth sounded exhausted.

Kyle sighed, "You just had an episode, Liz."

"You didn't have to bring me back here!" She snapped, glaring at him. "We should still be trying to find her!"

"The police are already looking for Butters, and wherever they find him, they're going to find Alice." He sounded far too calm, as if it was forced. "You need to slow down before you kill yourself."

"I rather kill myself saving my sister than have her be killed by doing nothing!" She almost screamed, breathing heavily and breaking out into a sob. Kyle sighed again and leaned forward to hug her as she wailed, finally releasing the frustration and crying enough to dampen his sleeve.

"Alice would know what to do…" She finally said as she leaned her forehead on his chest. "She knows how to hack into servers, she would track down his phone…"

Kyle looked down at her, combing his fingers through her hair. "My brother knows how to do that."

She stilled, her head gradually lifting so their eyes met, green for green. "Is he willing to skip school?" She questioned.

Kyle tried not to laugh, the grin pulling at his cheeks. "I'll go pick him up, do you have the utilities he needs?"

Elizabeth finally smiled, "Alice's computer system."

Alice was doing her best to remain calm, given her circumstances. She lost track of how long she's been inside the room, as there were no windows or clocks, just a haphazard array of items surrounding her, a small visible camera in the corner, and a chair in the middle that she was currently tied to. The zip ties were digging into her wrists, and the more she moved her hands the more she could feel the sting of the cuts. Butters had been in and out of the room, and his condition was getting worse every time she saw him. He started engaging her in friendly conversation at the start, hoping to charm her, but he'd then leave when she would act too calm. He then came back a tad bit more erratic, addressing himself in third person and calling himself Chaos. He'd leave again, and come back to feed her, assuming his own personality again. She asked him to let her go and he started reacting badly, yelling about Kenny and leaving again only to come back as Chaos.

Keeping calm was her only defense, as all she had on her side was time. If she kept calm, he wouldn't react too badly, it was the best way to handle such a situation, even though she was nervous and afraid for her own life. She trusted Kenny, she knew he'd come back and save her. What were supernatural boyfriends for?

Butters came back in, looking worse than before. He stared at her from the doorway for a moment, his eye twitching just slightly before he mumbled and shook his head. "Why aren't you crying?" He asked then.

Alice looked past him, because looking at him was painful to her, because she didn't want to see how the curse was ruining him. The last time she looked at him one of his eyes was an unnatural green color, the marking of the curse that he was under. She couldn't place why the other eye was still blue.

"You should be crying. You should be afraid, panicked, shaking! Alice, why are you doing this to me?" He sounded pitiful, almost pained. The curse was twisting her cute little friend into something awful. "Jesus Christ, Alice, you're driving me crazy!" He laughed brokenly, shaking his head and slowly stepping closer. "Why won't you look at me?" He whined, pouting. He tried to direct her eyes to him but they kept staring past him, and after hours of it the action was angering him. Why wouldn't she look at him? She'd look at Kenny forever, but not him.

"I am afraid, Butters." Alice said softly, smiling sadly. "I'm just…."

Butters kicked something, "Why won't you look at me?" He asked again. "Put your eyes on me, Alice! I'm the only one here!"

She couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes, looking away from him. She didn't see the face he made, or how he shook and finally left again, slamming the door behind him. She thought he was gone for another hour, but he came back only seconds later. She caught the light reflecting off of something and finally glanced over just in time to see the scalpel in his hand. He wasn't at the door anymore, he was right in front of her.

"If you won't look at me then you don't get to look at anything." He said simply, and Alice's face looked terrified right before he jammed the scalpel into her right eye, eliciting painful cries as Butters diligently worked on removing the eye.

She wasn't calm anymore, she wasn't nearly calm anymore. She was in tears, she was screaming so loudly that her voice became hoarse, all she knew was that pain was now swallowing up her head, and from what she could see out of her watery left eye was Butters' manic face as he sliced up the right side.

Butters drank the screams and the tears, because they were now finally directed towards him. Him and him alone. If she couldn't see then she'd have to rely on him alone, it was a brilliant plan. He'd be her eyes, he'd be her everything!

"BUTTERS!"

The scalpel fell from his hand, clattering onto the cement floor as the familiar voice thundered through his person. He could hear someone pounding on the door repeatedly, trying to break it down. "K-Kenny?"

The pain was overwhelming Alice, but she was now crying for a different reason, because when Butters bent down to lift up the scalpel, Kenny slammed himself into the room, breathing heavily and fixing his eyes on Alice's half-bloodied face. Rage flashed in Kenny's eyes and he lunged at Butters, "I'LL KILL YOU!"

Alice screamed, almost being knocked over in the scuffle, "Kenny no!" She cried out, trying to see what was going on but it was out of her line of sight. "Kenny, he's possessed by Jealousy!" She didn't know if he could hear her, moving her wrists again and attempting to endure the pain as she tried to get out of them.

Kenny was the better fighter, throwing punches while Butters tried to play dirty, using his teeth and kicking him when Kenny was down, but Kenny ended up on top of the petite blonde, his hands around the others wrists. "Tell me what to do!" He shouted, "Alice!"

"Kindness!" Alice cried out, "Combat the Jealousy with Kindness!" She was losing blood, it was clear. Her vision was swimming. "It's the one theory that has merit, combating sins with virtues!"

Kenny grunted, keeping Butters down as the smaller tried desperately to throw him off. He didn't get a chance to test any sort of theory when the police busted into the room with their guns poised at the ready.

Alice was already unconscious.

"No! No, no, no, no, no!" Kenny let go of Butters quickly, crawling over to the chair and trying to shake Alice back into reality. "Alice!" He eyed all the blood, dripping from her face and wrists. "Oh god, no! Not now!" He tried to undo the ties but EMTs quickly shoved him aside. He didn't see the cops cuffing Butters or hear his voice, because the technicians were already spreading Alice out over the floor after undoing her restraints.

"She's going into shock." One of them said, paying Kenny no mind as they started CPR on her. One of the cops took a hold of Kenny's shoulder to keep him from lunging over there, because he was doing his damnedest to stay still. Everything else seemed to stop around him, time itself was standing still the longer he watched them pump her chest. He let out a choked sob when one of them called for a defibrillator, her heart apparently having stopped.

"Alice!" His voice sounded miles away, and suddenly he realized that he was fighting against the man holding him back, screaming her name over again as they shocked her system. He knew what death looked like, he knew everything about it. He never thought he'd have to see it happen to someone else, someone that wasn't himself. Because to others, it was a one-time deal. It was the end of the line.

They stopped, they stopped and Kenny was ripping himself from the cop and taking over, pounding on her chest with what he knew about CPR, having taken the class just for Karen's sake. He didn't see the EMTs shake their heads, because God owed him so many fucking favors and he better fucking ante up or Kenny was going to war on Heaven himself.

Either he was dreaming, or God actually heard him, because in that minute between life and death, a surge of hope shocked through him, he could feel it. It was faint, but it was there. "It's beating." He called out to the technicians, "IT'S BEATING!" He shouted it as loud as he could, only releasing her when they returned to finish the job. He really didn't notice anything else, the hurried moment where he was ushered into the ambulance, the ride where her vitals were growing stronger. He held her hand as much as he could, because she needed to know that he was there. That he managed to screw over death so many times that he knew that for one single minute, she had met the same result, only to come back to him.

He needed to stay with her, even after her gurney was wheeled into the emergency room. He did his best to keep himself as close to her as possible, out of the way of those that worked on her, whether it was in the waiting room or the hallway, finally settling himself in the room she was placed inside. She was finally stable, laying unconscious on the bed with bandages around her wrists and a gauze pad where her right eye should be. He kept his hand closed on hers, not really giving a shit about if he was going to be cursed again.

Richard was her first visitor, as he was working in the Children's ward. He looked dreadfully tired, frowning at the sight and moving to check her chart. "Word is that this crazy teenager did the impossible, bringing a girl back to life after her heart stopped." He said simply, running his eyes over the chart and finally looking over at Kenny. "You found her."

Kenny nodded, lacing his fingers through hers. "Had to."

Richard nodded, sitting against the edge of the bed. "You know, I only had two good theories on beating that curse. One would be the seven virtues." He looked up at the ceiling then, "The other one was…" He lingered there, not really happy on what he was going to say. "Death would end the curse itself, as it was said to die when the bloodline meets its end." He looked at Kenny again, pointedly this time.

Kenny looked back at him, giving him a smile. "Death ends a lot of things, no matter how short it is."

Richard nodded, "I have a good feeling you know a good deal about that." He smiled when Kenny stared at him in shock. "Son, no one else seems to remember that your body was found twenty-four hours ago."

Kenny couldn't think of anything to say to that, looking stunned. Richard chuckled and patted his shoulder reassuringly. "I'm happy my daughter met you." He said finally.

Richard stepped out before Kenny could respond, passing by his other daughter, who was gaping like a fish at the sight of Kenny sitting next to her sister. Elizabeth wondered if she was having a stroke, stepping inside slowly and touching Kenny's shoulder.

"You're real." She said softly, eyes wide.

Kenny seemed to grin at that, "Surprise." Three people in one day, the shock alone was going to kill him. "It happens." He said eventually, winking at her when Kyle appeared at the door.

"Hey dude," Kyle said it to Kenny as if the guy hadn't been found dead just the other day, his gaze leaving Kenny to see their joined hands. He ignored that briefly to hug Elizabeth, "I told you Ike could find her." He said in a whisper.

Elizabeth pursed her lips together, following Kyle's glances towards Kenny and Alice's hands. "Should you be touching her?"

Kenny looked down, but refused to separate their hands. "I have a feeling it's gone." He said then.

Kyle looked at Elizabeth and then at Kenny, "The curse?"

"She died." Kenny explained, "I think it broke the curse."

Elizabeth stared at her sister, her eyes welling up with tears. "She-died?"

"Only for a minute." Richard's voice was back, in his hands were two cups of coffee. He stepped into the room and handed one of them to Kenny. "That's what the medics said, she died, and then Kenneth here launched himself at her and brought her back." He patted Kenny's shoulder then. "This is one of my theories, one of the good ones." He looked back at his daughter, who was holding Kyle like she was about to pass out. "That woman who killed your mother, the rage didn't end her life, it was the grief over what she did. The curse ended when your mother died."

Elizabeth felt light headed, looking at Kyle. The redhead only shook his head and kept her upright, "I'm not killing you." He said gently.

Richard watched them, quirking a brow. "Kyle, son, could you be cursed as well?"

Elizabeth glanced down at her feet, "Purely accidental, dad."

He didn't look too happy, frowning tiredly. "I want you both to go back home. Your sister's alive and well."

Elizabeth whined, "Dad-"

"Kyle is a danger inside this hospital and I won't have anyone else hurt. I'm not putting anyone else at risk!" He said sternly, pointing at the door. "Exercise your virtues."

Kyle looked back at Alice and Kenny, trying to imagine Elizabeth in the same state and feeling queasy. He nodded at her father's demand and took Elizabeth's hand, leading her back out.

"I think I might have rage." He said when they were in the parking lot. Elizabeth looked over at him, the key almost dropping from her hands.

"What?"

"Rage." Kyle repeated, "I mean, Butters… he was jealous of Alice and Kenny, so he got Jealousy. I'm pretty much a hothead, so of course I'd get rage." He was so logical about it.

"That's not-"

"You and I both know that the others don't fit." He interrupted her.

"Lust?" She offered painfully.

He rolled his eyes at the suggestion, "I haven't trying to get into your pants, Liz. Save Lust for Kenny." He waited a moment before speaking, "Don't even think of saying Greed, either."

It was Elizabeth's turn to roll her eyes, "Do I look like Cartman?"

He managed to chuckle at that, getting into the car when she finally unlocked it.

The ride home was quiet and tense, because Elizabeth didn't want to play 'guess the sin' with Kyle anymore. His theory was weird, but then so was her father's theories on how to fix it. Combating sins with virtues sounded like a last ditch effort, and there was no evidence to prove that it would work. She didn't want to think about how she could be rid of the curse for good, because she didn't really want to chance death.

Eventually Kyle spoke up, "Do you want to go to Homecoming with me?"

Elizabeth shoved her foot on the brake, almost colliding with another driver. "Kyle!"

"What?" He cried out.

Elizabeth heard someone honking their horn and rolled down the window to flip them off. "What do you mean 'what'? You just asked me such an asinine question during this-"

"I'm attempting to be optimistic, Liz." He griped. "Allow me to ask stupid questions about the future despite this lingering curse over my head."

She made a frustrated grunt and started driving again, "I'm not answering that." She said loudly.

Kyle groaned in frustration, "Liz, Jesus Christ, it's just a question."

"Asking me to Homecoming is not 'just a question'." She argued, "It's a loaded question that implies so much more-"

"Well excuse me for trying to lighten the mood!" Kyle was close to shouting now. "Can you actually believe that I'm doing my best not to freak out? I think I've been doing quite good so far."

She shrugged, pulling up to the driveway. "You're acting out in different ways, Kyle."

He quickly got out of the car, "Don't play psychiatrist with me, I really don't want to be analyzed by someone who's clearly disassociating herself to deal with the situation."

Elizabeth snorted in a sarcastic amusement, "Excuse me? I'm going over this whole situation with a cool head and doing my best to handle your breakdowns. Throwing out these romantic suggestions is a clear sign that you're-"

Kyle groaned, "Says the woman who passed the fuck out in the school parking lot!" He was shouting now, and Elizabeth did her best to quickly unlock the front door. "There is NOTHING wrong with thinking about the future, Liz." He continued, following her inside the house. "Thinking ahead is the only thing that's keeping me from a dramatic mental breakdown over what's happening in the here and now, because if I think about stupid things like Homecoming or dating or anything else harmless, then I'm not going to end up a puddle of anxiety on the damn floor!"

"I can't deal with this, not now." Elizabeth groaned, making her way down to the basement. She should have known that Kyle would follow her, shutting the door behind him.

"I think you should stop trying to psychoanalyze me and think about why you're refusing to talk about us." His voice was still loud, giving away his annoyance.

"There is no US, Kyle!" She began to yell now, matching his volume. "Pretending that there's anything between us is just a way to distract yourself from your real problem!"

"Could you think that possibly that you're the one in denial? Why does it always have to be me that's making shit up?" He countered, "Liz, you refuse to even listen to me. We're in this whole thing together, if you're not aware about it. You're avoiding me with your reasoning like you've been avoiding me at school!" He couldn't pinpoint why he was starting to get so angry about all of this, but it felt natural. He was rightly frustrated, in his opinion.

Elizabeth wanted to pull her hair, or hit him, or just leave Kyle and lock the door so he could continue screaming without her there. "Next thing I know you're going to start asking me to fucking prom, something one fucking year away from now-"

"Will you STOP?" He smacked his hand against the wall, "What the ever loving fuck is so wrong with me asking you to a godforsaken dance? Are you that emotionally retarded to even think that we could actually be a good couple?"

She didn't really understand why this was such a hot topic, something he seemed to be obsessing with… Well, shit. Elizabeth stepped away from him then, holding up her hands in a show of surrender. "Kyle, calm down…"

"Don't fucking TELL me to CALM DOWN!" He shouted again, realizing what he just did right then and gasping, his hands flying to his mouth. "Shit-"

Elizabeth continued stepping back from him, her eyes darting to an alcove in the basement that was draped over with a tapestry. "Kyle, good, you're aware of yourself. Keep being aware. This is all Wrath you're dealing with. You were right, Kyle."

He stepped forward, frowning. "Liz, why are you distancing yourself?"

"You very well know why, Kyle." She said it as calmly as possible, keeping her hands visible. "Wrath is dangerous, and you have to listen to me, okay?" She stopped at the draped area, one hand reaching back and looking for something.

"Liz, stop." He tried again, "I'm not going to hurt you!" He believed himself, but he was so angry about having to say it.

Elizabeth shook her head, smiling sadly. "Remember what my father said, Kyle. Practice your virtues-"

"I'm NOT GOING TO HURT YOU!" He was horribly frustrated, stepping closer and doing his best not to lash out. He was still aware of how scary he was sounding, grimacing after the fact and shaking his head. "S-sorry, I'm so sorry!"

"I know you are, Kyle." She fumbled with a handle quickly, finally getting what seemed to be a chain-link gate open and quickly ducking behind it, getting it closed quickly just as Kyle ran up to it. Around the gate was a lock, one with a key still inside and she had to be quick about chaining the door to the wall and locking it before Kyle could open the door again.

He really didn't know why he was so mad about her locking herself away, offended that she thought he was a threat. She wasn't acting right at all, this wasn't fair to him. He wasn't at fault! "Liz-"

"I'm not getting out, Kyle." She backed up to the wall, pressing herself against the cool bricks.

"LIZ!" He slammed his hand against the gate, reeling back when he realized how badly he was reacting. It seemed to break down what little hold he had, and again he shook his head, feeling disgusted with himself. "Oh god, no. No, no, no."

Elizabeth tried to breath evenly, forcing herself to remain calm. At least he wasn't completely possessed by it, she had to keep that hope. "Kyle, you're okay. You need to listen to me, alright? You're still yourself, and that's a good thing."

"Liz, I'm scared. I feel like I'm going to explode!" He grabbed the chain link, looking worried. "Liz-"

She finally pushed herself from the wall, cautiously stepping towards the gate. "Kyle, that's good. It's good to be scared, okay? I'm scared too. You need to get through this. Just remember, you need Patience!" She cautiously touched his hand, because she believed in Kyle.

It was a horrible feeling, how the emotions were raging through his body. He was dealing with a quick influx of anger that frightened him to the core, and he did his best to listen to Elizabeth's calming words. She continued talking to him, her voice grounding him because nothing else could. He eventually slumped against the gate, whining pitifully and doing his best to contain himself. Patience, right? He wasn't Catholic, he didn't know at all about these sins or virtues, but then neither was Elizabeth and she apparently studied them inside and out. He eventually laughed, bitterly, because of course a Jewish person would get cursed with Catholic sins.

But Elizabeth's mother wasn't Jewish, was she? She belonged to a cult at one time, and only converted when she met Richard. Christ, he knew so much about Elizabeth's past, but here she was refusing to let him further into her own life. He felt angry at that, he knew so much about her but she refused to even give him a chance. Something about this whole picture was wrong, very wrong.

No, that was the Wrath talking. No, he couldn't let it get to him. Her hand was on his. She believed in him, didn't she? She might have locked herself away but that was to protect herself, and yet she still was close to him. Right. He needed to get past this. Because if he got past this then it proved that he was strong enough to fight through the worst and it would prove to her that there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

Elizabeth let out a sigh, leaning against the gate and watching Kyle's face. It was clear that he was trying to fight himself, and she hoped that he was winning. He would grip the gate when a flash of anger passed through his eyes, and she could clearly see the color change. They weren't red, still a bright green, but often the red would take over only to go back to their original color. She didn't know how long this was going to take, how long he needed to contain himself, but she hoped to Jehovah that her father's theory was right.

"If it helps any…" Elizabeth broke the silence, speaking just above a whisper. "I'll think about going with you." She paused then, looking away from him. "To Homecoming, I mean."

The smallest gesture of faith, it sounded so simple, but it held so much weight behind it. Kyle laughed, a small hysterical laugh that eased away into nothing. He thought he was hearing things, actually, but when he looked at Elizabeth she was forcefully not meeting his eyes. He shook his head and continued the silence, reminding himself to practice patience.

It was so quiet, after hours of sitting on the cold concrete floor, both of them not saying anything. Elizabeth finally looked back at Kyle's eyes, holding them for about two minutes and noting that they never lost their green brilliance. Her breath caught in her throat, the sound interrupting his thoughts as he looked at her.

Kyle watched the smile that formed on her face, one that looked reassuring and hopeful. He didn't want her to let go of his hand, but she had to, standing quietly and fumbling with the key to remove the lock. He pushed himself off of the gate and watched her unwrap the chain, the heavy metal falling to the floor in a heap.

"Is it over?" He asked, his eyes wide. "Did I-"

Elizabeth managed a laugh, not getting the gate open fast enough before she lunged herself into his arms and giving him a tight hug. He broke into a laugh that matched hers, returning the hug.

"You…you fought it." She breathed, "I didn't think…I never-Dad was fucking right." She broke away from him to make her way to the computer, waking it up to check the time. "We've been down here for four hours." She said then.

Kyle couldn't help another laugh that bubbled up from his gut, putting his hands on her shoulders and smiling. "I beat it, I-oh Christ, I felt so fucking strange…" He sighed.

Elizabeth smiled again, "I think what worked was that you kept yourself aware." She looked up at him, "You managed to fight it by not letting it take over."

Kyle felt a sense of pride at the fact that he was strong enough to overthrow it, beaming down at her. "We should get back to Hell's Pass." He said then, "Alice might be awake by now."

Elizabeth nodded, getting up and leading them both out of the basement. The sun had set already, and it was black outside. "I hope Stan came up with a good excuse…" She said eventually.

Kyle grinned at that, "I need to call him. He'll fucking flip." He hurried into the kitchen to do just that, pulling out his phone and seeing the notifications stack on top of each other. Fifteen missed calls from Mom, ten texts from Stan. Oh shit he was in so much trouble… He called Stan first, because after beating something that could have potentially killed him his super best friend was the first he needed to contact.

Elizabeth went upstairs to find her own phone, sitting down on the bed and taking it from the nightstand. Three missed calls from Dad, and a couple of unknown numbers that she guessed it was Kenny's phone and Wendy's. She set the phone down and sighed, looking at her covered hands for a moment. Alice's curse was gone, completely, and she could continue to live normally. Kenny saved her life, and apparently he had the ability to die and come back. She had tons of questions piling up in her head with little to no answers for. She hoped that this little catastrophe was over, and vaguely thought about next month, which was October.

Fucking Homecoming.