Disclaimer - Don't own south park or any of the characters, just bored and wanted to write something fun.

Authors note – I'm back! Sorry about the last chapter being half the length of my others and then taking so long to get onto chapter 20, I will try to update more often I promise! Reviews and angry venting noises always help.

Chapter 20

At Wendy's house...

"Mistress open up, please!" She could hear them call from inside her large room. She didn't want to talk to her servants right now.

"Go away, I don't want to see anyone right now!" She said turning and shouting towards the door. There was a moment of silence and she heard soft footsteps walking away. She wasn't sure what upset her more, that they had tried to come in or that they'd listened to her when she told them to go away. They were her parents only out in public. In private and in the presence of other hunters they were her servants and attendants, the chosen of a god. Their child had been the locus of the mass of magic that had become Wendy. They had ceased to be her parents the moment she'd been born. When she had been identified as a newly born god her parents had taken up the task of caring for an protecting the new god to ensure it grew to be a benevolent being. She had learned to speak within weeks of being born, though her body didn't physically catch up with her mind to the point that she could until months later.

"Wendy...dinner will be ready in a few minutes." Came her mother's voice from the other side of the door.

"Alright, Cassandra" She said. Even though it hurt that she never got to call them mom and dead, she knew these people weren't her birth parents, her mother was sterile and her father had been present at the death of her real parents. They were hunters too apparently and the birth of a god apparently attracts shells and revenants and weakens the barrier with the Nightlands. They had fallen trying to protect her and only her father and Stan's dad had survived the encounter. Her father had volunteered to take care of her, though she couldn't figure out why even when she had been able to look into someone's soul. She moved to the door a blank expression on her face. She didn't feel like thinking, and for once she didn't have to. She ate dinner with her parents in silence, and decided maybe it wasn't so bad to not know what they were thinking. At least this way she could pretend they were her parents.

The next day at Stan's house...

"Are you sure you guys want to go home? What if Cartman attacks you guys there?" Kyle asked helping put Butters into his wheelchair. Kenny just shrugged.

"What if he attacks us here? I'm not sure it would make much of a difference." Kyle could see that Kenny was still beating himself up over Butters injuries though the small blond seemed cheerful as ever.

"Besides you and Stan have to spend time training right? We know you've been putting off your training to keep an eye on us since we're in worse condition." Butters said observant as ever. Kyle wasn't sure if that was Stan's reason for not training lately, but Kyle certainly had been concerned about leaving Kenny and Butters alone in case their new enemy showed up while they were gone.

"Cartman said he'd give us three months." Stan said walking down the steps wearing work out clothes and his sword strung on his back. "And we have to make the most of it." Kyle smiled maybe their play fighting the day before had really snapped Stan out of it.

"So we're going to go train now?" Kyle asked, for once excited about physical activity. Stan nodded at him but then grimaced.

"But I can't go easy on you anymore Kyle...today we start your conditioning." Kenny and Butters both let out oohs. Kyle looked at the two blonds who gave him pitying looks.

"What are those looks for! I'm not in...that bad...shape..." He said feeling his slightly pudgy stomach. He had to admit he was the least athletic and coordinated of the group. His small basketball fad in elementary school hadn't lasted to middle school and he had always been a book worm. "Well maybe I could use some work..."

"We're going to work on your basic stamina and strength for now." Stan knew that making Kyle stronger was going to be the key to the coming fight. He was sure Kyle would be leagues better at magic in just a few months and if he could do the same for his physical strength he could be a more rounded hunter. Stan could only get so strong since he could only rely on physical prowess but even he could improve a little bit. And he had a feeling Kenny would be doing some training of his own after what happened to Butters, he'd be itching for payback. That was the real reason they were leaving.

"We'll see you guys later then!" Butters yelled as Kenny pushed him down the sidewalk towards their house.

"We better get moving too." Stan said turning towards Kyle as he shut the door.

"I'll get changed and be ready in ten minutes!" Kyle said flying up the steps, or he would have if he hadn't slipped on the third step up. He couldn't help but think Stan's plan of toughening him up were going to be pointless.

"You and Kyle heading over to Jimbo's?" Randy asked Stan as he walked out of the Kitchen sipping on a coffee instead of beer for once. "I told him to prepare the weight room like you asked."

"Thanks, we've got a long way to go but Kyle can do it. I'm sure he'll be able to beat that son of a bitch next time." Stan said and was surprised by how confident he actually was.

"So you're finally OK with leaving some things to him now huh?" His father asked as he sank down into his chair. "Trust me that is a difficult thing to do, I've had to do that three times now, first with your mother and then your sister and finally you. It wasn't easy accepting that my children could handle things that I couldn't." Stan turned to look at his father surprised. He wasn't generally sappy like this.

"Are you OK Dad?" Stan asked walking over to his dad and trying to smell for alcohol. He didn't smell anything but the coffee.

"I'm fine, just feeling a little melancholy." his father said shooing him away and turning on the TV. Kyle came bounding down the steps then so fast he almost fell forward and rolled the last third of the steps. Stan couldn't help but feel they had a lot of work to do.

With Kenny and Butters...

Their walk had been quiet and peaceful. It was bright and cold today, their might be some flurries later that day but the skies were clear for the moment. Butters had his eyes closed and leaned back into his wheelchair. Kenny was deep in thought for most of the walk. It wasn't until they had almost reached their home that he finally spoke up. "Butters, I don't want you to come with us when we go to fight Cartman..." The small blond's eyes shot open and he leaned his head back so he was looking up at Kenny.

"I know you don't, but I'm going regardless." Butters said smiling. "Just as I'm sure you'd go if I told you not to, Stan and Kyle are our friends we can't leave this all to them." Kenny wasn't happy with Butters answer, mostly because he was right. Kenny's first priority was Butters but he couldn't abandon his friends for anything and he knew Butters would never ask him to.

"Alright then, guess that's settled..." Butters smiled and closed his eyes again still facing up towards Kenny. Kenny bent down and kissed him on the forehead.

"Do you remember when we use to play superheroes?" Butters asked him suddenly. Kenny looked at him and nodded. He remembered his days as Mysterion fondly. "I was just thinking about how we used to play fight and you always let me get away. You were looking out for me even back then weren't you? You never fought me as hard as you did the other boys, and when I ran off to Hawaii you were the one who followed me."

"What are you getting at Butters?" Kenny asked finding it strange his boyfriend was being so wistful.

"I just...I know how worried you get about me. But in this fight you won't be able to afford to worry about me." Butters had a serious look on his face now. "Promise me you won't try to protect me if things go badly." Kenny stopped them both then. Looking down at his boyfriends face.

"Butters what you are asking me to do is abandon the most important thing in the world to me." Kenny said angrily at Butters.

"No, I'm asking you to protect the most important thing in the world to me." Butters said smiling as he reached up to put a hand on Kenny's cheek. "If you die protecting me do you think I could really go on living after that?"

"And you think I could?" Butters seemed surprised at Kenny's question. But he just laughed.

"Then I guess we both better not die! We'll survive for each other then?" Kenny smiled down at Butters and hoped that it would be that easy.

Somewhere in the woods...

"And you expect me hold up this little agreement of yours?" The young warlock asked with a sneer from his throne. His unruly minion merely gave a hateful smile back.

"Think how much more meaningful it will be to crush them even when they know you are coming, even when they are prepared to know there is nothing they could have done to defeat you. How much sweeter will victory be over their bodies then?" Cartman cooed, he knew he had convinced his jailor though he'd been speaking to himself more than the other boy.

"Hmm well I suppose if nothing else you have a mind for revenge...and the fact that you were able to take them single-handed proves we have nothing to worry about" The boy floated up from his throne to land on his feet and strode forward to the clearing where some of his minions were gathered. "Fine then I agree to these terms, they have until Christmas eve and they will die before Christmas day. Now...what should I do to keep myself occupied...?" The boy said with an evil smile putting one finger to his lips. His minions began to run in all directions knowing what was happening now. Another purge, their master would slaughter as many as he could catch until he was satisfied and any who survived would be corralled back to the clearing for his next bout of boredom. The boy brought his hand down in an ark to his side a wisp of shadow trailing from his fingers.. The three closest shells split in half as though cut by a sword. Cartman stood in the shadow of the trees and watched with hateful eyes as his jailor slaughtered the other shells. He couldn't say he particularly cared for any of them, not that he was even capable of caring. But he could empathize with them, if he was capable of even that, being forced against their will to serve as disposable pawns, little better than garbage. He swore he would make his the warlock feel the same torment he had inflicted on Cartman and the other shells and revenants.

The next day at Wendy's...

Her guardians were fawning over here again. Her mother brushed her hair and her father asked her if their was anything he could do to make her more comfortable. Wendy hated every second of it. She didn't know if she wanted to them to leave or to stay but she wanted them to stop. "ENOUGH!" she yelled at both of them. They jumped back afraid but unlike before, her emotions had no effect on the environment around her.

"Mistress we..." She cut off her father with a glare and stopped up to her bedroom. She stripped off all her clothing and jumped into bed. She'd found since becoming human that she enjoyed physical sensations far more than before, she guessed her body was probably being overwhelmed by all the information before.

"Don't wake me for dinner! I'll get it myself when I'm hungry!" she yelled at her door. She felt a sad smile on her face. That was probably the closest she'd ever get to having parents was a fight with her guardians over dinner.

At Jimbo's training ground...

Kyle could barely feel his arms. He was sure he'd done more pushups in the past two days than he had in his entire life before. And it was only noon of the second day of training. "Come on Kyle, breaks over time for a run." Stan said hands on his hips. He hadn't shown Kyle even the slightest bit of mercy. He gave no praise for any minor success Kyle had. He was all business. Normally Stan was overly protective of Kyle but now he was harsh and a bit rough. Kyle kind of liked it.

"Right right...when are we getting back to the martial arts training?" He felt like that might be slightly less brutal. Stan thought about it for a second.

"After we do our next set of pushups which is after our next set of crunches which is after this three mile run." He said as he began trotting off down the trail that led off the back of Jimbo's property. Kyle almost wished he hadn't asked. Stan felt bad for being so hard on Kyle but he was a strict believer that the more you sweat in training the less you bleed in battle. He was going to make sure Kyle was ready.

Back at Stan's house...

Sharon came back in from the back porch and set her phone on the counter. "Who were you talking to?" Randy asked his wife as he finished his sandwich. She looked hesitant for a second.

"Oh it was just Butters, he was being a dear and checking up on me, apparently his injuries are getting better too now that he can use some of his magic." She said turning away from her husband. She hated lying to him and had never been very good at it, but he just grunted and got a beer out of the fridge. She couldn't tell him who she had really been on the phone with, she didn't want to start a fight.

"Dad left this morning, some of his old hunting buddies came and picked him up. He said he was going to go to Denver HQ. Inquire about any surviving warlocks." She turned around then, it had been quieter in the house without their angry elder rolling around yelling about how things were in his day.

"You don't think he'll find anything. Do you?" She asked knowing the answer already. Randy and his father were like fire and water. Where Randy had been a weak but brilliant hunter his father had been an unstoppable fighter in his day.

"Dad has never had the brains for investigative work. He would always punch first and ask questions never. But this warlock business has him really worked up. I've never seen him like this..." Randy said frowning. His father had never been afraid of anything, there was a rumor in the hunting world that death couldn't touch his father. But whatever he'd encountered fighting them decades before had him worried enough to get active again.

"Lets hope there's nothing for him to find, I'd like to think Cartman's master is just playing at being this dangerous mage." Sharon said feeling very tired all the sudden.

"You don't believe that do you?" Randy said looking at his wife over the end of his beer. She shook her head but still he hoped the same thing.

At Kenny and Butters house...

Kenny was in the basement practicing rapidly firing both his guns and then reloading them at the same time without letting either gun go. He was using special training pistols he'd had Jimbo make a while back, they were the size and weight of the real thing but they only fired small paint rounds, so he could fire them inside without putting Butters in danger. He was practicing not only his aim but his speed at reloading. He had to fire more bullets more accurately. Up until now he had been a pretty terrible shot. But that was because he never practiced, he wasn't a hunter and cared very little about fighting. But now his friends needed him to care. And he wasn't going to let them down. "One more time..." He said as reloaded and began firing rapidly hitting all over the place. He hadn't improved much in the past few days. "Shit..." Then he realized there was one gun expert he could call for help. He grabbed his cell phone and dialed Stan's house number.

Wendy's house the next day...

Wendy wouldn't let her mother touch her hair and she was sure she had some serious bed head. She just made herself a bowl of cereal when she got up and ate it silently.

"...I could have made you something better to eat than that..." Her mother said quietly. She was careful not to call her mistress after what had happened the day before.

"I'm not helpless, I can make my own food." Wendy said standing up and setting her bowl on the counter. She walked out of the kitchen stopping to add. "And I'm not your child." She stomped away leaving her mother speechless. Her father walked in the door just as she was passing it and could see from Wendy's face that she was pissed.

"What happened?" He asked Wendy and his wife as his charge ran up the stairs to her room. He went to his wife immediately seeing the tears running down her face. She sobbed into his chest and would only say one thing.

"We've made a mistake."

At Jimbo's training ground...

Kyle fell on his back in the dirt for what felt like the thousandth time today. Stan really wasn't going easy on him. He'd started actually attacking Kyle back whenever the smaller boy went for a hit. They were almost sparring at this point. Stan wouldn't press the attack but every time Kyle failed to strike Stan would respond with a throw or a disarm or a sweep. Kyle was covered in bruises and barely able to catch his breath when Stan finally called for one of their fifteen minute breaks. "I can't keep going like this!" Kyle burst out as he fell to his knees gasping for air.

"Yes you can, and you will." Stan said stiffly. Kyle glared at him.

"If I say I can't do something then I can't! I know myself better than you!" Stan didn't seem angry though he just shook his head.

"Apparently you don't." Stan said.

"Whats that supposed to mean? It's pretty obvious that I can't do this stuff! I haven't managed to strike you even once and I'm getting my ass handed to me!" Kyle just flopped onto his back in the dirt.

"So you want to give up?" Stan asked a disappointed look in his face. That hurt Kyle far more than he had expected.

"It's not like I WANT to give up but I just can't..." Stan just nodded and began unzipping his tracksuit jacket and threw it on the ground. He was muscular and Kyle found himself drawn to his biceps a little bit. "What are you doing?" Stan pulled his shirt up over his head and dropped it to the ground. Kyle's eyes went wide, Stan was covered in bruises, far more than Kyle and a few of them were almost black.

"Dude! What happened to you!?"

"You did." Stan said crossing his arms. There were those biceps again. "You don't know yourself as well as you think you do. You haven't noticed that you've been hitting me all day." Kyle couldn't believe that he'd done all that damage to Stan, part of him was proud and a larger part felt sick.

"Why aren't you wearing padding!?" Kyle yelled. Stan rocked back on his heels a little startled.

"Well honestly I didn't think you'd be able to hit me so much or so hard, even if I wasn't really being serious." Stan said smirking and walked over to the weapon rack and picked up his shinai. Kyle was on his feet now. "Guess I need to take this a little seriously. You're picking the movements up faster than I thought you would." That was the first praise Stan had given Kyle in the past three days. And it would be the last for at least the next six.

At the throne in the woods...

The boy had gone a little overboard on his latest purge, he had only a handful of minions left, not that he needed them. The only minion worth a damn, not that he'd admit it, was Cartman, his strange powers as a revenant were on another level. Any ordinary warlock wouldn't have been able to control him. Just then Cartman stepped from the shadows. "What did you want?"

"I just wanted to see how fast you would answer my summons." The warlock said sneering at his minion. He received a glare of contempt in return.

"I'm not a dog to be called when you are bored. Though I don't blame you for missing my company." The ego on this one! The warlock had never been back talked by a minion before meeting Cartman. He swore one day he would make this one pay for his disobedience.

A few days later at Stan's house...

Kenny and Mr. Randy were firing at targets in the basement. Kenny was using his twin pistols and Randy was using only one and still he seemed to be able to fire an unending stream of paint bullets at the targets and so accurately. "How do you do that?" Kenny asked in disbelief.

"Years of practice. I never was a powerful mage or skilled in close combat like Sharon and Stan so I had to be good at this. You're in a very similar position due to your unique issues." He said as he set his weapon down and watched Kenny fire. "First I would try learning to shoot with one gun at a time. Learn the proper way with each hand individually and then attempt to do both at the same time if you really feel it necessary but you'll have far less control that way." Randy said as he picked up two pistols this time and began firing at both his and Kenny's targets. His shots not as concentrated still hit every single time. Kenny set down one of his guns and turned to Randy.

"Show me how."

At Kenny and Butters house...

Butters had taken off his bandages the day before. Once he'd been strong enough to use his own magic he had healed very quickly. He was currently on his third set of fifty push ups. Butters dad had always made him exercise vigorously as a child as part of his punishments. He was very toned and with the grimace on his face he seemed a different person. This carefree boy was not weak nor was he a pansy. Very few things scared him, one of them being in the way. He wouldn't be a burden to his friends. Next time they need him he would be ready. He got up and pulled out the knives he practiced with secretly whenever he had free time away from Kenny. He didn't want his boyfriend to know he was training but there was no hiding the muscles. Not that Kenny was in bad shape either, he was just more scrawny than toned like Butters or Stan. He began moving through the movements he'd learned from Stan one of the days he'd been able to slip away to train a couple years ago. It helped that Kenny was going to Stan's house to train with Randy every day now. He would have pushed for Butters to wait longer till he was fully recovered but he knew they didn't have that kind of time. Kenny worried about Butters but he didn't need to, the smaller blond would be strong enough for the both of them.

A few days later at Wendy's...

She decided to sleep in again. Why not, Stan was busy training with Kyle. Kenny and Butters were off playing husband and wife. Sometimes she envied the blonds, they would always go home at the end of the day into their own little world. A place where they belonged, Wendy had always felt so detached from everything, even Stan couldn't completely come into her world. "How do people deal with so much emotion all the time..." She whispered to herself, overcome again by loathing and regret.

"Can I come in...?" Wendy tensed and didn't answer. This time however she didn't hear retreating footsteps. "...Wendy...dear...I made pancakes...we went and bought the orange syrup you like...please come down and talk to us." Wendy sat up at that. She could only remember one other time when she had been called dear before, it was fuzzy but it must have been when she was very young. Something about the way her mother had just spoken to her made her want to run downstairs and cry. She settled for walking down and eating her pancakes in a dignified manner.

"T-thank you both~!" She choked out as she took the first bite of her breakfast and broke down into tears. Her parents just looked at her dumbfounded.

"Wendy, I think we need to talk." Her father said with a stern expression. He wasn't asking her, he was telling her that they were going to have a talk. He wasn't her guardian in that moment he was her father.

"I'm sorry!" She bawled lunging into her fathers arms. "I'm sorry for being so ungrateful lately, being normal has just been so hard!" Now that she had let a little emotion out it was all pouring forth.

"What is this all about?" Her mother asked embracing her from the other side. Wendy was overwhelmed and couldn't keep it in anymore it all had to come out now or it would destroy her.

"I want to be your daughter! I don't want to be a goddess I don't want you to be my guardians I want you to be my parents! I hate that you always treat me as some sort of precious treasure instead of a person! I hate being different! I hate that I didn't get to have the childhood that my friends got! I hate everything about myself!"She broke down and sobbed into her parents shoulders as they held her tight from both sides.

"Wendy, dear. You have always been our daughter." Her father said kissing the top of her head. She could hear from his voice that he was crying too.

"Sweetie you've been able to see into our hearts since you were born, didn't you know?" Her mother added smiling and kissing her cheek. Wendy was dumbfounded by how natural these admissions came from her parents. Had she really missed it? How could she not see that?

"I saw that you felt privileged and happy to fulfill your duty as my guardians..." She said not believing them.

"Yes we are happy to do our duty as your parents. I'm sorry that we have always treated you in such a way dear. We only wanted the best for you, and we know that life as a goddess will be hard on you, you will be separate from normal people, more and yet less. And we wanted at least part of your life to be easy. We had no idea you wanted to be our daughter...but we never considered you anything else." Her father said as he looked unflinchingly into her eyes. She turned and her mother had the same expression. She didn't have her powers but at that moment she didn't need them to know her parents were telling her the truth.

A few days later at Stan's house...

"And you're sure you'll make it back?" Sharon asked holding her cell phone up to her ear as she stood on the back porch. She listened for a moment before adding. "You know he's not. Is that really what is important right now?" More listening before she said her goodbyes. "Alright I'll talk to you later, I love you." Sharon went to walk back into the house and saw Randy standing in the kitchen watching her. She nearly jumped.

"Butters again?" Randy asked raising an eyebrow. He was onto her she knew, but she also knew she wasn't wrong in what she was doing.

"Mmmhmm, seems he's a bit lonely with you taking up all of Kenny's time. Those boys are quite active you know!" She said giggling. She loved to hear of their exploits from Butters. Randy didn't press but frowned as Sharon left the room. He had a bad feeling about her frequent phone calls.

A few days later at Jimbo's training grounds...

Stan and Kyle were trading blows viciously. At least it seemed that way to Kyle, Stan was holding back almost seventy five percent of his strength but Kyle wasn't too shabby. He had gotten the parrys and strikes down and was weaving them together quite skillfully. He was a little slow though and so he would never hit Stan at his max speed. Stan knew though he needed to stay just a little ahead of Kyle, just enough to where Kyle had to push a little harder to pass him but not so far ahead that it seemed impossible. He would tug Kyle along this way and he would improve without really realizing it, just as he had been up to this point. "You're getting there!" Stan said as he brought his shinai in a downward cut only to have it caught in the crook of Kyle's cane and pulled out wide at the same time Kyle brought the other end under and lashed out at Stan's knees. He jumped back and released one hand from his shinai and dropped the other straight towards the ground freeing his weapon from the hook. Kyle was already pursuing and brought the crook back across at Stan's head. Stan flipped his grip on his shinai and swung his fist straight towards the sky. It knocked Kyle's weapon up high and unbalanced him just in time for Stan's foot to meet Kyle's stomach. The red head went down with a thud and Stan instantly panicked. "Dude! Kyle I'm so sorry I didn't hold anything back there!"

"Ugh...I can tell..." Kyle said sitting up and breathing heavily. He had to admit though that kick hadn't hurt nearly as much as he had expected, maybe because he was so covered in bruises everything hurt about the same.

"Wanna call it for today...?" Stan asked. Kyle couldn't help but smile, as soon as Stan's protective instincts kick in he goes from asshole to teddy bear.

"No I can keep going." Kyle said using his cane to push himself up to his feet. He was holding the crook in his right hand and kicked the bottom out with his right foot letting it spin around in front of him. He caught the other end with his left hand at the same time sliding his right hand down just below the crook and took up a guard stance.

"Alright then!" Stan said rushing him. He had to admit he liked this cocky Kyle more than he thought he would.

AN – I AM SO SORRY! This took way to long to get out! And it's only half as long as I wanted it to be but longer than I expected XD hopefully this makes up for the long wait!