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

Authors note – aww yea double digits! Kinda forgot to celebrate it with chapter 10, I'm super grateful for all the reviews I've gotten so far

Chapter 11

A few days later...

Stan and Kyle had gone over to Jimbo's almost everyday after school, Kyle was hardly getting any homework done but he couldn't care less. He'd pretty much spent an entire week with just him and Stan. Ever since he could remember he had pretty much standing permission to sleep over at Stan's. His parents had always liked and trusted the Marshes. Kyle yelped as Stan's strike stopped just short of his forehead. "Careful Kyle, you're not paying attention, do you need a break?" Stan asked resting his training weapon on his shoulder. Kyle nodded and started to take his pads off. "Hungry?" Stan asked over his shoulder as he put away his sword and put his glasses back on.

"Yea, that would be great." Kyle said then hesitated, he was curious about something. "Hey Stan, how come you don't wear your glasses when you fight? Your eyesight is pretty shit isn't it?" Stan turned and smiled.

"You are correct." Stan said laughing. "It's not so much a practical thing as a preference." He took his glasses off and stared at them. "I don't like to see the faces of the shells I fight. Makes it easier to..." He frowned and put his glasses back on. "Almost all the shells you'll encounter here in South Park use to neighbors or friends, people you may have passed in school or on the street. People who had lives. I talk a good game, but every hunter struggles with it." Kyle felt guilty for asking now, he'd dragged out something painful for Stan. "We call it the Burden of Remembrance. Every hunter deals with it differently, my father gets drunk until he can't remember, Jimbo and Ned blow stuff up, I take my glasses off so I can't see their faces clearly. We all have our way's to deal, you'll develop one I'm sure."

"Burden of Remembrance?" Kyle asked not sure what that was.

"Oh right, you've guessed by now I'm sure, but when someone becomes a shell or a revenant and is then subsequently destroyed..." Stan began leaving it for Kyle to finish.

"They're forgotten...but we don't forget do we?" Kyle asked piecing it together. Stan nodded.

"Hunters who have awakened their magic aren't affected by what we call the Correction. My family has a saying, the world has a way of correcting itself. The people who are taken by shells can never come back, and to protect normal people the world makes them all forget. Everyone except us. We must carry the burden of remembering the lost." That sounded terrible for Kyle, why do such a thing?

"Can't we just erase our memories of before they were shells...?" Kyle asked not sure if such a thing was possible.

"NO!" Stan snapped suddenly angry. He softened when he saw Kyle's guilty expression. "No, we have to remember those we've laid to rest, because if we don't no one will, and if no one remembers you...did you really exist?" Kyle gained new respect for hunters in that moment, they weren't just monster slayers, they took in the pain even from these monsters that don't want to be forgotten.

"The shells know they'll be forgotten when they are destroyed don't they?" Stan nodded.

"Yes, that is why they seem obsessed with being remembered. They seem to have some sort of urge to make more shells in the hope they'll be remembered. Or something like that." Stan said walking towards the house. Kyle suddenly had a horrible thought, Stan turned around to see Kyle standing completely still. "What is it Kyle?"

"How many...how many friends have I forgotten?" Kyle asked. Stan's grew sad as he sighed.

"I knew that question would come eventually." Stan sat down on the porch then and motioned for Kyle to come sit next to him. "There have been...a few close friends taken. South Park isn't the most active town for shells but with only a handful of hunters we can't keep up and they always seem to slip through somehow."

"So who have I forgotten then?" Kyle asked looking at Stan who just smiled sadly.

"Do you remember when we were in elementary school? When we would go to the cafeteria to ask for help?" Kyle nodded he did remember something like that, but he couldn't remember any specifics. "The lunch worker, the man who gave us tons of advice, you don't remember him do you?" Kyle thought hard, but he couldn't remember anything, and then there was a spark. Like when you suddenly remember something weeks after you tried to.

"Chef..." Tears welled up in Kyle's eyes as he remembered everything. Well hello there children! He smiled as all the fond memories of their old friend came back. "How come I can remember him?" Stan was smiling too probably recalling similar memories.

"You're a hunter now Kyle, the magic that suppressed your memories is gone now, all you have to do now is just remember." Stan frowned and patted Kyle on the shoulder as he went inside to get them some snacks. Kyle thought about it for a moment, he decided to retrace his steps all the way from childhood. He remembered back as far as he could. Back in kindergarten, he saw Clyde, Craig, Stan all the others. First grade, he remembered when Stan first tried to talk to Wendy and threw up everywhere, Kyle knew why now, he'd been reacting to her inhuman magic. Still nothing he finally got to third grade, they were at Butters house, in walked two adults. Kyle didn't recognize them at first, he didn't think any of Butters family ever came to visit he just lived in that house with Kenny. Then it hit him, Butters parents, Steven and Linda. That gave Kyle an idea, he tried to remember where Kenny lived before he moved in with Butters. He saw a run down shack and two fighting rednecks a man and a woman, and three children. Kyle's heart jumped into his throat, Kenny had two siblings, an older brother and a younger sister. Kevin and Karen, his parents Stuart and Carol. Both Butters had lost their families to shells. He tried to remember more, they were at the bus stop now. Him, Stan, Kenny and...someone else. They were all laughing about something, Kyle remembered getting angry.

"God damn it fat ass..." Kyle whispered remembering finally one of their best friends. How could he forget Cartman of all people. Kyle cried as he replayed all the names over and over in his head. He swore to them all he would never forget them again. Stan just stood in the doorway and watched, he knew this would be hard for Kyle, he was there when Butter remembered. This time it was Stan who knelt down behind his friend and pulled him into a hug.

"I know It's hard Kyle, but we have to remember them for everyone else." Stan set his chin on his friends shoulder the way he'd done for him a few days ago.

"How have you dealt with this up till now? Chef, Butters' and Kenny's families, even Cartman. How did you just act as though they were never around. Stan remembered when it had happened to Chef, he'd been the first they'd lost. He hadn't been told that he'd become a shell, so when he went to school and suddenly there was a new lunch worker he was surprised. He'd asked where Chef was. Everyone thought he was crazy and he ended up throwing a tantrum. The school had his parents come pick him up and they'd told him the truth. He was barely 9 years old. He'd been told before about what happens when shells kill someone, but this was his first time experiencing it. He insisted on spending the night with Kyle for almost two weeks straight after that.

"I had you dude, no matter how much bad stuff happened, you were always there to comfort me. When Cartman died, we were ten. I got super depressed and felt like giving up on everything, probably similar to what you felt hiding from the shells the other day. I thought I didn't care if my family forgot me, or that I died, but then you were there, I tried to push you away." Kyle smiled remembering Stan's issues at the time.

"I remember, you just kept saying everything was shitty, you were talking about the job huh?" Kyle put his hands over Stan's.

"Yea, we always argued with Cartman but he was our friend, it was my birthday when it happened. We had just seen him. On the way home from my stupid birthday he and his mother were attacked, my dad and Jimbo saved his mom..." What happened next still haunted Stan. He'd walked outside of the restaurant where his party had been and seen Jimbo his dad and Mrs. Cartman talking. Stan walked up to her with Cartman's iphone in his hand, he'd forgotten it on the table. "Mrs. Cartman, here's Eric's iphone. He forgot about it again." He remembered that look she gave him when she turned around.

"Who's Eric?" She smiled at him, and the horror of what must have happened hit him. He looked to his dad and Jimbo who were both smoking cigarets neither one would look him in the eye. He'd run all the way home then. His dad just watched him go, at the time he was sure he'd come stop him, but he knew why he didn't now. Everyone had to figure their own way to deal. He had trusted Stan to handle it, which he had but only because of Kyle.

"No one remembered him after that. His image disappeared from pictures, his face disappeared from peoples memories." Stan said sighing, he would probably be haunted by that moment for the rest of his life, it hadn't been five minutes since he'd spoken to the fat ass and he was gone.

"The world has a way of correcting itself huh?" Kyle wiped away his tears. They just sat there in silence, each remembering friends who were no longer with them. Until they heard Jimbo come around the side of the house.

"Boy's I made som- I'll come back!" He said spinning on his heel mid sentence. Stan jumped up and ran after him.

"Not again..." Kyle mumbled and jumped up to chase after him.

Later at Stan's house...

Kyle was getting pretty use to making fire and moving objects around the room. He could so far move two different objects as long as their paths were simple and moved equally. Sharon told him that eventually he'd be able to move dozens of objects each one with its own path and speed. She had demonstrated with a bag of Hershey kisses, which at this point he was pretty sure she used because she had a sweet tooth since she ate most of the chocolate most nights. Kyle lost count as the floated up off the table and began to revolve around her like little planets. They moved in different directions, speed, and even distances. He really loved practicing magic with her, it rivaled training with Stan, though that was only because Stan was still there reading or sharpening his sword. He would always congratulate Kyle when he succeeded at something new. Stan had even tried a few spells himself, though like he said, nothing happened other than making the Hershey Kiss quiver for a moment and nearly draining Stan completely. He'd asked Sharon about it and she told him Stan use to be determined to master magic, he'd really wanted to be a sorcerer someday and had spent months training every day. But even the simplest spells wouldn't work for him and would tax him greatly. She had done research hoping to find a way to help her son. The best they had been able to come up with though was to imbue objects with magic, Stan could still activate magical items. This didn't sit well with Stan though, he didn't want to fake it. He had allowed runes to be placed on his weapons out of a tactical decision, they improved the cutting ability and made them almost indestructible as well as having the ability to return to Stan's hand if he was ever disarmed, or threw his weapon. But other than that he wouldn't wear a bunch of tokens, if he couldn't do magic the way everyone else did then he just wouldn't. "Kyle dear, I think that's enough for tonight." Sharon said cleaning up the wrappers from the Hershey Kisses.

"Oh alright, It's still early though." Kyle said glancing at the clock. It was only 7 o'clock.

"I know, but you boys have been working hard the past few days, why don't you go out to the movies?" She said holding out some money for Stan who instantly looked like it was Christmas. He checked his phone and then jumped up.

"Dude, we gotta go if we wanna make it!" Stan grabbed the money and then Kyle and then ran out the door. Sharon just watched them go, she could have kept the lesson going, but she wanted them to still have the chance to be normal children, even if they never would be. Kyle was being dragged along by Stan barely able to keep his feet.

"Stan slow down!" Stan skid to a halt and Kyle ran into him. "Oww...what are you in such a rush for?" Stan turned to him with eyes wide with excitement.

"Dude, Naruto: The Last!" Kyle just kinda blinked at him. He had watched Naruto a bit, he knew Stan was really into it though. "It's the very last movie, set two years after they stop Kaguya!" Kyle just laughed at his friends excitement. He always got worked up over things like this.

"When does the movie start?" Kyle asked interrupting Stan's continued rant. His friend glanced at his phone, Kyle really needed to get a new one.

"In fifteen minutes!" Kyle dashed past Stan this time dragging him.

"Then lets go dude!" Stan was pulled along for a moment before catching up and passing Kyle once again dragging the redhead. They were both smiling and laughing when they skid to a halt in front of the ticket counter. "Two for Naruto: The Last, please!" Kyle yelled as Stan dramatically slammed the 20 dollar bill on the counter. The old man at the counter blinked and printed two tickets. Stan snatched them quickly and dragged his friend inside before the old man could even tell them to enjoy the movie.

"This is gonna be awesome!" Stan said practically skipping as he ran down the hall towards their theater. He and Kyle sat in the very back in the middle of the row, the only place to watch any movie. The theater was empty, not surprising since most movie goers weren't into anime, it was odd that the limited release of the movie came to South Park but Stan wasn't complaining. As the movie started the previews were pretty lack luster. Kyle prayed the movie would be good, because previews were the best part of a bad movie. Kyle felt uncomfortable though as the movie seemed to be almost completely romance oriented. Naruto was finally getting with Hinata, this surprised Kyle, he was part of the camp who just assumed Naruto would end up with Sakura. Hinata had always had absolute faith in Naruto but her chances seemed slim of ever being Naruto's one, especially when he obviously loved Sakura. When Naruto realized he loved Hinata Kyle turned bright red. He always got embarrassed watching romance movies, and it was ten times worse when he watched them with Stan. He turned to look at Stan who had a look of childlike wonder on his face, he was really enjoying the movie. Kyle laughed to himself and relaxed.

"That was pretty good." Kyle said as they walked out of the theater a while later. Stan was gushing over how awesome it was, seems he apparently had been rooting for Hinata the whole time.

"Dude, good doesn't even fucking describe it!" Stan said bouncing off the walls. Kyle silently thanked Sharon for this. He was happy to spend all this time with Stan, but he had missed just hanging out with him.

"I wish we could do this all the time." Kyle said sighing, Stan stopped gushing for a moment and looked at his friend seriously.

"Yea..." Stan knew they wouldn't get much time to just be children soon enough. An idea came to his mind. "Well why not make this a usual thing then? We'll set aside one day every week, no training, no magic, just us." Stan wasn't sure his dad would like it, but he was sure his mom would back him up, she was always pushing him to pace himself. Until now he'd shared his dad's point of view that he didn't have time to fool around when there was a job to do, but Kyle changed things.

"Can we do that?" Kyle asked hopeful, he really liked the sound of that.

"Of course we can! Thursday nights then?" Stan said excited smiling at his friend. Neither of them noticed the girl walking up behind them.

"It's a date!" Kyle said, though he was instantly embarrassed by it, as was Stan.

"A date huh? Stanley you wouldn't be cheating on me would you?" Both boys turned to see Wendy, Kenny and Butters. Wendy had a smile on her face but something told Kyle she was annoyed as her hair seemed to twist and grab at what was around her.

"How scandalous...Stan, Kyle I didn't know you guys were like that..." Butters said fidgeting. Kenny whistled before adding.

"We should all get together sometime, compare notes and such." Kyle paled as he saw they were more egging Wendy on than being serious.

"Woah! Wendy It's totally not like that! I mean come on look at me, you can see the truth right?!" She glared at him and then proceeded to punch him in the face sending him back several yards.

"You forgot, tonight is our date night!" She yelled angrily turning around.

"I'm sorry Wends we'll find us a new date night..." She shot him a glare and then strut away angrily. Kenny and Butters watched her go.

"Way. To. Go. Lover boy." Kenny said shaking his head and following her with Butters close behind. As she walked away Wendy had her hand over where her heart would be were she human. She felt strange, she'd never gotten mad like that before, It wasn't the first time they'd changed which night was date night. And something Stan had said bothered her, she could just see the truth if she looked at him, but for some reason she was afraid to look at either him or Kyle that way. She didn't like this, she wasn't used to being unsure.

"Dude that was pretty fucked up..." Kyle said as he helped Stan back to his feet. Stan rubbed his red cheek where his girlfriend had punched him.

"I probably deserved it though, I forgot to text her in my excitement." He looked thoughtful for a minute and then shrugged. "Well I'll make it up to her later. Lets head back."

"Sounds good." Kyle said following Stan though he wasn't so sure Stan should put off making up with Wendy. He felt like Stan should run after her and clear t up now. It was all a misunderstanding anyway, right?

Later that Night...

Stan and Kyle lay back to back on Stan's bed. "I might need to get a bigger bed if you're gonna be staying here from now on." Stan said jokingly.

"Probably not a bad idea actually, I could use more space." Kyle said as he spread himself out stretching his arms and legs so they were across Stan.

"Yea, you seem like you need it." Stan said jokingly poking Kyle in his side eliciting a yelp.

"Stan don't do that!" Kyle snapped, but Stan was already pouncing tickling him furiously. The bed was creaking from Stan's assault. "S-stan! S-s-stop!" Kyle said panting, Stan couldn't help but torment the little redhead. It was one of his favorite pastimes. Unknown to them though Stan's mother was Standing on the other side of Stan's door, red faced. She could only hear the creaking and Kyle's whimpers.

"Oh dear..." She'll come back later, she thought as she dashed down the hall back to her room.

Authors note- So what cha think? Can anyone tell I really wanna see the naruto movie limited release? Bought tickets but might not be able to go so pretty upset about it, really don't wanna wait a whole year to see it ; - ;