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

Authors note – I was advised by a friend to maybe slow down on the chaps to give readers a chance to catch up, what do you think?

Chapter 14

The next morning...

Kyle woke up confused where he was for a moment. He looked around, he was in his own room, yet it looked so foreign. Made sense considering he'd spent the last week at Stan's house. "I had to come home eventually." He said laying back down and staring at his ceiling. Sunshine was coming through his window into his eyes. His bed was lit up from the light making the rest of the room seem darker than usual. He looked at the clock seeing it was six thirty. He still had time to get ready and be at school in an hour. As he got up he tripped over something. He stumbled all the way to the door, turning around he searched for what it could have been. There were a pair of legs sticking out of the space between his bed and his side table. Kyle walked over and peered into the space to see his sleeping friend cradling his sword as he slept. "Dumb ass, you're going to feel that later, hey Stan, time to wake up dude." Kyle said shaking Stan gently who opened his eyes slowly, he obviously hadn't gotten much sleep. Not that Kyle felt like he had really, he was definitely planning to sleep through Mr. Garrison's class to make up for it.

"Mmm...Morning dude." Stan said standing up and cracking his back with a groan. Kyle smiled at him until he caught a whiff of his friend.

"Holy shit dude! Did you shower after last night!?" Kyle gasped jumping back, his friend's stench felt as though it would rob him of his sense of smell forever. Stan just lifted his arm and smelled. His face crinkled slightly before he turned back to Kyle.

"It's not that bad is it?" Stan asked, Kyle just stared at him blankly, Stan hadn't even gotten all the gore off his face. That must have been why he slept on the floor, he didn't want to get Kyle's bed dirty. Kyle ran behind him and began pushing him across the hall into the bathroom.

"Shower. Now. I'll take that" Kyle said grabbing Stan's sword from him. "Put your clothes outside the door, I still have some of your stuff from the last time you were over, I'll leave it outside the door." Kyle said slamming the door in Stan's face and going to rummage for said clothes. He dug through his drawers wondering where he had put them, he had washed them himself after his friend had forgotten them. At the time he figured his friend would be over again soon enough to get them or use them again, but that had been four months ago. He finally found them, a red sweatshirt jacket pair of jeans and a black T-shirt. Kyle grabbed a pair of his own socks for Stan and figured he'd just have to wear his own boxers again since he hadn't left any. He knocked on the door as he set the clothes down outside it and then proceeded to his parents bathroom in their room to get his own shower. His parents always left for work before he got up. Ever since Ike had gotten a bit older and could get himself off to school now without help his mother had gone to work as a receptionist at his fathers law firm. He stripped and started the water waiting to get in.

While Stan was showering...

Stan stood under the hot water letting his hair fall around his face. His thoughts took him back to last night. He was staring up into the jaws of two ghouls that most certainly tear him apart. He heard Kyle's desperate scream. There was a comforting rush of magic and the ghouls were torn to shreds an instant before they would have sunk their teeth in. Stan couldn't be more amazed at his friend, but still he felt hollow. Kyle could use magic, something Stan had never been able to do, and he could use it well. With a few months of training Kyle would surpass Stan in ability. Stan had worked and trained for the last eight years to be the best fighter he could, and his friend would surpass him in a fraction of the time. He'd be lying if he didn't say his pride was hurt, and that he didn't feel a bit worthless. He had been alright with his handicap up till now because he had believed he was protecting Kyle who couldn't fight at all, so why complain? But Kyle wouldn't need him anymore, he wouldn't be needed anymore and it would make his handicap even more crippling. Jimbo, Ned and his father had never been particularly powerful mages, not like his mother anyway, but they could all do the basics, they could protect themselves with their magic, and use it for standard hunter combat. His mother was one of only two living sorcerers. His sister Shelley was an incredibly powerful mage, and she was almost as good as Stan in martial arts. His family had always praised him for what they perceived as the ease he learned martial arts. But he never told them, but he knew the truth. Stan had been terrible at the martial arts. The first time he tried a front kick he'd fallen on his ass. But even young he'd realized that magic wasn't going to work for him. He'd get out of bed late at night and practice. For hours he would do push ups and sit ups, all in secret. He'd had no natural talent like every believed he did. He just trained constantly when no one was looking, so it just seemed as though he could mimic moves they thought he was just learning. But in truth he'd read every book he could on martial arts and would watch youtube videos of martial arts techniques. He would practice them for hours on end, whenever he wasn't hanging out with his friends or training at Jimbo's. He played sports for the added fitness, though he never really enjoyed them all that much. As he improved he began to have confidence in his martial arts, but then he'd tangled with another young hunter his age. Gregory, being a natural talent, always beat Stan when they brawled. The one time he'd been close to winning Gregory had used magic to beat him. That had been a sobering moment for Stan. He'd only been nine but he knew then, his martial arts would never measure up against someone who could use even a small amount of magic. He'd never measure up to his family's reputation.

With Kyle...

"Ahh that feels good..." Kyle leaned back and let the water soak into his hair. He could feel it between his shoulder blades. "Maybe I should get it cut." Kyle thought running his hand through the heavy locks. His mind was also focused on the events of last night as he stood soaking. Stan had been too ready to die and it scared Kyle. What if Kyle hadn't been there? Another sickening thought occurred to him, what if Stan had died before he'd had his magic awakened. He wouldn't even remember him, it would be like he'd never existed. Would Kyle have assumed someone else was his best friend, the way Token had? Kyle shook the what ifs away, it didn't matter anymore. He was a hunter now, and if Stan was going to be put himself in harms way Kyle would just have to make sure he was there to protect him. The red head resolved that he would start trying harder both with Sharon and with Stan's training. He needed to get stronger so he could keep his friend safe. "He's protected me till now, so now it's my turn." Kyle smiled as he got out of the shower and began to dry off. He rubbed his head with the towel and then grimaced at the fuzz ball on his head. There was a pair of scissors on the counter, Kyle stared at them blankly. A spark of madness lit his mind as he reached out for them, before he gave it a second thought he was snipping.

In the other bathroom...

Stan stepped out and dried off quickly, he looked in the mirror, he looked like shit. He had bags under his eyes and his hair looked dead and he was pale. He tied his hair back thinking maybe he should take his own advice and get his hair cut. He opened the bathroom door and pulled the clothes in that Kyle had left. He saw his old sweatshirt jacket, he'd missed this one, he thought back to when he'd worn it over the summer. Kyle had made fun of him for wearing a jacket in the summer, he'd had to roll the sleeves up so that he wasn't sweating too bad. Stan just preferred to have a jacket on, they'd gone to Starks pond and jumped right in without changing. When they'd gotten back to Kyle's house his mother had scolded both of them and told them to strip immediately. She took their clothes and threw them into a basket where Kyle would later wash them. They'd had to wrap themselves in a towel and sit on the back porch in their boxers waiting to dry. It had been a long afternoon of friendly gay jokes and shivering in the shade of the house. Stan smiled, he wished things were always so simple, he wished he could have gotten to be normal like Kyle, even if only for a little while.

"Ready to go?" Kyle called from downstairs. Stan snapped out of thought not realizing he'd taken so long in the shower.

"Be right down dude!" Stan called jumping into his jeans and slipping his shoes back on. He ran down the stairs a few steps at a time. "Sorry I took so lo-" He stopped staring at his friend. His jaw certainly had dropped.

"Does it look bad?" Kyle asked a nervous smile on his face. He was wearing black skinny jeans, his red converse, and black shirt that looked too big for him. But what really had caught Stan's attention was his hair. His long mane of curls was gone. He'd cut it all off except for the last inch maybe two, all except for in one place he had one long curl still hanging on the left side in the front. Kyle always had to be stylish he'd probably seen that hair cut somewhere. The short hair curled giving his hair a messy appearance, you couldn't really tell he'd had curls before except for the one still remaining.

"Uhh...no it looks, uh good dude!" Stan said not really sure how he should answer, he liked how it looked but he'd never exactly been one for style. Kyle was playing with the one remaining curl looking nervous.

"I wasn't sure about it, but you suggested that I should cut it..." Kyle let his voice trail off as he walked towards the door. It was nearly seven thirty already, they were definitely going to be late and they still needed to go grab their bags from Stan's house. "We should probably get going then." Kyle said hoping people wouldn't stare much. Stan knew that people were going to stare a lot, he was a dude and he still could tell Kyle was hot. He'd always had a softer sort of appearance because of his height. This new look though, Kyle couldn't be mistaken for a girl anymore, you could see his neck and shoulder better now, it made him look more manly. Stan smirked Kyle would definitely be happy about that, or would he? As Stan followed Kyle he realized he didn't know if he was gay or bisexual or what. Maybe Kyle wanted to look girly? Or did he want to look manly? Stan was nervous about commenting now, he didn't want to say the wrong thing, though he knew Kyle would be attractive to both sexes so he figured his friend would be fine. "Take a picture, it'll last longer." Kyle said looking back at Stan who had let his site drop to his friends rear. Kyle smirked as Stan turned red and shook his head. When Kyle turned around Stan snuck a peak back at Kyle's rear, his friend definitely had that going for him as well. Feeling a bit guilty for staring at his friends ass Stan sped up till he was walking beside Kyle.

"Hey how about we ditch today? We can go out to breakfast and celebrate your first successful hunt and then hang out just like regular kids all day." Stan said smiling, Kyle gave him a disapproving look.

"Stan we can't just take days off for every little thing! Your grades have suffered enough as it is!" Kyle said determined to take his friend to school. Stan stopped Kyle in his tracks with his next statement though.

"Then how about because it's my birthday?" Stan said his arms crossed behind his head, Kyle stopped as he walked past and he turned to look at his friend with a confused look. Kyle was staring at him wide eyed.

"What did you say?" Kyle asked, surely he had heard his friend wrong.

"Uhh, it's October 10th...my birthday?" Stan stated still not sure why his friend was asking. Kyle paled, he'd forgotten his best friends birthday! He had no money and hadn't gotten him anything. "My parent's won't really care if I skip school, my dad already told me I can drop out as soon as I'm old enough, since I already have a full time job." His friend looked excited at that. "I can't wait for that! I'll get so much sleep!" Kyle couldn't help laughing at his friends dreams of spending his days dreaming. He definitely had to figure out something to do for Stan. If only he had his phone he could have texted Wendy to have a cliché surprise party or something.

"Alright i'm in! But I demand IHOP!" Kyle said stamping his foot and crossing his arms.

"Hey shouldn't the birthday boy get to decide?" Stan asked looking hurt at Kyle who relented knowing his friend was faking.

"Oh alright you big baby, where do you wanna go?" He asked walking past his friend who just paused for a moment.

"IHOP sounds good." Kyle laughed at his friends obvious choice. They finally reached Stan's house and went inside. His mother was watching TV while his father drank a beer. Stan looked at the time, it was only seven forty five. "Little early for a drink isn't it dad?" Stan asked raising an eyebrow at his dad who looked over at him clearly a little drunk.

"Stanley! Happy birthday! My big fifteen year old!" Randy ran over and hugged his son lifting him off the ground. Stan took back his assessment of his father, he was very drunk.

"Randy! Go easy on him!" Sharon yelled turning of the TV. She turned away from her boys to talk to Kyle. "Oh Kyle dear I love your hair!" Sharon said reaching up and playing with the one curl and ruffling his hair. Kyle blushed as she complimented him.

"Yea well Stan suggested I cut it so..." Sharon smirked and nodded her head.

"Oh I see, so you cut it for Stan then!" Sharon said giddy, she loved to mess with her son and his friend, it had become her favorite pastime recently. Kyle and Stan both turned red and Randy instantly dropped his son on his ass and got a very serious look on his face as he turned to regard Kyle. He walked over to him and knelt down grabbing Kyle's hand.

"Kyle...you have my blessing!" He said making both Kyle and Stan choke and Sharon was practically crying from laughing.

"Jesus christ dad!" Stan yelled jumping to his feet and swatting Kyle's hand away from his fathers and dragging him upstairs.

"Stanley I have some in the drawer of my side table if you're out!" Randy called up to his son who just stopped and looked back at his father jaw down and face red.

"Fuck off dad." Was all he said before continuing up the stairs with his friend. Sharon was on the floor rolling with laughter at this moment. Randy just went back to nursing his beer in the kitchen. He probably wouldn't remember any of this when he sobered up. He'd had a very rough night, after discovering the possibility of a warlock operating in South Park he'd spent the rest of the night contacting anyone he could get a hold of. Hunters tended to be nocturnal like the Marshes and so many were able to be contacted. But he also received some very dark news, other hunter families in the surrounding counties had disappeared and were being presumed dead. Grandpa Marsh seemed to think that this new warlock was connected to the old cabal he'd fought against when he was younger. If it was an old man like him then they probably were extremely powerful, mages only got stronger with age.

"Things are getting a little dangerous." Sharon said to herself as she pulled out her phone and pressed contacts and jumped to S. "...Just in case..." She said to herself as she made the call.

Upstairs...

Stan and Kyle were both digging for cash and change that Stan had misplaced all over his wreck of a room. "This wouldn't happen dude if you would just clean your room every once and a while!" Kyle said lifting a pair of boxers with his foot and them at his friend. Stan just grumbled and kept looking in his drawers before pulling a five out of a pair of jeans.

"Hah see! Told you had money up here!" They continued digging for another half hour. They were able to scrounge up about fifteen and some change. They were planning to ask Stan's parents for some spending money too but it didn't help to have a little extra. "Hey mom can I-" Stan stopped as he rounded the bottom of the stairs seeing his mom standing on the back porch on the phone talking energetically. "Oh boy..." Stan said to himself knowing exactly who she was talking to.

"What is it?" Kyle asked as he came up behind him, Stan just shook his head and went to his dead who was no passed out on the kitchen table. He pulled his father's wallet out of his back pocket.

"Thanks dad." Stan said sarcastically and handed Kyle twenty dollars. "For the ghouls you killed last night. Dad always gives me cash for every shell I kill. He pulled out forty for himself. "The larger hunter organization in Denver pays us a bonus per head. Plus we get a commission for each job we take. We may not look like it but we do pretty well considering the only other active hunters in the town are Jimbo and Ned." Kyle just nodded as his friend put the wallet back.

"You called those things ghouls, I thought they were shells?" Kyle asked confused what the difference was.

"A ghoul is a shell, but a shell is not necessarily a ghoul." He said talking with his hands as they walked out the front door. "Every shell is dangerous as you've noticed, but the longer they are a shell the more they change and become monsterous."

"So how long were those jocks shells then?" Kyle asked wondering where they fell on the spectrum. Stan scratched his chin looking up as they walked.

"Mmm, it's hard to be sure, but I'd say it probably wasn't more than a day or two." Kyle was surprised he was sure they must have been shells for a while.

"The longer they are shells the less human they appear to be. Also luckily once a shell reaches the point where It can no longer pass for human it is automatically forced into the nightlands." Stan said smiling at his friend, Kyle wasn't sure if that was supposed to comfort him.

"What forces them to?" Kyle asked as they walked down the sidewalk, he was exhausted and definitely needed this day off.

"The same thing that makes people forget about those who have been taken by the shells." Stan said evenly making Kyle stop and stare at his friend. Before he'd just asked to make conversation but now he was really interested.

"What is it?" Kyle asked not recognizing the look on Stan's face.

"We call it the reviser." Stan said looking at the mountains in the distance. "It was a massive spell cast by the very first sorcerer of the hunters. Merlin." Kyle's mouth dropped, Stan had just told him that they were essentially following in the footsteps of the most legendary wizard from myth. "My family's saying, the world has a way of correcting itself, was partially inspired by it. The spell erases all traces of those taken by the shells from the minds and records of all those who have not awakened to magic. It was to protect normal people from heartache of their loved ones simply disappearing. It may seem cold, but them remembering will only cause them pain." Kyle watched Stan closely, he didn't believe he agreed with what he was saying. "The same spell also looks for the wrongness in the shells, when they are first created they aren't corrupt enough to be recognized by the spell. That's where hunters come in to correct what the reviser misses. We lure them into the nightlands to defeat them, both to protect bystanders and in case we fall at the very least the shell will be trapped on the other side"

"Well what about revenants?" Kyle asked wondering why Clyde had been different.

"Revenants are not exactly shells, they are people who were killed by magic, dark magic, usually in a very horrifying manner." Stan cringed wondering if this would hurt Kyle, but his friend seemed to want him to continue. "This creates a mass of negative emotions of one kind or another. When the person's body succumbs to whatever befell them they are possessed by the negative emotions. It makes them more powerful, vicious, and intelligent. They can fake being human which makes them far more dangerous than a shell that even a normal person can tell there is something wrong with." He stopped and smiled as the reached IHOP. "Alright enough with this negative talk! It's my birthday and I want some crepes!" They both shouted and raised their arms above their head as they went into the restauran.

They were unaware they were being watched by the very topic they'd just been discussing.

"Soon I'll show you just how much more powerful...fags."

Authors Note – Not too happy with this chapter to be honest...but I hope you guys liked it, took the day off yesterday but I'm back so expect daily updates!