Ch. 6
My Chemical Cosplay

Despite being irritated at Cartman, I was anxious to keep playing. I had dug myself in too deep to lose enthusiasm now. Besides, with school cancelled due to the aliens crashing down, I now had more time to figure out how to tell my truth to the boys. I shook my head and took a deep breath. One thing at a time, Ash. For now, focus on your mission.

I quickly turned and ran back upstairs to my room. I threw on my robes haphazardly as I scrambled for my wand and my ring. I decided to keep the beanie on instead of wearing my ballcap. The silver headband was much easier to wear over it, plus it hid my hair much better. I grabbed the letter and all of my pocket money, stuffing it securely in my pockets as I made my way out of the room and back down the stairs.

If the elves did steal the Stick, then that would probably mean I was going to fight many more than yesterday. I was going to need all the health I could carry. As I quickly ran into the kitchen, I saw dad was sitting at the table looking at his phone and mom was busying herself over the stove. I could smell the bacon from here but ignored it and made my way to the pantry. I knew we had some brand snacks leftover from the last town we passed through and I wanted to get my fill.

"Morning sweetie, breakfast is almost ready," mom said brightly.

"Not now, mom. I gotta meet up with some friends and I'm already late," I said as I stuffed some chips and cookies into my robes.

"Oh, how wonderful!"

"You be careful and don't play in the street," dad called out to me.

I assured him I would and ran out of the kitchen. I lunged at the door and threw it open, running out into the cold when my body collided hard with something. The thing and I both yelled as we fell forward and landed in the snow. I pushed myself up and shook the snow from my eyes. Looking down I saw a familiar looking paladin laying underneath me.

"Butters!" I said with surprise. "What are you- Are you okay?"

Butters spluttered, spitting snow out of his mouth before opening his eyes to look at me. He seized up and turned away, his nose and cheeks turning even rosier in the cold breeze.

"Ah! A-Ash, I'm sorry! I didn't see- I was just-"

Realizing he would be blubbering for hours if I didn't stop him, I quickly stood up and held out my hand. He blinked at me before taking it and letting me pull him to his feet. I brushed some snow from his head as he straightened his robes.

"S-Sorry about that," he muttered.

I shrugged. "It's okay. What're you doing here anyway?"

"Oh! The Grand Wizard assigned me to help you with recruiting the goth kids."

"He told you already, huh?" I asked as I straightened my headband. "Well, that's convenient. I was gonna come over and see if you wanted to help me."

"R-Really?" Butters asked happily. "W-well, that's great! I won't lie, Sir Ash, recruiting outsiders is no easy task. You might have to do something for them to convince them to play along."

I sighed. "Well, we gotta do what we gotta do to get the Stick back."

"That's the spirit! C'mon, this way. One of Timmy's fast travels is just up here."

Butters grasped my hand and started running down the sidewalk, dragging me behind him. He seemed to be especially excited to play today. I didn't mind though; I thought it was adorable how excited and happy he could be.

We ran for a few seconds when suddenly stopped, causing me to skid on the ice. As I straightened up I saw a tall pole with a red flag standing just a few feet into the snow. Butters marched up to it and squeezed the small airhorn that was attached to it. I couldn't help but frown. The boys had clearly put in a lot of effort to make the game as real as possible, but how was anyone supposed to hear that little horn from all the way out here? I didn't even know where this Timmy even lived.

But just as I opened my mouth to question Butters, I heard the distant sound of wheels squeaking behind me. I turned and saw a boy in an electric wheelchair coming up the sidewalk, a small toy pony attached to the front with rains. It took me only a second more to realize that there was a large red wagon strapped to the back of his chair. I stared opened mouthed as he came to a stop in front of us, smiling from ear to ear.

"Timmy!"

"After you, Sir Ash," Butter said as he gestured to the wagon.

I let out a small sigh, accepting the fact that nothing in this town should surprise me and I should just get used to the craziness. Lifting my head high, I stepped forward and sat in the wagon. Butters handed Timmy a few bucks before getting in next to me.

"Take us to the school, Timmy."

Timmy let out another loud and happy "Timmy!" before starting up his chair, and we were off.

I expected to see groups of elves all over the place like before. The whole ride through town I kept one hand on my wand and the other on my bow, expecting to find groups of them ready to strike. I know Butters said that they wouldn't attack Timmy, but what's to stop them if they have the Stick? They could get away with anything if they really had it.

But as we passed down the snow-covered street, I saw that there weren't nearly as many elves out as there were yesterday. In fact, I didn't see a single elf during the entire ride, and I wasn't sure whether to be relieved or worried. Was it a sign that they really did steal the Stick? Did they not feel as threatened by us with it in their grasp? I guess we would just have to wait and see.

It wasn't long before we reached the school. Timmy gave us a wave as we stepped out of the wagon, and he took off with surprising speed. I started to make my way to the front doors when Butters tugged on my arm and dragged me to towards the back end. He brought me up to a tall fence and pointed forward. I turned and saw a group of stereotypical goth kids sitting around the stairs of the back entrance, each one with a cigarette in hand. This surprised me because one of them looked young enough to be in kindergarten.

"Those are the goth kids," Butters explained quietly. "The fifth grader is Michael, and the two fourth graders are Henrietta and Pete. The kindergartener is Firkle."

I nodded. "Anything I should know about them?"

"They're cynical and edgy as fuck, so be careful."

"Don't worry, I've delt with worse."

I straightened my robes and took a deep breath before opening the gate. Butters followed close behind me as I made my way over to the goths. They didn't say anything at first, just watched me as they continued to smoke. I smiled and waved.

"Hey there," I greeted politely. "You guys are the goth kids, right?"

They all stared at me, looking angry that I would dare interrupt their smoke break.

"Who are you?" the one called Pete asked.

"I think it's that new kid people are talking about," Henrietta said, staring at me strangely.

I nodded. "Yep, that's me. My name is Ash."

"Did you get lost hunting for pokémon?" Michael groaned irritably. "This area is strictly for goth kids, or has no one told you that yet?"

I glared daggers and gripped my fists. If I had a nickel for every time some asshole made that joke, I would be living on a yacht far away from here. Butters seemed to notice my anger because he quickly grabbed my arm and shook his head, looking serious. Violence wouldn't be the answer to this one. I took a deep breath and continued.

"I understand you like to hang out alone, but we are in need of help. Our kingdom is in parrel and our king asked us to personally give you a message."

I took the letter from my pocket and handed to Pete, who took it. He read it over before handing it to the Henrietta, and she read it over before handing it to Michael. Firkle just sat and observed everything silently.

"Join the Kingdom of Kupa Keep to battle the wicked elves. All recruits welcome," he read it distastefully before crumpling the paper into a ball and tossing it. "Sorry to disappoint you Frodo, but we don't play Dungeons and Douchebags."

Pete flipped his hair and grunted, "Yeah, beat new kid."

"Aw c'mon, let's do it," Firkle's voice piped up suddenly. "We never do anything!"

"No way! We can't do what this kid asks us to do. He's a conformist! Look at his clothes and his hair."

"Look," I could feel my anger rising the more this guy talked. "This kind of stuff might not be your thing, but we are in desperate need of reinforcements. I'm sure we can come to some kind of agreement or-"

"Can I see your hair?"

I stopped and turned to face Henrietta, confused. She was looking at me expectantly and the other boys were staring at her in confusion.

"Not too many kids dye their hair around here," she said. "Let alone their whole head. I wanna see."

The other boys frowned at her for a moment before they all turned expectantly towards me. I was frozen where I stood, feeling unbearably trapped. Not only was my hair too long to be mistaken for a boys', but I had also forgotten to put a hair tie in it in my rush to leave this morning. If I had been on my own it wouldn't be a problem, but Butters was standing right beside me. Once he sees my long hair, he'll know I'm a girl and tell everyone. They'll kick me out, I won't be able to play and I'll have no friends once school starts.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when Butters gave me a slight push.

"Well, go on."

"What?" I hissed.

"They wanna see your hair. If you do something nice for them, maybe they'll listen to us more, and we can convince them to join."

I sighed. He's right. We needed reinforcements to get the Stick back, and Cartman desperately wanted the goth kids' help. It must have been for a reason. I needed to get into their good graces in any way I could.

"Fine. But you need to turn around."

Butters frowned. "But why-"

"Just do it!" I snapped.

Butters flinched back, muttering softly as he turned away from me. I felt a pang of guilt in my chest but ignored it and turned. I took a deep breath as I grabbed the beanie and my headband, hesitating before gently pulling them off. My hair fell in green waves around my face and I shivered when the cold hair hit my skin. The goth kids blinked and stared at my hair, looking slightly impressed.

"Wow, that's wild."

"At least you picked dark green."

"My mom would flip her shit if I dyed my whole head like that," Henrietta gasped, sounding oddly jealous. "How did you manage to do that?"

"My parents let me dye it for my birthday after I got straight A's on my report card."

Michael took a long drag from his cigarette. "Personally, I would've dyed most of it black, but it's okay. Definitely controversial enough for an elementary kid."

I let them gawk at me for a few seconds more before I quickly put my beanie and headband back on. I turned to look at Butters and saw that he was kicking at the ground and scratching the back of his head. I nudged him and he quickly turned to look back at me. Michael took another drag of his cigarette before speaking.

"Maybe you're not a total conformist, maybe there's still hope for you."

Pete flipped his hair and huffed, "Tell you what, Ash. Get the right clothes, some cigarettes and coffee and talk to us again."

"Yeah, if want to prove you aren't a conformist, then you need to look exactly like we do," Michael added. "Then, maybe we'll consider hanging out with you."

My brows furrowed as I frowned at him. "Need me to pick up some doughnut holes while I'm at it?"

"Don't get sarcastic with us, kid. We'll beat you every time."

Michael turned away from me and started smoking again, his eyes on the ground. The others followed suit. I guess they were done talking for now. I groaned, told them we would return soon and turned to leave, Butters following close behind me. We had just crossed over the school boarders when he spoke again.

"I thought your hair looked nice."

I froze where I stood, causing Butters to bump into me. He stepped back and muttered an apology, but I wasn't paying attention to that.

"What did you say?"

"D-Don't be mad," he said quickly. "I just… I didn't see the problem so I p-peeked anyway."

I stared at him, mouth slightly open, too nervous and scared to speak. Is that really his reaction after discovering the truth? After a moment of silence, he spoke up again in a nervous voice.

"N-No need to be embarrassed, lots of guys have longer hair. Maybe not around here, but that could change."

A wave of relief washed over me as I realized he still thought I was a boy, just a boy with long hair. But, with that wave came a twinge of disappointment. I thought Butters would have been clever enough to make the distinction once he saw my hair. Apparently, that wasn't the case. Still, I should count myself lucky. I shook my head and smiled at him.

"It's not that, I just have bad hair because I wear hats all the time. I didn't comb it today so it's a real mess, I just didn't want you to see."

"Aww, it didn't seem messy to me. You're fine," Butters said, a little more chipper now. "But, I get it if you wanna keep the beanie on."

"I think I will," I turned and folded my arms. "So, all I gotta do is get cigarettes, coffee and change my clothes. How do we do that?"

"Hmm… I-I don't know about the cigarettes, but I know where we can get some other stuff. There's an old hobo who hangs out by the storage facility, and he's always sellin' some nice clothes. He'll probably have some goth junk."

I nodded. "Yeah, and we can just get the coffee from Tweek's parents' shop. Alright, let's use a fast travel to get into town."

"Hold on!" Butters grabbed my robes as I made to leave. I stopped to stare at him, and he quickly let go as his face turned red. "Uh… w-well, I was thinkin'… Um, have you upgraded your bow yet?"

I shook my head. "No, I still have the same one I started with."

"O-Oh! Well, I was thinkin' we should stop by Jimbo's store and see if he had anything for you. You gotta upgrade as you level up, you know."

I gasped. "You think he'll have something?"

"Well yeah! Jimbo has some great stuff in there."

"What're we waiting for then?"

I grabbed Butters' wrist and pulled him along as I ran down the sidewalk.

It only took us 10 minutes to arrive at the shop. Thankfully, we didn't run into any elves on our way over. I made my way to the door and was about to open it when I heard something from the alley next to us. It sounded like laughter. I turned and slowly made my way to the edge of the building, peeking my head around the corner. I had expected to see some more elves. Instead, I saw three normally dressed kids, all clearly older us. One of them was dancing on top of the dumpster, making the other two laugh. I heard a soft squeak and turned to see Butters crouched beside me.

"Oh boy, those are sixth graders," he hissed. "W-we better stay away from them."

"You guys got any more cigarettes?"

My head snapped back when I heard that. The boy dancing on the dumpster had jumped off and was leaning against it, his hand held out. The kid wearing the beanie nodded as he rummaged in his pockets.

"Yeah, we just stole a whole pack."

"Not the girly ones again."

"Yeah, they're slims! Smoke two if you're bad, asshole!"

The kid finally stopped fishing through his pockets and pulled out a little red and white cart. My eyes narrowed on the box as I felt my face split into a grin.

"Butters, I think I just solved our cig problem."

"O-Oh no Ash, not the sixth graders," Butters whimpered.

"We need those cigarettes, Butters," I told him seriously. "If we can't get them, we won't be able to recruit the goth kids. We have to fight them."

Butters sighed. "I know… B-But how are we supposed to fight them?"

"I have an idea."

I backed away from the edge and took out my bow, loading an arrow. I took a deep breath before whipping around and firing a single shot at the larger boys' head. He let out a cry of pain as I quickly whipped back around, pressing myself against the wall.

"Hey, who was that!"

I grinned stuck my hand out, enough for them to see, and waved. The boy yelled out and I could hear him making his way towards us. I quickly took out my wand, holding it over my shoulder like a baseball bat. His feet got closer and closer and just as I saw his head poke out, I swung at him hard with all my might. I smacked him right in the head and he fell back instantly, already knocked out. I heard Butters gasp in surprise behind me.

"Hey!"

I whipped around to see the other two boys running towards us.

"Get ready Butters!"

I reached into my pockets to pull out my Dust of Dreams. The dancing boy made his way towards me and just as he reached me, I threw the sand into his face. He stopped and started coughing, and I took the opportunity to punch him in the face, knocking him to the ground. I stopped to let Butters take his turn, but the other sixth grader just started sprinting towards me, not waiting his turn at all. I guess I should have expected that.

But as I prepared to fight this rule breaker, Butters jumped on him, knocking him to the ground. The sixth grader yelled loudly and punched him, knocking him off. I decided that enough was enough and took out my battery. The kid had barely enough time to stand before I threw the wires down and shocked him. He groaned as he crumpled in a heap in the snow.

I was about to ask Butters if he was okay when something large suddenly hit me in the back of the head, knocking me down to my knees. I turned to see the sixth grader I had stunned was up on his feet again, looking furious. I reached for my wand to block his next attack but found that it had been knocked out of my hand. Oh great…

The sixth grader cursed at me as he raised his fists again. But just as I was about to stand and fight this guy the old-fashioned way, Butters suddenly slide in front of me. He raised his hammer and was able to block all three of the older kid's hits. Butters shoved him away, one arm holding out his hammer, and the other shielded in front of me.

"You're not playin' by the rules!" the anger in Butters' voice shocked me. "We're not foolin' around here, you know!"

"Screw you, kid!"

The sixth grader looked enraged now. Part of me wanted to smash his face into the snow, but another part of me wanted to get Butters away before he got too hurt. He's passed out on me once before already; I didn't need him going to the hospital because of me.

"Butters, move aside," I told him. "I can take this guy."

But Butters kept his arm out in front of me, not moving. He stood tall on his feet, hammer in hand and ready to fight. The fear was gone, replaced by a determination to take this guy down. There was something in his voice when he spoke that was very different, something that sent a chill up my spine that had nothing to do with the snow.

"Let's see how you like dealing with me! HAHAHA!"

The sixth grader let out and angry yell and began charging at us, but Butters didn't move. The hand that was shielding me suddenly moved to fumble for something in his robes, and for a moment I saw the end of a large wooden handle poke out. Just as the sixth grader reached us, Butters whipped out a larger, heavier looking hammer, and raised it high above him.

"Hammer of Chaos!"

Lightning seemed to shoot down from above, and there was a bright flash as he brought the hammer down on the kids' head. It was enough to finally finish him off, and he fell to the ground just like his friends.

As the dust cleared and the snow settled, I found myself still laying on the ground, mouth hanging open in awe. My heart was pounding in my chest as I stared up at Butters, who still had his back to me. He took a few deep breaths before tucking the larger hammer back into his robes. He turned to look down at me, and the soft expression on his face was such a stark contrast to his voice just moments ago. He grinned as he reached his hand out towards me.

"Y-You okay, Ash?"

I slowly reached up to take his hand, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up when it made contact. He pulled me to my feet and I quickly let go of his hand, turning away as my face grew warm.

"That was…" I gulped and turned to grin at him. "Where have you been hiding that move?"

"Oh, i-it's one of my special abilities," Butters explained. "It takes up a lot of PP, so I can't use it too often. I like keeping it for emergencies."

"I wouldn't call this an emergency," I said as I began looting the unconscious boys. "I could've taken him if I hadn't dropped my wand. Ah, don't tell Cartman I did that…"

"I-I won't. B-But, I say it was definitely an emergency. Those guys weren't followin' fightin' etiquette at all. We can't have cheaters, now can we?"

I shook my head. "No, we can't."

I reached into the beanie kids' pockets and finally pulled out the cigarettes. I glared at them distastefully as I placed them in my pockets. Something poked on my shoulder and turned to see Butters holding my wand out to me. I quickly took it and placed it back in my robes, avoiding his eyes. Why was my heart still pounding?

"Now, why don't we get you a new bow?"

Jimbo was able to hook me up with an awesome crossbow. It was a much higher level and would be able to do much more damage in battle. The whole trip to the coffee shop I couldn't stop gloating about it; I was so excited to use it. Butters just smiled and listened as we made out way to the shop.

It was surprisingly packed when we got there, but thankfully the line wasn't that long and, most importantly, there wasn't a single elf in sight. I took a moment to stand and revel in the warmth and sweet smells the shop brought after being outside in the snow for so long. It felt nice.

"I guess we should get that coffee then, huh?"

I paused before answering, "You know what? Why don't we wait on that?"

"Huh?"

"Look, I got the feeling that we're gonna be in for a good fight later, so why don't we relax here for a moment?" I grinned at him as I pointed to the display sign. "Look, they got hot chocolate here, too. Let's get some, my treat."

"R-Really?" Butters asked excitedly. "Why, I-I can't remember the last time I had hot chocolate. Sounds great!"

"Cool. You go find us some seats; I'll get the chocolate."

Butters nodded and turned to go find a place for us to sit. I moved forward towards the counter where Tweek's dad stood, ready to take orders.

"Welcome to Tweak Coffee. Can I get you something to make your day a little sweeter?"

"I'd like two hot chocolates, please."

"Absolutely. Can I get you any coffee to go with that?"

"Hmm… maybe later. Just the chocolate for now."

"Certainly. That'll be 10 dollars."

I gave him the money and moved to the other end of the counter to wait. A few moments later Tweak's mom came over with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate. I thanked her and moved through the shop towards Butters, who was sitting at a small table by the front window. I placed one mug in front of him as I sat across from him.

"Thank you, Sir Ash."

I smiled and bowed my head. "Of course, paladin, It's the least I can do. We've had a rough two days."

"No kiddin'. I thought losin' the Stick the first time was hard enough," he frowned as he picked up his mug "Our kingdom has never gone this long without it. If we don't bring it back soon, I fear the land will start to suffer."

"Don't worry, dude. We got the Stick back once before; we can do it again."

I went to take a sip of my chocolate and instantly recoiled when it burned the tip of my tongue. Butters simply blew onto his drink for a few moments before taking a sip himself, humming in contentment. I grinned and mimicked him, blowing on my drink before taking a huge gulp. Ahh, that's nice…

"So, tell me," I began. "Do you guys come up with games like this all the time?"

Butters nodded. "Oh yeah, we come up with all kinds of games like this. We've played this one a few times before, but we've also played pirates, cowboys and superheroes. Our parents don't really give us trouble about it as long as we're careful, so we're able to do just about anything we want! It's always so fun."

"No kidding. I've never played with kids as dedicated to the craft as you guys. You get so into it and try to make it so authentic… it's like LARPing, but on another level. It's really impressive."

Butters took a huge gulp from his mug before continuing, "Well, these games are one of the few things we have that are truly ours. No one else can tell us how to play, only we can. And with our parents out of the way, it's even better."

"You seem pretty happy about that part."

Butters stopped sipping his chocolate to blink at me. "W-What?"

"The part about your parents not being involved. You just seem… especially happy about that."

Butters slowly set his mug on the table as he hung his head, looking sheepish. He looked like a kid who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Butters? Is everything okay?"

"Huh? Oh, y-yeah. It's just…" he bit his lip for a moment before continuing. "M-My parents are great, really. They like the fact that I play with my friends so much. Gets me out of the house, you know? A-And when I'm playin' out here, there's nothin' for them to complain about. They can't tell me I'm doin' it wrong because they don't know what it looks like to do it right. Plus, there's no chance I'll get grounded for doing somethin' bad."

I frowned. "Something bad? Like what?"

"Oh, th-they would probably ground me if they knew I was hittin' normal kids with a hammer."

"'Normal'?"

"Yeah, that's what they say."

He picked up his mug and began to sip continuously, looking slightly embarrassed. I sipped my drink quietly, letting my mind process what he had told me. I was started to get the feeling that Butters didn't get along with his parents that much.

"H-Hey, what about your parents?" he piped up. "You get along with them alright?"

"Oh yeah, definitely," I stated. "I mean, they punish me if I do something bad obviously, but other than that we get along alright. My dad is a little overprotective of me, but my mom is usually good at handling him. I mean, if it weren't for her, I never would've been able to join the baseball team back in New York. He was worried about me getting hurt too much."

"Wow, it must have been cool growin' up in a city like that."

I shook my head. "I didn't grow up there."

"Oh, w-where did you grow up?"

"Ah," it was my turn to hang my head. "Well… I've never really grown up anywhere."

"What?"

"Yeah… My family has been moving around from place to place for as long as I can remember. I don't know why, I guess my parents just haven't found their forever home yet," I leaned my head on my hand as I stared into my mug. "We stayed in New York for 2 whole years, the longest we've ever stayed anywhere. My parents were happy there, I was happy there, I did great in school and had actual friends… I thought we had finally found our home."

I felt a familiar pang at my heart as I remembered everything we had left behind in New York. I missed the oddly soothing noises of the nightlife, the amazing street food, and of course I missed my friends- my team. I can still see their tear soaked faces when I told them that we were moving again as clear as day. I remember them clutching me for dear life when we said goodbye on my last day of school there. They thought I was weird for wanting to try to play with the boys, but they loved me just as much as I loved them.

"But, about a month ago dad came home saying that he and mom had gotten a better job offer here in South Park. I knew there was no way I was gonna convince them not to move, so I just kept my mouth shut

"Sounds like you miss it."

I nodded. "Yeah. I mostly just miss my friends though," I took a huge sip from my chocolate before continuing, "I… I hate having to say goodbye to people. I have no problems making friends wherever we go, it's actually pretty easy. I'm just… bad at keeping them, I guess. Usually when we move, they call and text me for a bit, but then they'll stop and just send me pictures and links on Facebook. They don't even send me messages. My team hasn't started doing that yet, but… it's only a matter of time."

I picked up my mug and downed the last of my hot chocolate. I can't remember the last time I spoke about this to anyone, and it felt good to let it all out. Butters was someone I felt truly comfortable with and telling him about everything felt nice. I glanced up at him and saw that he had been staring wide-eyed at me. I felt my face start to heat up, but he turned away from me before I could do the same.

"Well, maybe you won't have to worry about that here," he said. "Y-You said it yourself, your folks got better job offers here. Maybe that'll be enough for you to stay, and you won't have to say goodbye to us."

I gave Butters a pitying smile and nodded. It was a nice thought, but I truthfully didn't know how long this home would last before my parents decided it wasn't good enough. My thoughts were interrupted as Butters reached over to put a hand on my arm.

"Don't worry, Sir Ash. Even if it is your destiny to one day leave this world, I, Butters the Merciful, would never resort to only sending you Facebook pics. You are my friend, and I would always call you."

I felt goosebumps erupt all over my arm when he touched me, and I could feel my face heating up even more. Was I blushing? Oh no, my heart was pounding again. I cleared my throat and grinned at him.

"Thank you, Butters, that means a lot."

Butters grinned at me. We spent the next few minutes just enjoying the silence as we finished up our hot chocolate. Once our mugs were empty, I jumped out of my seat, placing my hands on my hips with confidence.

"Now, let's not waste the day away. We need to get some coffee."

"Okay!"

I turned and was about to head back to the counter when I saw that the line had grown since we had sat down. There were several adults and even a few teens standing in line, all looking anxious to get some caffeine into their system.

"Great," I groaned. "Looks like we'll be here for a while."

Butters patted my shoulder. "Aw, don't worry Ash. How about I go ahead and get the clothes and you stay here to get coffee?"

"You'd do that?"

"Sure! We'll be able to get this done sooner that way."

I nodded. "Yeah, alright. Thanks!"

I dug in my pockets and handed Butters some cash. He swore he would return soon before turning and walking out of the shop.

The next ten minutes were spent with me waiting patiently behind a teen girl who was complaining on the phone over how long the line at the shop was. I wasn't paying attention though; my mind was still reeling over my heart thumping so hard that it nearly burst from my chest. What was wrong with me? Was I ill? No, I felt perfectly fine this morning. Was I out in the snow for too long? The cold has never bothered me before.

But even as I thought it over, I knew the culprit responsible for my nerves being shot- Butters. Maybe it was how kind he was to me? Maybe it was how much fun I had when I played with him? Maybe seeing him pull out that special power move to protect me awoke something inside that wasn't there before? And it didn't help that he looked so adorable, cute, attractive…

"Back for more, I see?"

My head snapped up as Mr. Tweak's voice broke my train of thought. The line had gone down much quicker than expected and I had apparently just been standing there for a few seconds. I cleared my throat and stepped forward.

"Um, yeah. Could I get one small coffee please?"

"Certainly. Would you like a light, medium or dark roast? The different shades add for a unique experience every time."

I rolled my eyes. "Sure, I'll take a dark roast, no milk or sugar."

I felt certain that the goths would appreciate a strong black coffee over anything else. I gave him the money and moved to the end of the counter. It took a few minutes longer before Mrs. Tweak stepped forward and handed me a small to-go cup. I thanked her and headed for the door, wondering what other revelations I would discover today. Hopefully, Butters wouldn't distract me too much.

I stepped outside and shivered as the cold air hit me. Holding the hot coffee close to me, I started to look around to see if Butters had come back yet. But before I could do anything a loud shout came from behind a pile of snow. A small elf boy armed with a rust gardening hoe jumped out, and before I knew it, I was suddenly surrounded by elves armed to the teeth. I quickly pulled out my wand and held it out in front of me, holding the coffee close to my chest. Of course, they had to come out now when I was all alone.

"Are you serious?" I snapped at them. "This is totally cheating, you know."

"We are not here to fight you, human," one of the elves said. "Not unless you force us to."

"What do you mean?"

"The Elf King has requested your presence at his kingdom," another elf told me. "You are to come with us immediately."

"Uh-huh. And what if I say no?"

"I warn you human, fighting at this point is totally useless and you might as well just come with us."

I smirked at him. "Oh, I don't mind doing it the hard way. I haven't kicked any elf ass today and I'd be glad for an excuse to kick yours."

"We had a feeling you'd say that."

At that moment I heard a familiar voice cry out from behind me. I whipped around to see Butters being pinned to the ground by another elf. A small plastic bag that I assumed had the clothes in it had been tossed aside. Despite being pinned there was an unfamiliar glint of anger in his eyes as he glared up at the elves.

"You rotten cheaters! Leave us alone!"

"Still wanna do this the hard way?" the elf in front of me asked with a smirk on his face.

I sneered at him before glancing back over at Butters. We were outnumbered and, for all I knew, out classed, and the last thing I wanted was to get him hurt unnecessarily. Besides, I couldn't help but wonder why the Elf King would want to meet with me, his enemy; the one who stole the Stick back from him in the first place. Maybe I could gather some information. Plus, if they truly had the Stick, I might be able to at least find it if I'm inside the kingdom.

"Alright," I placed my wand back into my robes and held my hands up. "I get it, I won't fight. I'll go with you peacefully, but only if you let my friend go."

The elf smirked even harder and nodded. "You made the right choice, human."

He gestured to the elf that was pinning Butters who finally released him. He quickly picked up the bag of clothes and got to his feet, glaring daggers at all of them. I could tell just by looking at him that he was ready fight them all, but that wasn't an option. I quickly ran up to him and handed him the coffee cup.

"Here, take these and head straight for the school," I told him seriously. "Don't do anything else, don't go anywhere else. I'll meet you by the goths as soon as I can."

"B-But-"

"Let's get moving."

Two elves came up to me and they each grabbed at my wrists. I wanted pop them both in the face, but I gritted my teeth as I let them tie my hands behind my back. A third elf came up and rummaged through my robes before taking wand away. This had better be worth it. They grasped my arms tightly as they turned me around and forced me to walk down the sidewalk. I could hear Butters stammering as he yelled out once more.

"B-But Ash-"

"Just go, Butters," I called out to him over my shoulder. "I'll be okay, I promise."

I looked back at his dejected face for a few moments before turning around, letting the elves drag me to the nearest fast travel.