Reviews First! "Excuse Me", maybe you should look back at some of my Author Notes, and maybe you will see that I have hinted towards the answer you are looking for! Anonymous, again, thanks for the regular review, and I do hope your life got better, because, and to quote The Dark Knight, the night is darkest just before the dawn, and the dawn is coming! As for your idea, I will take it into account, as it seems that I am driving Kenny and Butters down the same path. Psycho, actually, if you haven't noticed yet, Kenny hasn't been specifically targeted yet, until the last chapter of course. Fillingtheemptyvoid, I am open to all suggestions and I cannot wait to hear yours!
Anyway, second last chapter, let's do this!
Disclaimer: I do not own South Park or any of its characters.
The Next Morning
Kenny's PoV
I set my phone, in shock, in even more anger, and in pain. The one I let get away, it came back to haunt me. Probably forever.
At this point, I hear a knock on the door. As my mother is still recovering from last night's events, I go to open the door, and a weak smile on my face appears when I see who it is.
"Hey guys." I say to the three boys standing in my doorway: Stan, Kyle and Cartman.
"We're so sorry." Stan says.
"We came as soon as we found out." Kyle adds.
"All of us." Cartman concludes.
"Even you?" I ask him, curious.
"I'm not that much of an asshole." He says, which makes me giggle a bit, before I return to my depressed state.
"Oh, come here you guys." We come together for a group hug.
"You feeling okay dude?" Kyle asks.
"Well, not at my best, but I guess so." I reply.
"Come on, we'll go to Tweek's shop, drinks on me." Stan says, and I agree, closing the door. They notice I didn't take my phone.
"Aren't you going to take your phone?" Cartman asks.
"Eh, I'd rather not. Before you guys came, the police called." I started to explain, but guilt creeps back into my head, and I refrained from the story.
"We heard the police found you in the middle of kicking the crap out of them? What the hell happened there?" Kyle asks as we enter Stan's car.
"They found me beating up TWO of the gunmen. The last one escaped, well, for a couple of minutes, then he got caught in a chase." I continued.
"Must have been tense." Cartman said.
"The last gunman is the one who killed my father, in a hit and run. Mom saw him leaving the house with his stuff, and then, he just got flattened by the dude's car. A cop said he died at the scene…" I finish, with my eyes beginning to tear up.
"Oh, I'm sorry for asking…" Kyle says.
"It's fine." I say as we pull up to Tweek's coffee shop. When we take our seats, and Tweek comes up to us, he looks at me with an expression of regret.
"Kenny, I-I heard. I-I-I'm s-sorry, GAH!" He says.
"It's fine, thanks Tweek." I reply.
"Hey, you can order whatever you want, it's on the house." He says.
"No, no, It's fine, they're on me." Stan says.
"No, I insist. My parents won't mind." He says.
"Thanks. I'll take Coffee." Stan says.
"Latte." Kyle says.
"Coffee, extra sugar." Cartman says.
"I'll take an espresso." I say, and Tweek heads off behind the counter. Wow, that was really nice of him. All of a sudden, Kyle's phone begins to ring, and he looks at me confused when he sees who it is.
"Hey, what's up?" He answers.
"Yeah he's here. Alright.." He takes the phone away from his ear for a bit before he pulls it back closer.
"Wait, what do you mean- we're at Tweek's. Yes his shop. Wait, Bebe!" He says before she hangs up.
"That was Bebe?" I ask.
"Yeah, she's coming over here now." He says, putting his phone away.
"And she sounded worried. Like, EXTREMELY worried." He says.
"How did your mom take it?" Cartman asks.
"She was in tears, and that as before I told her about Karen." I say.
"What's her condition? Is she stable?" Stan asks.
"She's in a coma. Doctor's have no idea when she's going to wake up…" Tears begin to form in my eyes again, just as Bebe bursts in.
"Oh my God, I thought you were dead!" She says as we embrace.
"Why didn't you call me?" I ask her.
"I wanted to meet you in person! I went to your house, and I found out you weren't there so then I called Kyle and he told me you were here so I rushed here as fast as I can just to see you." She says quickly before hugging me again. We sit down as Tweek comes with our orders.
"Oh, sorry, Bebe. Did you want anything? Did you?! TOO MUCH PRESSURE!" He asks.
"I'm fine, thanks." She answers as Tweek gives us our orders.
"Oh no, I just realised. We barely have enough money for a funeral for my dad. Oh, no, what am I gonna do? We can't even afford a coffin!" I say, distraught.
"Hang on, I think I know someone who can help." Tweek takes out his phone.
"Hey, um, you know what happened to Kenny's dad, right? NGH! Well, he has no money for a funeral. Alright, I'll give it to him now." He speaks into the phone before he hands it to me.
"Hello? Who is this?" I ask.
"It's me, Token. First off, I'm sorry for what happened to you, and I really hope things get better. Secondly, I will do everything I can to give your dad a proper funeral. I'm sure my parents will agree." Token says, and my spirits are lifted for once in the last 24 hours.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'll certainly make it up to you!" I tell him.
"It's fine, you don't have to do anything. Goodbye Kenny." He says before he hangs up, and I hand the phone back to Tweek.
"What happened?" Bebe asked.
"Token just agreed to finance my dad's funeral!" I say, and Bebe hugs me in response.
"Hey, we'll do all the we can to help you with Karen too. You don't need to do anything in return." Kyle says, making me remember what happened to Karen.
"Thanks…" my voice starts to quiver, but I make sure that they don't notice that.
Saturday / After The Funeral
I'm sitting in my bedroom, and it's just after my father was buried. My mother is talking with others, and I've enclosed myself in my room for the rest of the reception, holding a picture of my the whole family. It was taken when I was in 4th grade. Mom and Dad at the back, with Kevin, Karen and I at the front. Back then, I was dying nearly every day, and me and my friends use to have these crazy adventures. But now, when I actually want to die, I can't do it. I can't die. Why?
Suddenly, I hear someone knock on the door.
"Who is it?" I ask.
"It's me." Bebe answers. I think for a second, before ultimately letting her in.
"Everyone is looking for you, you know. Especially Stan, Kyle and Cartman." She tells me as I shut the door behind her.
"Well, I can let them wait for another couple of minutes." I say as she looks at the picture I was holding.
"Is that a picture of your family? When you were in, um, 3rd Grade?" She asks.
"4th Grade. Karen never let go of that doll, even when our parents were once taken away. Now one's taken away for good." I say, lowering my head.
"Oh, Kenny. Everything will get better, trust me, it will." She says, stroking my hair.
"She was caught in the crossfire, I tried to get her out, I failed." I say.
"They came for you, didn't they? I heard that you started fighting them, after, you know." She says.
"I did, and I actually held up pretty well against them, but, I, I let one of them escape…" I begin to cry again.
"Kenny, you took on gunmen to protect your sister." Bebe says.
"And I let one get away, who ended up killing my father!" I exclaim, before wiping away more tears.
"I never told anyone why my dad was on the street. My mother and him had a massive fight, before Karen and I went to the play. Then, he screamed in her face that he wanted a divorce. It was the first timer I ever heard any of them say that. I nearly beat up my dad because of it. Then, according to my mother, he was leaving with his stuff, and that's when it happened…" I explain to a speechless Bebe.
"Kenny-" She starts, but I cut her off.
"WHAT IF IT DOESN'T GET BETTER?" I yell at her, taking her by surprise.
"What do you mean? Of course it wil-" I cut her off again.
"Don't give me that. It didn't get better for Butters, so why should it get better for me?" I ask her.
"Don't compare yourself to that, that monster!" She shrieks.
"Oh please, I'm just as worse as him at this stage." I start to let my guard down, but I don't realise it.
"Kenny, what are you talking about?" She asks me.
"I let innocent people die, everyone's lost faith, 10 months, yet it's worse than ever!" I mumble quite loudly.
"Kenny, you're scaring me…" She says.
"I promised, I promised I'd protect her, and I failed!" I yell.
"KENNY! WHAT'S GOING ON?!" She finally grabs my attention. I realise what I just spilled,and I lower my head in shame.
"Kenny, you are actually, making me terrified. What is it?" She asks, with a very worried face.
"Look in the closet." I ultimately sigh. She looks at the closet, and then back at me.
"I don't want to…" She says.
"Please, just do it. Don't make this harder for me than it already is." I insist. She slowly moves to the closet, placing her hand on the doorknob. She looks at me again, before opening the door, seeing what's inside.
"Oh my, oh my God." She initially says, quietly.
"Kenny, oh my, Kenny, you're, all this time, it was you, oh my God, oh, I think I'm going to faint, holy shit, Kenny, why didn't you, oh my, WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T YOU TELL ANYONE?!" She screams at me, slamming the closet door shut.
"Now you know." I ask, bowing my head down again.
"You're Mysterion, all this time, it was you." She says.
"Yes, it was me." I say in disappointment.
"You saved my life, you saved everyone's life, the Mayor, Red, Stan, Wendy, a-and the coffee shop, it was you. I saw you take down like, 20 armed gunmen, IT WAS YOU!" She yells again.
"Was. It was me. There's no point in continuing anymore." I say.
"No, no, no, you can't give up." She says.
"Oh please. Everyone thinks I'm a murdering psychopath, and I'm working with Butters or something. Makes sense though right? When he turned crazy, he had no one." I say.
"Kenny…" She tries to continue but I won't let her.
"And now look at me! I HAVE NO ONE!" I scream.
"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" She screams back, taking me a bit by surprise.
"You have your mother, you have the best friends anyone could ever wish for." She says.
"Oh for fuck sake…" I mutter.
"You have me." She says, and I look at her dead in the eyes.
"Bebe-" I try to talk but she cuts me off.
"No, let me do the talking now. You can't give up, Kenny. You are the only thing that some people still have. You give people hope. You may just be a man, but to them, Mysterion is so, much, more! Mysterion is not only a symbol of justice to them, but a symbol of hope, and faith, faith that some people hold close to them, wishing for it to come through in the end. You can't let him win, Kenny. You can't give up. I won't let you." She says.
"What did you want to accomplish when you started being Mysterion." She asks me.
"Umm, a lot of things, like, hope on the streets, order, justice." I tell her.
"Well, if you don't want Butters to win, if you want there to be order and justice on the streets again, then Mysterion can't give in. And if you want people to have faith for a long time to come, then not only can't Mysterion give in, but you can't lose hope, in Mysterion." She stares back at me, with a look of desperation in her eyes.
"I need you, this city needs you, to hope again." She finishes her speech.
I stand up, still looking at her, before kissing her softly. I then pull away and take her hand.
"I won't give up, not until Butters is stopped, once and for all. But you must understand, when it's over, I'm ending it. Maybe, I can give the people enough hope, to live without Mysterion." I tell her as I open the door.
"But trust me, until then, I will stop at nothing until Butters is taken down." I say as we walk out.
"Oh, and about what you said, about how I have a the best friends I could ever wish for." I say.
"Yeah, what about it?" She asks.
"I also have the best girlfriend I could ever wish for." I smile.
A/N: This is it! The story is nearly over! It's been a long wait, but the end is near! I hope to get the Final Chapter out before at most, the end of the month, because it's going to be a long one. Until I can write it, I desperately need your support now, so please review this story and tell me what I can improve on, before I can get this over and done with. And, until the final chapter…
Thanks For Reading!