Even though his friends were sympathetic to him and his sister, no one could feel the pain Kenny felt. No one knew what Karen had had to do in order to get accepted into college. All the things no one else saw. The nights without sleeping, so she could become the best student; her exhaustion; the shitty jobs she had to accept so she could afford the classes, having to put up with so much and keeping it up, keeping it up because this was just temporary and the future seemed brighter; the pressure her parents couldn't help putting on her shoulders, being the only one with actual chances to find a place in society...All of that for what?

...All gone...And it was not her fault...It was his...

...But he knew how to make up for it...

Karen glanced at the sky before coming out of her house. It had been raining for one or two days straight and it showed no signs of stopping. Therefore, she opened her umbrella before coming out of the house, off to work.

Her eyes were swollen from crying, but no more. She took her mother's advice and just...stop thinking about the opportunity lost. Shit happened, and McCormicks were a real magnet of it—she was old enough to get used to a life of failures and disappointment. She guessed she was right. It was too good to be true and reality woke her up with a slap. She was dying to go to get admitted in college so she could stop working at the bar, because she hated it, but now...well, she couldn't stay and home, feeling sorry for herself; she still had to work to help the family...It wasn't such a big deal, was it? No one died from not achieving their dream job...

"It's that Mysterion's fault. Of course girls go nuts for mysterious guys like him. I'm gonna kill that guy. This is the last straw. I never liked him, but after this, I swear he's gonna wish he was never born!", Karen heard her father say before she left the house. He was about to join the Citizen Patrol that night, to do Mysterion's job. Spot him. Harass him. Give him a good beating, hopefully. Funny that the idea of the Patrol with her father on it didn't make her feel safer.

She walked in the streets wishing they never crossed paths.

Perhaps...The Freedom Pals knew what was being said about them and fled already...She had not heard about them in a while.

She stopped, feeling like somebody was watching her. But it was not an unpleasant sensation. All the contrary, actually. It was very reassuring, warm...A bit like if God had sent an angel to watch her steps...

...That could only mean...

A figure landed from above in front of her. She only drew back a bit, startled, but immediately her surprised expression turned into a smile.

"Guardian Angel..."

Rain ran down Mysterion's lips and chin.

"...I know what they did to you...for defending me..." He said.

Karen nodded slowly. "I don't believe anything they say about you and the Freedom Pals...I heard that the child lied about Fastpass touching her, saw on the TV how they harassed Wonder Tweek and even threw a rock to his head and...and I guess there was no other way to stop Melman Ackroyd...People are being so unfair I couldn't keep quiet..."

"...I will do everything in my hand to get you admitted. I will-"

"No, Mysterion." Karen shook her head. "I...think it's become very clear that college is not for me."

"Don't say that. I have watched your hard work all these years. You are very intelligent. Any university should be fighting to have you."

Karen smiled kindly, tilting her head.

"No university is going to accept me as long as they check their candidates' social media. Even if I deleted that post and even my profile, some people have already called me out. They would find out. And I won't conform to the agenda against you, even if that means I can't go to college."

"No. Listen to me. I won't let your talent be wasted in a bar, having to put up with drunkards." Mysterion came closer to place his strong hands, those hands which had punched people who wanted to hurt her, on her shoulders, and looked at her into her eyes. "I swear I won't stop until they change their minds. But in order to do this you have to promise me something, Karen...You must join the crowd and hate on us."

Karen stared at him with wide eyes.

"I can't do that." She replied.

"You must. It's the only way they'll leave you alone. Loathe and cancel us just like everyone else does, educate yourself on why we are terrible, don't question anything they say about us, and everything will be just fine."

"But that's horrible, Mysterion..."

"Sticks and stones...I have gone through much worse..."

Karen shook her head and left her umbrella on the pavement to take his hands.

"No. You have always been there for me. You comforted me when I was alone, scared and sad. You helped and took care of me when I had no one else to rely on. It's time I return the favor. You guys are not alone. You are not alone." She smiled at him and pressed his hands so he could feel her determination, her warmth. "...No matter where you go. No matter what you do. I will always be there."

Kenny struggled to keep that stone cold face and grave voice...

"...Please, don't...You have to put yourself first..." He avoided looking at her to the eyes. He didn't want her to see the sparkle in his eyes. But she had noticed already.

"Maybe I want to be like you and care for others before myself." Karen replied.

"...You are a woman now..."

"Yes, and I am not afraid anymore."

Mysterion moved away from her, even if he still wanted to touch her hands. "It doesn't matter. I still won't leave you—not even when you are a hundred years old."

He turned around and ran around the nearby corner. Karen quickly followed him. When she finally got there, Mysterion was gone. She rose her head but there were still no signs of him.

She sighed, smiling, before picking her umbrella back and continuing on her way—or at least that was what she intended to, because a figure emerged from the shadows. She thought for a second that Mysterion had something left to say, but the person who approached had long hair and sharp canines when he smiled.

"Hello, Karen."

She was glued to the spot.

"Long time no see, per se...You got really pretty..." The apparition said.

"I know you..." She muttered.

"You used to be such a lonely kid. The poor girl who had no toys to play with and had no cable or streaming services and couldn't follow the shows people talked about. Everyone mocked you, per se. But I didn't. Remember?"

"No...You tried to convince me to join your vampire group." Karen drew back as Mike approached her.

"Don't talk like I was taking advantage of your situation to increase my army of the undead. All of us were lonely, tortured souls. Even I, per se."

"You were just a boy who never realized that going around pretending to be a vampire is pathetic..."

Mike lost his smile.

"You used to call me your friend. But you had to listen to what all those pitiful humans said. If only you knew, Karen, the power of being a creature of the night, per se..."

"I have to work, Mike, I've got no time for this..."

She stepped back, not turning her back on him. Somehow, when she turned around, there he was, standing right in front of her.

"Don't waste your time with jobs, Karen. Join me in a feast of blood and darkness for all eternity..." He purred, approaching inexorably.

"Mike, stop! You really need help, you're read Twilight way too many times!" Karen exclaimed, getting really scared now. Those fangs seemed so real it was scary...Just as scary as his penetrating look.

"I told you a million times...It's Vampyr!" Mike exclaimed, and pounced on her.

Karen let out a scream whose echo reached Kenny several streets away, while he was removing his uniform. Muttering a swearing, he put it back on in a rush.

Karen used her umbrella to block Mike for barely a few seconds, until he got it out of his way with a swipe. Then he pinned her against the wall. Karen felt his warm breath on her neck, his animal-like grunts, and whined, because it was really lame for a guy in his twenties to pretend to be a vampire, but he really believed he was and he was going to bite her and who knew what else...

"You said I was your friend..." Mike whispered. "You said you didn't want to see me unhappy...Well...Make me happy, Karen..."

His fangs didn't get to touch her. Mike felt that someone grabbed him from behind and forced him to turn around. He only had a few milliseconds to see a caped figure before a punch left him flat on his ass. His nose was surely broken, considering how it hurt him, blood was gushing out of it. His tongue tried not to let a single drop of it go to waste. He looked up at Mysterion with a grin dyed red.

"You know what I like, huh?" He chuckled.

And he got up, bowled him over to punish him for interrupting their conversation. Kenny had a lot of experience fighting, it had given him money when studies didn't help him go far in life, but Mike was free from every human feeling and restraint, he let the beast free, and attacked brutally and ruthlessly.

"Run! Karen! Run!"

Karen couldn't bring herself to do it. She drew back, getting out of the way, until she practically hid behind the trash bins, paralyzed, only able to watch how Mike attacked Mysterion like a beast.

She had to do something! She had sworn she would protect him! But what? She didn't have Mysterion's strength...If Mysterion was having a bad time with him, what could she do?

Mysterion got to grab him by the neck and punch him in the face a few more times. Mike, with a kick in the gonads, got to get rid of him, and sank his fangs in his neck viciously. When he ripped his trachea off, Karen let out a cry and decided she couldn't just witness how Guardian Angel died for her. She grabbed the lid of one of the trash cans and, while Mike was feasting on Mysterion, she hit him in the head with all her strength, and she didn't stop even when he was on the ground, she kept kicking him.

"STAY AWAY FROM HIM!" She shouted.

She had no time to waste on him. She ran towards Mysterion. She hoped she could do something for him!

"Angel...Guardian Angel..."

Mike got up groaning, not before licking a bit of the blood on the pavement. He stood up and stumbled towards Karen. She stood firm between him and Mysterion.

"Go away!" She grumbled, fists clenched.

Mike would never admit he had been defeated. He said to himself that he had tasted enough blood for the night and it was back to return to his lair and heal...

"You have been lucky tonight, but next time we find each other, you will become one of my brides..." He said before fusing with the shadows.

Dear God, was he deranged...But Karen had no time to worry about him. She feared she was losing Mysterion.

"Oh, no...No...H-Hold on...I'll get help..."

Yes, the Citizen Patrol didn't like him at all, but they wouldn't be as cruel as to deny him urgent medical assistance, right?

But nobody could help him...His head was only attached to his body by a thread of skin. Rain was sending all that pool of blood down the sewer...He was still conscious and looked at her with shiny eyes, almost like a sacrificed lamb...The realization that he was dying made tears form in her eyes.

No, there had to be something she could do! She couldn't let him die! Not after everything he had done for her! She refused to give up. It was probably useless, but she thought of plugging the wound. Prevent as much blood loss as possible. Help him breathe.

In order to do that she had to...

Kenny wanted to stop her, but felt too groggy, had barely any strength left.

And so Karen removed the hood with trembling hands, finding a long, blond Mohawk haircut, just like...

...just like...

Karen felt air left her lungs and her heart stopped beating. She then took the black mask covering his face and pulled it up, revealing what she feared to find: the face of her own brother Kenny.

She covered her mouth. "Kenny...Kenny! Oh, Kenny!" She cried, hugging Kenny.

If she had looked at that moment, she would have noticed there was no reason to cry: his throat was back to its place, the bleeding stopped, his neck was intact. Kenny rose his head, but Karen kept weeping and hugging him tight.

"Karen..."

Her tears blended with the raindrops falling on her face. Her sobbing didn't cease after hearing him talk, almost as if she couldn't believe it. Kenny stained her cheeks and hair with his own blood caressing her.

"Karen, it's okay..." He spoke with his real, tender, soft voice, the voice she had grown up hearing. "I'm okay, baby...It's all right..."

It took Karen a good while to finally look at him to the face and talk. When she did, she did it with thick voice, her hands on his cheeks. She uttered the precise same words he had inside of his head.

"I won't let them hurt you...I won't let them hurt you anymore...I won't let them..."

No matter the rain...They stayed in there for long, just hugging each other, sheltering one another...

Craig stopped for a second to catch his breath, bent, his hands on his knees, and watch from where he was.

South Park was far behind. There was not an inch of it he hadn't inspected carefully, not a person without interrogation, so he went beyond its limits.

...And now he thought he had an idea of where Tweek could be...

In the distance he saw how the heavy rain seemed to avoid a certain forest area...

He let out a long sigh. If he wasn't so worried and exhausted, he would have strangled Tweek on sight for giving him such a bad time...

After a thirty minute walk, he found him. He was just a curled up little thing, hidden among the bushes. The raindrops didn't touch him: they were suspended in the air six feet above his head, creating a sort of dome. Upon hearing some twigs cracking under Craig's feet as he walked, Tweek rose his head. He wasn't wearing his mask and his bun was almost completely undone.

"It's me, Tweek." Craig said with as little emotion as he could, so his husband didn't think he was angry or worried.

"What are you doing here? How did you find me?" Tweek didn't change his posture, but now that he was closer Craig noticed that he had been crying, and surely for a long time, because his voice sounded broken. He was pale, his hair loose and his uniform was scratched, surely from running among all those branches and bushes—or perhaps he had tried to harm himself...That was the possibility that worried Craig the most.

He was all soaked, hungry, tired, yet he didn't show any signs of discomfort. "Took me long enough."

"Go away, leave me alone in here."

"To die? Come on, don't be silly."

"You didn't see, did you...All the people I hurt..." Tweek's voice trembled as he bent his head again, folding into himself.

"Don't think about it..."

"Don't think about it? Do you think I can just pretend that this didn't happen? I hurt people...I surely killed someone...People I know...Children I was supposed to save...Your own mother, Craig!"

"It was an accident."

"Yes. And that's what scares me, don't you understand? Next time, every time I freak out—will I do this? Do you think I can live like this? I was stupid, thinking I could be a hero, thinking I could have a future, a family of my own...I'm not a hero or even someone people should be around...I'm not...I'm no better than Butters..."

"You're not like him. Don't say that." Craig took several steps towards him.

"Go away, Craig..."

"Not without you."

Craig was stubborn...Tweek was afraid it was true he wouldn't leave that forest unless he was coming with him...But he couldn't leave that place...He belonged in the wilderness, where he could hurt no one...

He removed his wedding ring and stretched his arm to leave it at Craig's feet, away from himself. Then, he closed his eyes firmly and hugged himself tighter. Four blocks of dense ice emerged from the ground, forming a square with him in the middle. The ice merged, shutting him inside in a cold, self-imposed prison. Craig tried to find an opening in vain. He then knocked at its surface; Tweek just shook his head slowly.

Craig then clicked his tongue and decided he had to be drastic and snap Tweek out of his bullshit, help him whether he wanted or not. He took impulse and broke the ice block with a headbutt. Tweek let out an exclamation and stood up with a jump.

"God dammit, Craig!"

"I told you." He shrugged.

Tweek shook his head, hitting it with his fists clenched.

"I got you into this mess! I-I was the one who suggested to get into that ride...It's my fault you can't have a normal life, a normal husband!" His words were accompanied by strong wind, making it difficult for Craig to see Tweek even though they were pretty near one from another.

"We come from South Park. No one there is normal." Was Craig's response.

"I'm serious!"

"Me too. I know you're not the most regular guy in Colorado, but you know what? You weren't the day I asked you if you wanted to get married or something." Craig couldn't see a darned thing, but he crouched down to pick up the wedding ring Tweek had removed from his finger and showed it to him. "You haven't been normal all these years we've dated. I don't think you've been normal a single day in your life. And I sure as hell want to spend the rest of mine by your side because I can live with that. I even like your weirdness."

"I summon lightning bolts when I'm anxious, and that is like 90% of the time, Craig!"

"And I leave a shit ton of hairs in the shower, so what?"

"One day I might kill you by accident and if that happened I...I just wouldn't be able to live with myself!" The wind was so strong Craig was starting to have it difficult standing still.

"You're such a drama king, Tweek..." He said nevertheless, as if it was a simple breeze.

"Dammit, Craig, you moronic son of a bitch, I'm trying to protect you from myself because I love you and you won't stop being an asshole!" Tweek exclaimed, and his words were followed by thunder.

He had to let it out. He had to let it all out, so Craig kept talking in that special way of his.

"You act like this is important." He said with that unaffected tone.

"It is important!" Tweek replied. "I can't have a normal life! And so can't you!"

"We can. You just don't wanna."

"I want to! If I could go back in time, I would get us as far, far away from that fucking ride as humanly possible! I would be just Tweek Tweak, one more loser in this planet!"

"But you can't, and you have to live with being a freak. I know your powers aren't easy to deal with..."

"YOU DON'T KNOW SHIT! NO ONE DOES!" Tweek shouted, and Craig tried not to show how startled he was by a booming thunder.

"I know, and I want to help you deal with them, but you won't let me."

"BECAUSE ONE DAY I'LL PROBABLY KILL YOU!" Sparkles were coming out from Tweek's body.

"Maybe it's me who kills you!" Craig replied, making a big effort not to be pushed by the storm and his voice be heard. "Remember last year, when I dislocated your shoulder after I gave you a pat to shoo a fly away?"

"I HEALED; YOU CAN'T!"

"What if I snap your neck hugging you? Or break you in half making love to you? Or break your spine playing? We are the biggest danger to each other's lives. But even if you killed me, I'd still want to be with you, live in that home we made together, have a swarm of kids if you want, grow old together and when the time comes, be buried next to you, and be with you wherever we are supposed to go after we die for all eternity!"

Lightnings impacted all around them as he approached, fighting the wind. Tweek drew back, but Craig followed, and there was a moment when his back hit the trunk of a tree and he couldn't go any further. The only way to escape from Craig was attacking him, but he couldn't, he could just...The only thing he could do was let out an anguished scream.

Craig broke the distance between them and grabbed his hand, and when this happened, everything ceased suddenly.

The thundering sky was silenced. Rain stopped. The dark clouds started to dissipate, allowing sun rays in. Temperature increased gradually.

Tweek stared at Craig with lips parted, trembling breath coming out of his open mouth. They didn't say anything in a long while, until he closed his mouth to swallow and muttered:

"...There is...one thing...I am so thankful about..., one thing I don't regret...Those Asian girls from school drawing yaoi of us..."

Craig finally had no reason to keep using that indifferent facade. He drew a smile.

"...I'm sorry..." Tweek muttered, looking away.

"Don't be. Anyone would get crazy in a situation like this." Craig said, and offered him his wedding ring, which Tweek put back in his finger, staring at it lovingly.

"...Did I...kill someone...?"

"I don't know. But don't think about it now."

"...Craig..."

"Yes?"

"I guess I should say it more often, but...I love you..." Tweek smiled for the first time in...he didn't even remember when, and just seeing that made Craig smile, everything he had been through in the last days, looking for him, completely worth it.

"There's no need to. You know I love you too, right?"

They were alone. They could be as sappy as they wanted. They embraced and kissed each other on the lips, on the cheeks, on the forehead, the neck, rubbed their noses together, caressed each other's skin and hair. Since nobody was looking...

"I'm sorry I made you come all the way here to..." Tweek paused to look around, at the forest they were in and that he half destroyed with the force of the elements. "...Whatever this is..."

"Stop saying sorry already. It's fine. Come on, let's go home." Craig gave him a last kiss on the lips before taking his hand. The first time he tried he got a small shock that made him jump. Tweek giggled nervously and had to bite his tongue not to apologize one more time. Fortunately, the next time Craig touched him the electricity seemed gone by then.

"...Yes..." Tweek whispered, no longer loud, no longer tense, no longer wild, walking by his husband's side, his eyes half closed, because he felt so tired, but so calm he could have fallen asleep while walking...

Craig realized at that moment that he didn't have his phone to tell his family and Tweek's that Tweek had been found safe and sound. Anyway, he would find a way to tell them on the way back home, and he would also tell everyone not to make questions or even say a thing to Tweek, let him rest as much as he needed, without scolding or unpleasant news. He would make sure of it.

They left that forest by the hand. The sun shone so bright with the colors of a new day that had just begun.