A/N: Thank you again for the faves and alerts, appreciated as always!

(I guess trigger warnings for mentioning anorexia/bulimia...?)

And thank you, Wendy, for finally joining us only almost 45,000 words in, you'd think she wasn't planned, but, apparently, some characters just like to keep you waiting.

The school day was over and Kyle couldn't have been more happy, practically skipping out of the building. He assumed there had been no incident at lunch. He really didn't want to know at this point if there had been. He was sure Kenny probably hadn't eaten anything, the thought made him irritated and frustrated. That would sure help things if the dude would just eat some food. Pretty easy solution Kyle figured. Then again, he wondered if Kenny would find other means to end his life. He texted Wendy that he was on his way to her house. They had opted not to walk home or find a ride together. Kyle was determined to keep this secret. He hoped Wendy didn't think he was ashamed of just being seen with her. She had pointed out that they were friends and it's not like they were dating but he didn't want anyone getting wind of their little project especially Stan, Kenny, or Cartman. He was positive they would know he was up to something if he was going to have "study sessions" with Wendy often; if Stan found out what the studies were for, he was sure his best friend would go to his mother in a fit of concern. Who knew what would happen if Kenny or Cartman caught wind of it. Stan had known right away that he wasn't tutoring or being tutored so it's not like Kyle was exactly smooth at covering things up. It would just be best if there was no need to cover anything up and the only way around that was to make sure his friends just didn't know. Wendy texted back that she was already home; she'd gotten a ride and been dropped off.

Nerves were getting the best of him as he approached her house. What if she also thought he was just crazy? She hadn't given him the same strange looks others had throughout the school day. He knew he could study this on his own but he desperately wanted someone else to research as well- someone he knew that would catch things he might not or might have a better grasp of certain concepts than him and he knew Wendy was up for that task. He'd brought his book bag with him, books on the occult he'd checked out from the public library. He'd brought his tablet as well as he understood that the internet was a valuable tool in researching even if it sometimes overwhelmed the senses with information. Finally, arriving at her door, he reached his hand up to ring the bell, but Wendy was already opening the door before he could press the button.

"Hey, took you long enough," she greeted, holding the door open and inviting him in. She immediately spotted the bulging book bag on his back and her eyes widened. "Good grief, Kyle, is that why it took you so long? Are you weight training or something?"

"No," Kyle managed while gasping for breath. He slid the backpack off and heaved a sigh of relief. "Wow, I didn't realize it was that heavy." It hit the floor with a thud. Wendy shut the door and locked it before surveying Kyle and his book bag again.

"Well, what's in it?"

"Are your parents here?"

"No, they're out for a few hours. Some sort of work event."

Kyle didn't hide his relief. He didn't want her parents thinking he was trying to recruit her into a cult. He realized most teenage boys would be more concerned that her parents would think he was trying to seduce her, but not in Kyle's life. Nope, instead he lugged around thick books on cults. He glanced at her. "I brought a bunch of books on cults."

Wendy stared at him for a couple uncomfortable minutes, shocked. "Why'd you bring that many over? We won't be able to go over all of those this afternoon." Surely Kyle remembered that she still did have a life. Right now she was less concerned about the topic and more concerned that he expected her to dedicate her life to this project.

"I was hoping we could split them up," he explained. "I figured I'd leave some with you and I'd bring some back home since this will probably take more than one day." Wendy was relieved. She should have known he would have more realistic expectations.

"Well, let's go up to my room."

Kyle hesitated. "What if your parents come home?"

"Really, Kyle? Would you rather us do this in the kitchen and explain to my parents why we're reading about cults instead of of just pretending we were making out or something?"

"Neither one of those options sounds good for me," he pointed out. Both sounded very much like ways to get in hot water with her parents.

"You didn't want to do this at your house, remember? Besides my mom will text when they're on their way back and you can just leave then, don't worry about it." He felt at ease with this information and visibly relaxed.

"Okay."

Wendy sat cross-legged on the carpet in her room, several books sprawled around her as she and Kyle had fished through his bag and determined which ones she'd be keeping for the time being. Kyle was grabbing the last few books he thought she'd need. Wendy glanced at some of the books, she instantly recognized a couple books and the sight temporarily paralyzed her with shock. She really had no idea what Kyle was up to and worry was starting to settle in the pit of her stomach, making her second guess her decision to help out. She'd heard bits and pieces about his strange outburst at lunch but not the whole story. Something about Kyle thinking he was like the kid in the Sixth Sense or something. She had failed in getting the exact details of what Kyle had been upset about. He finally plopped down on the floor across from her, setting down the other books he'd carried up.

Wendy cleared her throat, "So we are obviously concerned about a cult. Or several cults?"

"Just one. The Cult of Cthulhu."

Wendy frowned. She had guessed as much based on the books that littered her carpeted bedroom floor. "H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu?" At the nod of affirmation, she went on, "Kyle, there's like cults within cults in that mythos. Not to mention some are real and some are totally fictional. It blends reality with fiction. You don't know what's real."

Kyle smiled, impressed. "So you are familiar with it then?" He knew she was the right person to rope into doing this project with him.

Wendy turned her head away from Kyle and picked up one of the books, casually flipping some pages. "Yes." Kyle waited for her to expand further but she didn't and he wondered why she was suddenly tense.

"What's wrong?"

Her eyes didn't leave the pages of the book she held in her lap. "Why do you want to research this?"

"I thought you heard about my outburst in the cafeteria?"

She finally put the book down and gave him her full attention again. "Only parts of it. I don't know what this has to do with that, though."

"Kenny's parents were in the cult when his mom was pregnant with him." Nothing clicked with Wendy and he frowned. "Did you not hear about how I accused Kenny of dying all the time and coming back to life?"

Wendy paled at this revelation and shook her head slowly. "No, I'd just heard you thought you saw dead people or something like that."

Kyle laughed at this. He couldn't believe it. He thought everyone would be saying much worse things about him, it was actually a relief that people weren't zooming in on Kenny. He didn't need any more attention that was for sure. "Well, I accused Kenny of dying all the time and coming back to life." The relief was gone as he realized Wendy was studying him intently. He was getting nervous again. "What?" Of course she wouldn't believe him. He didn't expect her to, he just wanted her help with the research. "Look, Wendy, you don't have to believe me, it's fine if you don't. I know it's pretty unbelievable, trust me. I just want some help on researching the topic."

Wendy was quiet for several long minutes, the silence unnerving Kyle. He could hear the birds chirping and cars driving by, even a couple younger kids running down the street laughing loudly. His heart was starting to sink as he realized maybe Wendy wouldn't help him research this. It was silly of him to have expected her to, he could do it alone, it would just take twice as long. He definitely didn't feel comfortable asking anyone else. Wendy was the least judgmental person he knew in his AP classes and if she wouldn't help, no one would. Wendy finally spoke, her words barely audible. "I believe you."

Kyle's eyes went wide and his mouth fell open in shock. He had not been expecting that. "What? You do?!" He couldn't believe it. She believed him! Wait, did that mean? "Do you know that Kenny dies a lot, too?"

She shook her head. "No, not him." She paused before glancing up at Kyle. He said nothing so she went on, "My cousin. She's our age. I don't see her a lot because she lives in Florida. This last year has been really strange. I've been to her funeral. More than once. But then she calls or is in the FaceTime videos when my mom's talking to my aunt and it's like no one remembers." She bit her lip for a second before exhaling deeply, happy to finally be able to confide in someone about the bizarre occurrences with her relative.

"Wow." Kyle had no other words, he was stunned. Life was sure full of surprises for him lately. Kenny first returning from the dead in the figurative sense, Kenny returning from the dead in the literal sense, Cartman actually being… concerned and caring, Stan and Kenny developing feelings for each other, Stan being way more clueless than usual, Kenny refusing to eat, Karen and Kevin's friends acting like little demons, and now Wendy admitting that she also knew someone that was popping up from the dead on a regular basis. What sort of bizarre reality had manifested itself around him?

Wendy nodded. "Yeah, I thought… that I was just losing my mind. Like maybe I was imagining all of this."

Kyle nodded. "That's exactly how I felt once I realized Kenny was dying and coming back. But no one remembers. I couldn't sleep. I thought I was having really realistic nightmares and then I thought I was just…crazy. But I couldn't tell anyone because the person that I'd seen die was right there and everyone else was just acting like everything was normal like….."

"Like you broke free of the Matrix and no one else did?" Wendy summed up with a grin.

Kyle smiled, appreciating her sense of humor. "Exactly." He was so relieved and happy. Finally, there was a sane person in his orbit. There was something else nagging at him. "How does she die? Your cousin."

Wendy shrugged. "Honestly, it's been a different way each time. Like once she got hit by a drunk driver while she was crossing the street, another time she was stung by a bee, she had anaphylaxis so it didn't end well. Another time, she was at a bank when it was being robbed and she was the only person the robber shot. She's also died during surgery a couple times. I've been keeping a journal about them. I'm afraid I'll forget one day like everyone else." Kyle nodded, that made sense to him. He had also been tracking Kenny's deaths in a journal for the same reason. There was one glaring difference between Wendy's cousin and Kenny's deaths though.

"Do you know if she ever does it…on purpose?"

Wendy shook her head. "I mean there's no way for me to know for sure without asking her. She could have killed herself before, I guess. I only recently starting realizing this was happening. This past year, she hasn't killed herself as far as I know. I mean, I suppose it's possible that my mom could have lied one or two times about how she died." She paused frowning, sensing where this was going and she didn't like it. "How does Kenny die?" She feared she already knew the answer.

"Kills himself," Kyle said simply confirming what she already suspected. "Over and over."

"How?"

"He… he just doesn't eat."

"He doesn't eat?"

Kyle nodded, surprised she hadn't heard. She was probably so focused on her studies she let the gossip in one ear and out the other or just didn't pay it any attention at all. "Yeah, he doesn't say why."

"Do you think he's anorexic?"

Kyle bit his lip; the thought had crossed his mind but it just didn't add up. "I don't think so," he said slowly. "I don't think he is. I mean people with anorexia nervosa are usually concerned about gaining weight and how they look. Kenny….. I don't think he cares about the weight and I hate to say it, but he doesn't seem concerned about looks at all. Like, I don't think he bathes on a regular basis." He paused again reflecting on all his interactions with the withdrawn blonde boy that had become a prominent figure in his life as of late. "Since he moved in with Cartman, the hygiene is better, but I honestly think that's Cartman's doing." Kyle wanted to talk more about the family aspect of it but struggled to find the words. Could Cartman have been right?

Wendy laughed despite the topic of conversation. "Leave it to Cartman." She shook her head. "I don't want to say that totally rules out anorexia. Sometimes people with it just don't like to see themselves in the bathroom mirrors or just don't want to see their bodies, so that could explain the hygiene issue...we know he isn't bulimic if he isn't eating."

"How do we know it's even an eating disorder?"

"He refuses to eat. Isn't that the basic definition of an eating disorder?"

"Well, yeah, but isn't that anorexia?" He scratched his head confused. "I guess, I guess it could be drugs."

"Even people on drugs eat food sometimes."

"I don't know why he won't eat, Wendy. And he won't tell me." He thought again of bringing up what Cartman had said about Kenny's family and the afterlife but thought it might be too much at once. Like it wasn't his to share. At least not yet.

Wendy picked up a book. "Is that the only way he's been dying since you've known?"

Kyle nodded his head. "Yeah," he said mournfully. "It's awful."

"Maybe you can work with him on that. I think that's something we won't find an answer to in these books of yours."

"Of the public library, you mean," he corrected her. "Hey, do you think your aunt and uncle were in the same cult Kenny's parents were?"

Wendy opened the book she had picked up, scanning the table of contents seeing if anything jumped out at her. She smiled up at Kyle. "I did my own research when I thought I was losing my mind and asked my mom a lot of questions about my cousin. One of the times she died my mom said something really weird. She said that she was worried her sister was going to join another cult to help her get through the grief. I asked about the other cult and that's when I found out she'd been in one here. She said the McCormicks were going, too. My aunt complained about them, I guess. Said they only showed up for the free food and beer."

"I guess that's a good of enough reason as any to join a cult," Kyle stated with a shake of his head.

Wendy flipped some pages in her book. "Looks like I'm going to be reading about the 'nightmare corpse-city of R'lyeh.'" Her choice would serve her well in the future.

Kyle picked up his tablet and keyed a few words into it.

"You're not going to use a book?"

"Oh, I'm going to use a lot of books," he assured her. "I just want to pull up the archive with Weird Tales 1928, The Cult of Cthulhu. It seems like a good place to start before diverging into actual cults that formed around the mythos." Wendy nodded. She certainly couldn't argue that point. Kyle found what he was looking for quickly and cleared his throat before he read the quote prefacing the story aloud and continued on with the story, "'The Horror in the Clay. The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.'"

Wendy temporarily discarded her book, picking up up her own tablet, and easily finding the online archive her friend was using. When Kyle paused, she finished the first paragraph. "'The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.'" She stopped and she and Kyle looked at each other over their tablets, each wide eyed. "I've read it before but it's hard to get over how heavy this is. And this is just the first paragraph."

"Well, I definitely feel like I'm in a terrifying vista of reality."

"I don't want to usher in the next dark age so don't go all mad on me," Wendy said with a grin. Kyle shook his head, still impressed Wendy could maintain such a good sense of humor. They continued reading late into the evening. By the time Wendy's mom texted they had managed to get through all three parts of the The Cult of Cthulhu even while pausing many times to try to get a better grasp on what they were reading. They would need to understand the actual tale if they were to understand the cult they wanted to learn more about. Both chose not to speak of the irony that they were curious and fascinated about the real cult of Cthulhu that had been in South Park years go while reading about a narrator that was curious and fascinated about the cult of Cthulhu in the story upon which the cult they were researching had been based on. It was hard to wrap their minds around. Wendy pointed out the word cult was in the novella around thirty-nine times. Kyle had left half the books with Wendy and made it out of the house before her parents arrived home. She had promised to read more of the tales and books surrounding the Cthulhu mythos. It would keep them busy for quite a while as there was a lot more to read about it. Wendy listened to her intuition and continued to focus her efforts on learning more about R'lyeh.

An unsettled mood descended upon Kyle as he slowly walked home. He had definitely accomplished more than he thought he could with Wendy. He was shocked and relieved to know that Kenny wasn't the only person in the world who had this strange affliction. Part of him wanted to run and tell his friend the news. You're not alone! He and Wendy had spoken in length about it and agreed to hold off until they knew more for sure. After all, why hadn't Kenny or her cousin ran into each other before? If they knew of two did that mean there was more, maybe countless more? Was there some kind of club or meeting place for these people that could die but didn't stay dead? Did any of them even know that there were others? Would it be a good thing if they met or would it prove to be an ill-fated outing? Wendy and Kyle certainly didn't know the answers to anything yet and neither wanted to use their loved ones as guinea pigs. Kyle knew one thing, he certainly wasn't telling Kenny anything about any of it until said friend explained to him why he refused to eat.