Songs:
Florence And The Machine - No Light, No Light
Starset - Bringing It Down Version 2.0
Shinedown - CREATURES
Craig and his friends arrive at the building in the woods some time later and look it over. They look for any signs of hooded individuals around the area, but don't spot any in sight so they decide to take their chances and head closer to it to get a better gauge on the situation. When still no one seems to be around, they head inside.
When entering upon the building they find the inside to be vacant with no soul in sight. And the only conclusion that they can come to is that they must all still be out searching for Kenny somewhere in the woods. Or up to some other activities that were known to them.
They make their way through the building, only to find that the place really did seem to be vacant currently. They eventually make it down to the basement and into the big room that they had been in only two days ago. Craig's half surprised there's no bodies left over from what happened before in it, but there were still traces of blood from its last preoccupation on the floor.
"Alright, let's see what we can find," Craig says, and the others nod before they go about searching the room.
Being able to see the place more clearly now, the building really did seem to be pretty old, and Craig wonders if those old pictures he saw before could have been taken from somewhere in this very building. At some point while searching, Clyde approaches him and Craig isn't sure on how to react at first.
"Hey," he greets.
"Hey," Craig replies.
There's a pause.
"You uh, you sure you want to go through with this?" Clyde asks.
"Yeah, I'm sure," Craig replies.
"Are you really sure? What if… what if something goes wrong and—"
"I'm sure," Craig tells him, "I've made up my mind Clyde. You don't need to. Worry about me, I'll be fine. Kenny won't harm me."
"How do you know that?"
"I just know," Craig says and looks at him.
There's another pause.
"...Alright," Clyde eventually says with a nod.
"I think I found something!" Tweek yells from the other side of the room.
"What is it?" Craig asks, as he and Clyde walk over to him.
When they both near him, Tweek reveals a long thick chain.
"You think this will work?" he asks.
Clyde and Craig glance to one another before Craig nods.
"Yeah, that should be good enough, let's set it up," Craig tells them and they get to work on their next step.
Once done, they hear a loud tap of some sort and look to where it came from, only to find Kevin now joined with them in the room.
"Oh great, you guys are done," he says walking towards them, "in that case I'll—"
"Craig!" a voice exclaims, cutting him off. And Craig spots Karen now rushing towards him. Before he can even react, the smaller girl is wrapping her arms around him. "It's been a while since I last saw you! I'm glad you're okay!" she looks up at him. "Kevin told me what happened. I hope my brothers haven't been giving you too much trouble."
Craig at first isn't sure what she means, and ends up casting a glare to Kevin who only shrugs in response to it.
"I didn't tell her about that stuff, don't worry," he laughs.
"What stuff?" Karen asks.
"Don't worry about it," Kevin tells her.
Craig lets out a sigh, before noticing another guest has joined them in the room as well. Kenny's mother. She gives a small smile, before her expression falls to concern.
"I'll be leaving them both in your care," Kevin tells him, then looks at the other two, "all of you," he adds before walking off. "I'll be back soon as I can be. So try not to do anything stupid."
And just as fast as he had appeared, he was gone again.
"I hope he'll be okay…" Karen murmurs, her arms still around Craig.
"I'm sure that he will be, knowing him," Craig says, and gently removes her arms from him. "Alright, let's make sure this is set up properly one more time before he gets back," he says, turning to his friends who give a small nod.
Some more time passes and about half an hour later or so, Kevin returns, this time though, he's not alone. In his hand is a man in a purple robe, tied up with rope. And in his other hand, is the staff from before. He drops the man in the center of the room with a loud thud, as everyone gathers round.
"This him?" Clyde asks.
"Should be," Kevin replies, "he had the staff with him, when I found him cowering in a room somewhere and the scent matches as well."
"Yeah, that's him'" Craig says, "he was the only one I remember wearing a purple robe."
"Good enough for me then," Clyde says, "so what should we do now? Should we get on with the main thing, or...?"
"Wait," Kevin says, "we need to make sure this will work," and everyone looks at him, "so I'll be the one to test it and make sure it's safe."
"But if you do that then we won't have anyone here if things get out of control," Craig says.
"I know. But I need to make sure it's safe for when we do this on Kenny," Kevin tells him, "and then afterwards if it is, then we can help him and…" his gaze drifts to Karen for a moment before back again. "I'll go first," he says again.
Craig gives a slight nod and goes to reply but is cut off.
"I'll do it!"
Everyone looks to Karen then.
"Karen you—"
"I'll do it," she repeats.
"No," Kevin says, "we need to make sure it's safe so I'll—"
"They'll need your help Kevin," Karen tells him, "so let me go first. And you go help Kenny."
"Karen..." Kevin says.
"She's right," the mother says, her hands resting on Karen's shoulders now, "they'll need your help if this does work."
"That's right," Karen nods, "besides, I'm big enough now to make my own decisions."
Kevin watches her determined expression for a few more seconds, before letting out a sigh and giving in.
"Fine, we'll have it your way then," he says.
"Good," Karen smiles.
Kevin then turns his attention to the man in the cloak.
"Now as for you, I'm going to need you to do something for me," he tells him, his voice in a much more threatening tone now.
It doesn't take much convincing to get what they need from the man, with Kevin's scary demeanor and the man being a pure coward, it works in their favor quite well. And soon enough, they set up a circle on the ground with various symbols in it and place candles along the outer area of it.
Karen goes to stand in the middle of it, once everything is done. She gives a small nod to say she's ready, and Kevin tells the man to get on with it. The man nervously does as he's told and lifts the staff up and begins to recite a strange language. At first there's nothing, but in the next few minutes the circle begins to glow, along with the staff, and light rises from the ground up. It doesn't take long for it to center around Karen and her whole body is covered in light and elevated. It's blinding and everyone except the cloaked man has to cover their eyes from its bright light.
Once it starts to die down, Karen's hair and scarf fall back over her shoulders before she herself falls down to the floor.
"Karen!" Kevin says and rushes over to her.
He holds her in his arms and looks her over. He pushes her hair out of her face and Craig notices that it seems different somehow. But it's not until she opens her eyes, does he notice that they're no longer glowing anymore. She smiles up to her brother then.
"See?" she says, "I'm fine." he lets out a low chuckle before her mother walks over to her and hugs her. "Really, you guys worry too much," she giggles.
When she stands and Craig can see her more clearly, he notices that her eyes are a light green, like her mother's now, and that the scar on her face is still there, despite the change. But in every manner of speaking, she did indeed appear to be human now.
"Well, guess that answers that then," Clyde says.
"Yeah," Craig nods.
"Now for Kenny," Kevin says, looking at them, "everything ready to go here?"
"Yeah, we're good to go for whenever," Craig says.
"Good then I'll go track him down," Kevin says, starting to head off.
"I'm going with you," Craig says, stopping him.
"You'll get in the way," Kevin tells him.
"You need me to go with you," Craig states, "you know you do. I'm the only one who can lure him out."
There's a long pause from Kevin, before he gives a slow nod.
"Mom, Karen, you two get somewhere safe. The rest of you get ready for when we get back," Kevin says looking over at them.
"I'm not going anywhere!" Karen says back.
"Karen, it won't be safe for you here," Kevin says.
"Kenny's our brother, I'm not leaving without you both," she states.
Kevin looks to his mother for help with this, but she only shakes her head in response.
"I won't leave until I have all three of you back as well," she tells him.
With a sigh Kevin turns and starts to head off.
"Fine," he says, "have it your way. But if things go the way I feel they will. There's going to be hell," he mutters as he leaves the room.
Craig follows after him, and gives a small wave back to his friends as they wish him luck, before he's gone.
The night air feels almost heavier as Craig enters back into it with Kevin and the two make their way through the woods. Compared to the first meeting from back when Craig met Kevin, part of him can't help but almost find how he was working with him now to be a bit ironic. Especially with some of the things he pulled before. But he also knew he had no choice in the matter as well, as Kevin was his best chance when it came to helping Kenny. It was strange, knowing in the back of his mind that the two would need to rely on each other in one way or another if they were going to help Kenny out.
"I can't help but wonder what spell they were trying to do exactly, to have Kenny turn out this way," Craig says at some point.
"I don't think they were trying to get him to change into that. I'm pretty sure they were trying to either torture him or kill him with it," Kevin replies.
"Kill?" Craig repeats with unease.
"But as you probably saw, it backfired on them and instead of doing either of those things, it ended up bringing out his more instinctual side instead," Kevin tells him, "almost like his body went into an offensive state to try and protect itself."
Craig falls silent at that. What Kevin said did seem to make some sort of sense to him in that regard. Any humanity that was in Kenny seemed to have left him after that spell they did. The only thing left that it seemed he felt, was pain. And by what he could gather, it was a constant state of it too. It was probably the real reason for why he was lashing out so much.
The two walk deeper into the woods, the only light being from that night's full moon, which Craig was somewhat thankful for as a light source. They come across a small drop, or small cliff area overlooking some of the woods.
"He could be anywhere out there," Craig murmurs, unsure of where to go next.
Something nearby snaps and he notices Kevin become more attentive. There's a long silence of nothing that follows after it, before the hum of a low growl starts to become more audible. It falls quiet again and by this point Craig's blood is pumping and he's straining to hear anything else. His eyes scanning the surroundings for any movement, until he finds what he's looking for. Kenny's pale form slowly emerges out from the shadows, hunching, treading towards them.
"Kenn—"
"Stay where you are," Kevin tells Craig. "I'll deal with him."
"But—"
Before he can finish however, Kevin is already walking towards Kenny. Who in turn, lets out a growl.
Kevin takes a carful step as he nears more and the growl lowers.
"Come now Kenny, Don't tell me you don't recognize your big brother," Kevin says, still inching closer to him. But Kenny's stance changes into a more aggressive one as he does and there's a short pause before he's rushing at him. "Guess we're doing this the hard way," he mutters.
Kenny clashes with Kevin in the next couple of seconds, going at him with such force and speed, that he slams his backside into a tree. Kevin manages to keep his bared teeth away from him. Pushing him back some and narrowly missing a sharp claw swipe.
There's a loud thud as Kevin manages to swap places with Kenny and pin him the tree. His hold doesn't last long as Kenny through sheer force overpowers him and Kevin has to quickly dodge out of the way. Kenny rams into him again and Kevin grabs him by the waist and tosses him. Kenny slams into a tree, causing its very trunk to shake. He gets back up and only stalls for a second before charging at Kevin again.
This time it's Kenny who grabs Kevin by the waist and slams him back first into a tall tree. The force is strong enough to the point of where the tree is actually pushed to a tilt. Kevin tries to get out of his hold on him, and ends up having to push him off with his feet. Kenny is only shoved back a few feet before he goes in again. This time though he uses his claws to attack and Kevin just barely misses it he quickly dodges out of the way and a chunk of the tree is taken out. So much so, that it's enough to cause the already slanted tree to break and come crashing down onto the ground.
There's a loud screech that follows as Kenny charges at Kevin again. Then a slam and they collide with nearby trees and more crashes from them as the trees fall and they fight through them. Crash after crash of bark snapping and twisting with each break of a new trunk, paving their chaotic instincts pathway.
All of it unlike anything Craig had seen from them thus far. And part of him can't help but worry that it may end up drawing too much unwanted attention from any of those hooded figures that were out searching.
There's a crash on the ground as Kevin falls from a tree the two had somehow managed to climb while in the middle of their clashing. Kenny lands on top of him a couple seconds later with a loud snarl and grabs at his throat. Kevin grabs at it and tries to remove his hand from it. And just as Kenny brings a hand back, ready to strike Craig quickly calls out in an attempt to stop him.
"Kenny stop!" he shouts.
Kenny halts in his action and his head turns to him. His eyes focus on him for a long while before Craig takes a step towards him. This prompts Kenny to slowly stand up and face towards him. Craig stays where he is and reaches a hand out to him. Kenny cocks his head slightly, before taking a step. Then slowly making his way over to him. He makes it about half way to Craig before Kevin gets up and looks between the two for a moment, before deciding to rush towards Craig, grabbing and tossing him over his shoulder and taking off. There's a screech from Kenny as he does.
"What are you doing?!" Craig exclaims.
"Luring him back," Kevin replies.
"What?" Craig asks, confused.
"He's following isn't he?" Kevin asks and Craig looks up and can make out Kenny's figure chasing after them.
"Yeah'" he replies.
"Then that's good," Kevin says, "besides do you really want what happened the last time you were alone with him, to happen now?"
Craig falls silent at that and watches Kenny's figure following behind them.
It doesn't take long before they reach the old building again and hurry inside it. Kevin lets go of Craig when they reach the basement chamber and hurries into place.
"Everyone hide!" Craig yells, "He'll be here soon!"
Just as he finishes saying it, there's a distinct crash of some sort in the distance, causing everyone to get into place and be ready.
There's a long silence that follows after that, before Kenny slowly steps into the light of the room from out of the shadows. Craig now stood in the center of the circle from before and faced Kenny's slowly approaching figure from the doorway.
Kenny makes it about halfway before stopping, as if alerted. Craig worries that his instincts may be aware of what they are planning and tries to think of what to do.
"Kenny," he says in an effort to keep his focus on him. He reaches a hand out to him, like before, "It's me, Craig. It's okay," he tries to reassure. There's a long pause. And Craig starts to worry that this may not end up working in the end. "Kenny…" he says, almost desperate. Not liking what the alternative option would be if things didn't go right. "Please," he extends his hand even further.
Something in Craig's manner must be strong enough, because Kenny slowly starts to pace towards him again. Craig is almost relieved when Kenny continues.
Kenny eventually enters into the circle with him and comes to a stop only a mere foot away from him. Craig raises his hand up and Kenny sniffs it before leaning in closer to it and Craig's palm is lightly placed on his cheek. It presses flat against it as Kenny leans in closer to him. There's a low hum of some sort as Kenny brings his face closer to his neck. Craig brings his hand to the back of his neck, there's a small growl as he does, but he ignores it and holds it there. Kenny's mouth presses to his neck, opening slightly as it does so. Craig then brings up his other hand that he'd been keeping behind his back, to reveal a metal chained collar in it. He slowly brings it around to Kenny's neck from behind and clasps it shut around it. The moment it closes, Kenny stops and backs away. He begins to tug and claw at it.
"I'm sorry," Craig says quietly as he backs away.
While Kenny starts to growl and continues to claw at the collar, everyone comes out from hiding and stands behind Craig.
"Let's start," Craig says, "bring him out."
A couple seconds later, Kevin drags the man in the purple cloak out by the arm and stands him in front of the circle. The moment Kenny sees him though, his growls turn into snarls and he becomes more aggressive.
"Hurry!" Craig tells the man, who nearly drops the staff from the sudden command.
The man looks at Kenny, nervous, for a moment before he takes the staff and raises it up. He starts reciting words and just like last time, there's nothing at first, but the circle and staff slowly begins to glow and light rises from the ground. Just as it starts to consume Kenny however, there's a sudden shout.
"No!"
The sudden appearance of hooded individuals comes flooding into the room, surrounding them and quickly restraining them.
"Stop this at once!" comes the mayor's voice.
The man holding up the staff stops his words and looks over at her as she rushes towards him and snatches the staff from his hands.
"No!" Craig shouts, managing to escape his hold and grab onto one end of it.
"Let go of it!" the mayor says.
"No!" Craig exclaims trying to pry it out of her grasp, "I won't let you take it away! He needs it!"
"I will not allow this ritual to be completed on these things!" she hisses back.
Craig struggles with her, nearly losing his grip on it, when he's grabbed again. But the grip in his hand shift's to his favor then, when he's suddenly released because of Kevin, who grabs it as well and yanks it out of her hands.
"What did you call us?" his tone threatening with a glare.
She's so caught off by his sudden presence next to Craig, that she ends up subconsciously taking a step or two back. She falls silent and watches him with wide eyes when noticing that the ones restraining him were now on the other side of the room, lumped in a pile with the one that tried to restrain Craig as well. Craig can't help but feel somewhat relieved that Kevin was on his side for once because of it. But it's short-lived as Kenny's snarls start to form into screeches and the chain attached between the wall and his collar starts to strain its limits.
"Shit," Kevin says, and is rushing into the glowing circle in the next second. "I'll try to keep him restrained! Hurry up with that spell!" he calls out as he puts Kenny into some kind of hold.
Craig turns to the hooded man quickly.
"I won't let you go through with it," the mayor says, stopping him, "even if it means we have to use force." There's a beat that skips to the sound of a light click. And as he glances back over, a gun is now aimed at him. "Hand it over boy. Don't make me do this," she instructs.
Craig stays in place, unsure of what to do or how to react. But knowing that he couldn't just hand the staff over to her either.
"So what? You're going to just shoot me then?" he scoffs.
"If I must," she replies.
"I don't think that would look very good on your next election champagne," he says, sarcastically.
"I'll just have to say that there was an unfortunate accident that happened," she says, "maybe a hunter mistook you for a deer or something."
There's a pause as Craig glances around to his friends and Kenny's family, before back to her.
"Why won't you let us do this? Why are you stopping us?" Craig asks.
"Because I took an oath when I became the mayor of this town long ago, and it's one that must be upheld no matter what," she replies.
"And what was that? Trying to kill them for no reason?" Craig scoffs.
"No reason?" she repeats, "No, there is indeed a reason."
"Which is what exactly?" Craig asks.
"Thieves," she replies, "they were thieves. Long ago there was a group of them that would steal from our town, and as such to try and deal with them, the old mayor of this town turned to a shaman for help."
"So what? As punishment, they were turned into what they are now?" Craig asks, his eyes narrowing, "Seems a bit extreme don't you think?"
"Well, originally they were meant to only be tortured and possibly killed from the spells casted onto them. They weren't ever supposed to turn into… whatever creatures they became," she explains, "but I guess that's the thing with magic, it's unpredictable and can be tricky." she cocks the gun in her hand slightly, "Now if you would be so kind as to hand over that staff and step aside, I would very much appreciate it."
Craig glares but stands firm in place.
"I won't," he replies, "regardless of what happened in the past a long time ago, they have nothing to do with it. They weren't even alive then."
There's a subtle shift in the mayor's face at that, but she keeps the gun on him.
"They're dangerous to our town! They can't be allowed to go!" she tells him.
"They did nothing wrong! They're innocent!" Craig exclaims.
Her grip on the gun tightens.
"Just… move out of the way kid," she tells him.
"They had nothing to do with what happened back then. They're innocent! Any quarrels that may have happened because of their father or the others, has nothing to do with them! And you know that!" Craig exclaims, then pauses, "I know you know that."
There's another pause as the two just stare one another down.
"My oath..." the mayor grits out, as if struggling.
"You don't have to do this," Craig tells her.
"I don't have a choice," she says.
"There's always a choice," Craig says back.
There's another pause as her gaze shifts between Craig's glare and Kenny's restrained figure. And after a few seconds she closes her eyes and lets out a sigh. Lowering the gun in her hands. The action actually surprises Craig somewhat, as he was sure she wouldn't listen to him.
"Fine," she says, "go ahead."
"But mayor!" one of the hooded figures exclaims and she holds up a hand.
"No, he's right," she says, "if what he says is true, they have nothing to do with our town's past. There's no need to stop them," she says and looks at Craig. Craig is unsure of what to do until she gives a small nod. At that, he turns back to the circle. "Let them go," she orders and the hooded figures release their hold on them, somewhat unsure.
Craig faces the purple hooded figure and goes to hand the staff back over to them.
"No!" the hooded figure from before exclaims.
And before anything can be processed properly, they grab the gun out of the mayor's hand and shoot. It doesn't fully register right away, the pain Craig suddenly feels shoot through him. Nor the shouting of Clyde calling out his name or Karen's scream. Or the distinct sound of something cracking underneath his body.
A crack? His thoughts vaguely aware of it. He manages to move a hand and notices wooden splinters and some sort of white dust in it. Broken pieces of something. The staff? No, why would the staff be broken? Then he becomes aware that he's no longer standing but is instead now lying on the floor. Why was he lying? And how did the staff break? And why did it… hurt so much?
And as if all at once, he suddenly becomes acutely aware of everything around him again. His hand reaching down to the sharp pain, causing him to flinch and quickly move it away. He brings it back up when feeling a dampness on it, and finds blood now covering it. Then there's a buzzing sound of sorts, right next to him where the circle is and he looks up at it.
For a brief moment his eyes make contact with Kenny's, who seems to have stopped struggling as they watch him. Then there's light, a blinding bright light, as the circle glows with such intensity it consumes everything in the vicinity. And just as quickly as it grew and exploded, it's gone in an instant.
It takes a few moments for Craig's eyes to readjust, and as they do, he now finds Clyde leaning over him.
"Craig!" he exclaims, shaking his shoulders, "Hey you okay?! Hey stay with me now!"
"...ain.." he mumbles out.
"Huh?" Clyde asks.
"Pain…" he repeats more clearly.
"Oh," Clyde says and stops shaking his shoulders, "well I'd imagine so."
"What… what happened?" Craig asks, slowly turning to his side and cringing as he sits up slowly.
"You were shot in the leg," Clyde smiles somewhat as Craig sits up right.
"What?" Craig repeats. It confuses him until he spots the mayor ripping her gun out from a hooded figure's hand. His eyes drift away and find the staff lying where he had been just moments ago. They widen when realizing that it's now broken. "What—what happened?!" he exclaims and looks around, "where's—" his eyes fall onto the center of the circle then, no longer glowing. In it lie two figures motionless. "Kenny!" he exclaims.
He tries to stand up, but falls back down onto his hands and knees from pain. He tries again, but falls, blood pooling out from his wound in his attempts to force his muscles to work.
"Whoa hey slow down your leg—"
"Take me over to him," Craig cuts Clyde off.
"Craig—"
"Clyde," Craig interrupts again, "please…"
Clyde watches him for a couple seconds before sighing and walking over to him. He wraps Craig's arm around the back of his neck and helps hoist him up. He leads Craig over to Kenny's figure, elevating the weight off of his injured leg, then carefully helps him down next to him as they reach the center. The moment he sets Craig down, he puts pressure on his leg, to try and stop the bleeding.
"Kenny," Craig says softly.
He touches his shoulder, expecting it to be cold like usual, but instead finds warmth. Surprised by it, he slowly turns Kenny over onto his back. He pauses when he does, looking him over and noticing that his chest seemed different now. Where his ribs were much more visible, now they were much less. His eyes travel up to his face, now lacking the torn-like slits that usually rested on his cheeks. It was almost surreal to see, and he didn't think it to be, until he touches his face and feels its warmth for himself. He's so transfixed by it, that he doesn't notice the blood smearing across his cheek from his hand right away at first. But as soon as he does, he stops.
"Kenny," he says again, trying to wake him with his voice. He brushes some of his hair away with the back of his hand, and traces the back of a finger around the frame of his face.
There's a small movement around the eyes and brows, before they slowly open. Their bright glow now gone but still so blue to Craig. They glance around for a few seconds before finding Craig's own.
"Craig…?" he asks, his voice a bit higher in pitch now compared to before.
"Hey," Craig smiles.
"What happened?" Kenny asks.
"It worked," Craig replies and leans over him, pulling him into a hug, "I'm so glad, you're okay."
"Worked?" Kenny repeats, looking around. His eyes start to open more as if suddenly recalling everything when he takes the space and everyone in it in more. "I'm sorry," he says quietly, "I must have caused you so much trouble… everyone. I could see what I was doing, but couldn't control myself. There was too much overwhelming pain driving me. I was lost to my senses," he explains and Craig pulls back a bit, "and then I saw you and… what I did. I'm so sorry, I—"
"It's okay. I know you weren't yourself," Craig says and smiles, his hand cupping over his cheek.
Craig leans back down and pulls him into another hug. Kenny returns it this time.
"I'm sorry," Kenny repeats quietly, his hands gripping into Craig's jacket and burying his face into his neck.
There's a quiet sigh from Clyde, one of defeat almost that Craig catches. Then a faint rustle of movement as Kevin groans and sits up. Craig pulls away from Kenny then as his eyes land on them.
"Did it work?" he asks, his voice, just like Kenny's, now higher in pitch somewhat.
And just like his siblings, his eyes were no longer glowing, nor his face with anymore torn marks on it.
"I'd say so," Kenny replies, sitting up now.
Kevin seems a bit surprised by Kenny's changed appearance as Craig was sure he was of him. There's a small smile that seems to pull at his lips before Karen suddenly comes rushing over.
"Kenny! Kevin!" her voice exclaims as she pulls them both into a hug, "I was so worried! I thought you two were gonna die!'" she says, almost sounding like she was sobbing.
"Sorry," Kevin says, patting her back.
Craig can't help but smile at the sight, and it's only then does he suddenly become aware of the pain in his leg again. And that he was, still in fact bleeding. He tells Clyde to move his hand away so he can look at, which he does carefully.
"We need to get you to a hospital," Clyde says.
The words seem to catch Kenny's attention as he notices the blood on Craig's leg.
"Your leg..." he says.
"Yeah," Craig replies, "I was uh, kinda shot."
That grabs Kevin's attention as his eyes are drawn over to the mayor and hooded figures still in the room with them.
"Oh right, almost forgot about them," he says as he stands.
The mayor raises up her hand in a stop motion, to cease his hostility.
"Do not be alarmed," she says, "I think that we've seen all that we need to see here," and she nods to the hooded figures, "we shall let you be."
"How do we know that we won't be shot at again or something?" Craig asks.
"Do not worry, I'm pretty sure after what we've all seen here, we're well aware that no harm will come to the town now," she replies then looks at the one who took the gun from her, "and we'll make sure to deal with anyone who may disrupt that peace should it happen again."
The figure looks away and quickly heads off after that, followed by others as the room slowly starts to empty out. The mayor gives one more small nod of the head, before she too takes her leave behind the others.
It's only once they are gone, does Kenny's mother and Tweek make their way over to them. Tweek brings over a small rope he had found and ties it around Craig's thigh to try and stop the bleeding. While Kenny's mother gives Kenny her coat before hugging him and her other two children in a huddled hug. She seemed like she was almost as scared as Karen was about their well being to Craig. And something about the sight of them all hugging like a family he can't help but smile and feel some sort of ease at seeing them all together with a new hope for their lives.
"You know, you're lucky the person who shot you had such bad aim," Clyde says, once Tweek finishes tying the rope around his leg.
"Yeah, we'll see once I get this checked out," Craig laughs with a scoff.
"Alright, let's get you up then," Clyde says and wraps Craig's arm around the back of his neck to support him. Tweek helps hoist him up from the other side and they manage to help him stand upright. "Well, we need to get this guy to a hospital before he bleeds to death."
Kenny stands up then.
"I can help," he offers, but Craig shakes his head.
"No, stay with your family, I'll be fine," Craig replies, "besides, I'm sure that you'll need time to adjust to your new senses and all that right? And talk many things over?" and Kenny nods, a bit unsure.
"Then… I'll see you later?" he asks.
"Yeah," Craig smiles.
With that, Clyde and Tweek help Craig along his way taking precaution as they do so.
They make it to the hospital sometime later, luckily before Craig passes out. His wound is tended too and he gets a small transfusion for some blood loss. But other than that, it seemed as though he was going to be okay.
A few days pass as his wound heals, and he gets back into a more normal routine. The excuse he had to come up with to tell his folks as to why he was in the hospital was a pain, but they seemed to buy it, thanks to his friends vouching for his idea. He also filled in Token as well, with his friends, like he said he would. They had debated on whether or not to tell Jimmy at first, but decided to tell him, as to not have him be left out of all that had happened. Whether or not he believed them though was anyone's guess, as his only response was a simple "okay,". As for how Clyde and Tweek were doing, Tweek noted saying he had gotten a few nightmares about the whole thing here and there, but was alright for the most part. And Clyde… well he seemed to have started acting more like his usual self again, from before. Craig never really brought up what had happened between them that night, nor did he really want to, but it seemed that after the events with Kenny and his family changing, he started to become much more like his old self. Almost as if, he had moved on past that point.
And as for Kenny, he was still missing. Craig hadn't seen him since that night and was starting to worry that him and his family may have left or something for safety reasons. But Craig chose to believe that he'd see him again, Kenny said he would. So he was going to believe it.
Some more time passes, and graduation was slowly approaching Craig's senior year of high school. The plans for what to do in the future were becoming almost daily talks now amongst his group of friends and family. He was still a bit unsure as to what to do himself afterwards. But he didn't plan on going anywhere until he saw Kenny again.
And one day, while leaving the school with his friends he does. It was almost like a dream, as he was unsure at first if he was actually there or not. But as he nears him, and sees him turn towards him and that it actually is him, he can't help but form a smile across his face. He gives a quick goodbye to his friends, who all give each other a knowing look before saying their goodbyes as well. He rushes over to Kenny after that, and before Kenny even has the chance to say anything, he is wrapping his arms around him.
"I thought you may have left," Craig murmurs.
"There was a point where my mother and brother debated about it, but in the end we chose to stay. At least for a while longer," Kenny replies, returning the hug, "and I couldn't leave you."
The sentiment warms Craig and he pulls back to get a better look at him. Kenny's hair was no longer long like it once was, but was instead cut to just below his ears, revealing more of his face. His face full with a an inviting smile across it and his eyes, although no longer glowing like they once had before, were still such a brilliant blue to him. He noted that voice was still going to take some getting used to, but he didn't mind. If anything, he found his new voice to be endearing in a way to him.
"How's your adjustment to your new body going?" Craig asks.
"Well," Kenny starts, "I shrunk a few inches I think. As did my brother and sister when we changed," which surprises Craig, as he still seemed to be over 6 feet to him, and he can't help but wonder just how tall exactly Kenny was before then. "I also can't see as far as I used to, or run as fast, or lift as much, or smell as strongly either. But at least I have a more human diet now," he chuckles.
"Human diet?" Craig repeats.
"Yeah," Kenny replies.
"You know you never did tell me what you ate before," Craig tells him.
"And that's probably for the best," Kenny replies.
"Can't you just tell me now though?" Craig asks.
"I'd… still rather not," Kenny says.
"Fine," Craig murmurs.
"Let's just say… I had a very raw diet and leave it at that, okay?" Kenny says and smiles, "But aside from that, I still seem to have slightly higher senses than my siblings. And we can only theorize it was due to the state it was in and the ritual being interrupted. Although, Kevin does still show some signs as well, but not as strong as mine."
"I see," Craig says.
"But for the most part, my body still functions like a regular human's," Kenny says, "for the most part," he adds.
"What do you mean?" Craig asks.
"I'll… show you what I mean later if you want, when we're alone," Kenny replies with a hint of something behind it and Craig only grows more curious about it.
"Well, was there anything you wanted to do or go to first? Since the curse over you is lifted now?" Craig asks.
"There is one thing."
"What is it?"
And just as the sentence ends, Kenny's lips are on his. Warm and unlike the other times from before. As Kenny pulls away, he brushes Craig's bottom lip with his thumb.
"That," he replies, and Craig flushes slightly, "and it's McCormick," he adds.
"Huh?" Craig asks, confused.
"My last name," Kenny tells him, "you asked what it was before, but I didn't have the chance to tell you then."
"Oh," Craig laughs.
"What is yours?"
"It's Tucker," Craig tells him.
There's a brief pause as Kenny looks off to the side, as if in thought.
"So that means it will either be Craig McCormick, or Kenny Tucker then," he says out loud, as if pondering.
"Huh? What will be?" Craig asks, even more confused now.
Kenny smiles at him then and takes his hand into his, lifting it up between them.
"I'll have to get you a real one some day," Kenny says thoughtfully, as his index finger runs over the plastic band of the ring on Craig's finger.
The implication doesn't hit Craig right away, but when it does, his face instantly starts to burn.
"H-huh?!" he sputters out and Kenny chuckles.
"Even if my senses aren't as strong as they used to be, I can still tell what emotion you're having."
"Sh-shut up!" Craig tells him, which just earns another laugh from him.
Kenny then holds his hand in his and locks their fingers together. Craig doesn't mind it though, he doesn't care about any of the lingering eyes that were sure to be on them throughout the whole interaction going on between the two. He had nearly lost Kenny before, and there wasn't any way he was planning on letting him go again, no matter what people may say about them.
"Come on, let's go," Kenny says.
"Where to?" Craig asks.
"Anywhere you go. I'll follow," Kenny replies.
Craig gives a smile at that as the two head off towards new and exciting unknown things.
END