Chapter 8: Rough Day

Disclaimer: I do not own South Park or any of the references made in this series.

(Craig's POV)

The next day Craig woke up and turned to see that Kenny wasn't in his room. He looked around to see if the other had left him a note or anything, but found nothing. He sighed to himself and ruffled his hair in frustration. Did I say something to make him upset last night? Craig thought back to their final conversation before sleeping for the night, and he remembered the scowl Kenny had on his face when he grabbed him by the collar. He felt goosebumps rise upon his skin. Truthfully, the thought that Kenny shouldering it all by himself because of Craig's hesitancy hurt him. He needed to talk to Kenny about this, so he texts him.

Craig: Hey Kenny, where are you at right now?

No response.

Craig: Can we talk about yesterday?

Craig: Can you at least let me know if you're okay?

He waited for a couple seconds before calling it quits and getting ready for work. All the while at work, he bit his nails in anticipation. Where had Kenny gone? Craig didn't want to be useless. He had offered to help, but he wasn't sure how to help without inflicting pain onto others. He didn't know if he had the capability to hurt someone, much less to further his own agenda. He cared about Kenny, but he felt…torn on how to help him. Craig didn't even know how to control his own powers. What if he grabbed someone's wrist and ended up breaking their arm?

Craig sighed at the thought, aggravated at himself. The head librarian came over and handed him a stack of books, looking him up and down with a curious look on her face. "Is something troubling you, dear Craig?"

He looked over to his side, seeing the head librarian push her glasses up to look closer at him, "Nothing, Ms. Herman. Just…" Craig sighs and turns to face her, deciding to say what was on his mind. "...well, I had a question actually."

"Yes?"

"...I have a friend who's in a bit of trouble, but I'm not really sure how I can help them," Craig started, tapping his finger anxiously on the stack of books the librarian had given him to sort out. "I don't want to feel like I'm useless…I want to show them that I care. But, I'm not sure if I have the power to do that."

Ms. Herman sits on an office chair across from Craig and put her hands together in thought. "Does this friend mean a lot to you?"

Craig shifts his weight on one leg to the other, not sure where this was going. He feels his face burn at the thought of Kenny's sleeping face that appeared into his mind suddenly. "I would…say so, yes.."

At that, Ms. Herman smiles. "If this friend means a lot to you, I think you should do anything you can to be there for them. There is a saying that says; actions speak louder than words. I know it sounds repetitive," She pushes her glasses up, causing the lights to reflect and sparkle for a second. "If you tell a friend, 'Let me know what I can do for you', it might not occur to them what they might need in that moment. So, you have to act on your own with the thought of them in mind. Maybe they're having a really rough day, you can bake them some brownies to show that you thought of them. Or maybe they're having a rough time dealing with their parents' passing, you can set aside a day for them to go to the beach or watch a movie. You can show them that you care by doing with the thought of them in mind," Ms. Herman shoots Craig a sweet smile before continuing. "Does that help, dear Craig?"

Craig took a deep breath and noticed that his fingers weren't tapping on the stack of books anymore, "Y-yeah….I think that helps."

"Well, I'm going to make a cup of coffee, do you want one?" Craig shakes his head yes and the head librarian gets up from her chair to squeeze Craig's cheek. "And wipe that sad frown on your face upside down, it doesn't suit you, dear."

Craig smiles softly as he watches Ms. Herman hobble away into the break room, holding the sore spot on his cheek with one hand. He was a bit glad that the librarian caught onto his difficult feelings- she was one of the only people around in his life that checked in on him from time to time. She was the closest thing to a grandma that he could have, since his grandma had passed away years ago. He still remembered the time that his grandma had given him a hundred dollar bill and what had happened afterwards…

He shook his head and finished the day of work, deciding to train at Stark's Pond that night. Craig still wasn't sure how he could help Kenny specifically, but he could start by learning how to control his powers. He was worried that if he intervened to use his powers, he would actually kill someone. And that was something he wasn't ready to do.

Craig stood by the edge of Stark's Pond, checking his phone while he puffed out smoke from his cigarette. The water laid out before him looked dark and cold, with the unforgivingness of death. He remembered that it had been a while since he had last smoked, the last time being at Token's party in his backyard. Craig remembered how anxious Kenny looked from far away, how alone he looked while his friends partied it up inside the house. How forgotten and miserable he looked, trying to hide his feelings away from anyone. How Kenny tried to cover it up with a smile until he couldn't anymore.

The warmthness he felt in his chest when he thought about Kenny's smile brought him back to his senses. He took another long drag from his cigarette before stomping it out and expelling his hot breath into the cold air.

A thought came to him then, to train his super powers at Stark's Pond. Craig started by skipping rocks across the lake to see how much pressure he needed to put into his hand. If he did too much, he would end up killing someone- that wouldn't be good, would it? After he got the hang of that, he started to focus his energy towards punching with his fists. The first tree he punched through created a clear-cut hole all the way through, causing it to fall over and split in two, with a large crunching noise. He gulped to himself, his eyes widening and looking around to see if anyone had seen what he just did. Alas, there was nothing but the icy winds hitting his cheeks.

Craig trained from sundown when he got out of work until the midnight cold creeped into his bones. It soon became too unbearable to be outside, and the first snowflakes started to come down. He checked his phone to see that it was midnight and Kenny still had not responded. Where could he be? Craig was starting to grow impatient now, but there was nothing he could do.

He got into his car and started to head home with anxiety piling in his gut, wondering where Kenny could be. The snow was starting to come down hard now, and his windshield wipers were working overtime to keep his vision clear. His headlights were barely making anything out in the road. That was, until he saw an orange figure flash by in the corner of his vision.

Was that Kenny?

Craig brakes his car, hard, feeling the vehicle skid forward a couple inches before fully stopping. He turned on his emergency lights and pulled over to the side of the road and took out his phone as a flashlight in the dark. He blinked his eyes against the heavy snow to make out an orange figure, stumbling through the snow storm. Kenny was walking through the snow, cold and wet to the bone. He ran towards him hurriedly, grabbing his shoulder.

"Kenny!? Kenny, what are you doing out here!?" Craig holds his shoulder tight and tries to steady his balance, or else the two would slip from the ice collecting at their feet. There was no response for a couple seconds, and Craig worried that the other had frostbite in his brain. "Hey, I texted you, where have you been all day…?"

It was quiet, with just the two of them puffing small steam clouds from their mouth. The snow was falling heavily around them now. Craig was going to say something again until Kenny mumbles faintly under his breath, "I can't keep your promise…"

"What?" Craig didn't know what Kenny was talking about. A part of him was just happy that his brain was still working, from how cold it was out there. "Come on, let's get out of the cold." He grabs Kenny's wrist, starting to lead him back to the car, when all of a sudden Kenny slaps his hand away.

"...Leave me be, I can go home by myself."

Craig's eye twitched. Why was Kenny acting this way? At that comment, and the numb feeling he felt from Kenny slapping his hand away, he couldn't take it anymore. "...You idiot!" Craig shouts, Kenny looking dumbfounded at the other. "You are a fucking idiot, you know that!?" The snow was whirling around them both, and Craig felt like he was screaming against a wall. "I was worried about you all fucking day! You didn't even bother to message me or call me, and I thought you were dead again, which you could have been, for all I fucking know! I'm trying to help you, and I don't know how to control my powers yet…but I'm trying! I stayed out at Stark's Pond from sunset to night trying to figure out how the fuck I can help you, so please! Stop trying to do this all by yourself. I hate seeing you suffer on your own like this."

Kenny looks off to the side, guilt starting to swarm in his eyes. "Would you kill?"

Craig's breath comes out in puffs of smoke. He was breathing hard, in this cold. What?

Kenny asked again, his face darkening and meeting craig's. "If we have to kill someone? Would you hesitate?"

Craig shivered, although he wasn't sure if it was because of the cold or Kenny's odd question. "Kenny, we don't have time for this right now. We need to get out of the cold, or we're going to get stuck out here," Craig ushers Kenny into the passenger seat of his car and turns it on again, turning the heater on to max. "We're going to my house, buckle up."

Kenny stays quiet the rest of the ride to Craig's house, still shaking from the cold. Once they get to Craig's house, Craig notices that his family is mostly asleep. Craig tells Kenny to be quiet on their way upstairs and he shuts the door behind them.

"Hurry up and try to get warm, you can take a shower first if you'd like," Craig gets out a fresh set of clothes and pushes it to Kenny. Kenny's face is emotionless, but he takes the clothes in his hands and silently leaves Craig's room to go to the bathroom in the hallway. If Craig could be completely honest, he was worried about Kenny's state of mind. What happened when he was away? He would have to ask Kenny later, somehow. It worried him that he was going out and doing things on his own too, but now Kenny was withholding information from him. And what was up with that question?

Would you kill for me?

Craig replayed the words that spilled from Kenny's cold lips. Craig bit his lip, imagining the worst. Kenny couldn't have killed someone.

But could he?

The next morning, Craig woke up and Kenny wasn't in his bed. He worried that he had left again, until he saw a familiar blonde head at the foot of his bed. Kenny was sitting on the floor, staring out into nothing.

"Kenny?" Craig sat up and swung his legs over the edge of his bed, sitting down and closing the distance between them. He saw that Kenny's shoulders were heaving up and down quietly, from breathing. Craig let out a breath of relief, worried that Kenny was dead inside his room. "Kenny, talk to me. Are you okay?"

Kenny looked over at Craig quietly, with no emotion in his face. He looked broken.

"What happened when you were gone? Actually, what happened yesterday, you left without me knowing and I got…worried." Kenny was silent, but his eyes were peering into Craig. It felt like he was looking into his own soul. "I don't want to have to sound like a broken record but I told you that I was going to help you with finding Karen. And I'm serious about helping you- I'll train, and work harder, and try to protect you so you don't have to miserably die again," At that, there was a little stir within Kenny's face, mostly within the other's eyes. "Kenny?"

Kenny started, his eyes focused on Craig's demeanor. It looked like he was trying to look for any kind of hesitancy in his face. "I asked you something yesterday in the snow, and I'm going to ask you again, would you kill for me?"

Craig gulped. Again with this question. Why was Kenny so intent on getting revenge in exchange for someone else's life?

He took a deep breath before saying, "Yes, Kenny. I wouldn't hesitate if that meant saving you… But I would also expect the same, right? If I was in danger, I would want you to help me out, too. That's how teams work."

The corner of Kenny's mouth twitched noticeably this time, but it happened so fast this time Craig couldn't catch it quite clearly. Kenny looked away, his hands resting over the tops of his knees as he sat. There was a quiet mumble from his lips, "Good." He got up suddenly and brushed himself off saying, "We have work to do. I know where they're taking the girls."

He walked past craig to turn his computer on and did a quick google search of a barn that was about a 100 miles out from South Park, Colorado. He turned around and pointed at the location, eyes set on Craig. Craig's eyes widened, and his breath hitched as he said it. "Pack some supplies and essentials. We're going out in your car, tonight."

Author's Note: I know this chapter is a little short and has a lot of dialogue, but we needed some tension and buildup before things start to get…worse? :D

Erm I have the next couple of chapters drafted out, just need to revise and make sure it's conveyed correctly ;;

Please rate and review, it helps me a lot with writing! Thanks guys! :3