Chapter 9: Home

Author's Note: Woo-hoo, double update because Ch 8 was short. I think I have up until ~chapter 17 ish planned out? (I told you guys this was gonna be a slow burn LOL) But we'll see :) Writing is still in development. Please rate & review to give me life. Enjoy!

Also slight gore warning for this chapter, you have been warned!

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

…Kenny…

Kenny…

Kenny hears a familiar, but faint voice, coated with a sickeningly sad undertone. He was consumed in total darkness, and when he tried to move, the sludge around his legs and feet only got heavier with each pull forward. As he groaned and moved more, the black sludge would only pull him down as he struggled. The voice rings out again, this time with more desperation.

Why didn't you save me…?

Where is that voice coming from…? Kenny thought to himself, feeling a tiredness settle over himself. He was knee-deep in the black sludge, which was now moving of its' own accord. The splattered edges morphed into tentacle-like orifices, which made Kenny's heart lurch forward. How…how do I get out of here?

Although his mind felt panicked, his body felt slow and couldn't react to its surroundings. If he did nothing, he was going to slowly suffocate. Suddenly, the sludge in front of him rises and takes a form all too familiar.

Karen…? What are you doing here? Kenny tries to speak, but now black sludge is pouring out from his mouth, onto his hands. Karen's mouth opened; however, nothing came out. Soon her skin was cracking and bleeding, and she was screaming out for help- trying to move towards Kenny.

At that moment, he could do nothing.

The only thing he could do was watch how Karen became broken and mutilated- pulled apart by the black sludge as he watched in horror.

There was nothing he could do but watch.

Kenny felt himself fall limp and felt exhausted. Another voice whispered from the darkness, but he could not make anything out.

All he wanted to do was become one with nothing.

—

[... Two Days Before …]

(Kenny's POV)

Kenny woke up earlier than Craig that morning, recalling his dream to himself. The dream he had this time felt much more real and created an unexplainable ache in his chest. When he woke up, his heart rate was fast and his breathing was unstable. It took him minutes to calm down and ground himself- to tell himself that the dream wasn't reality. Even though Craig was right next to him, he didn't know how to tell him about the vivid, but horrific dreams he kept having recently. He wouldn't even begin to understand the mental damage they were having on him. Because he couldn't communicate these feelings, he felt more alone than ever.

A headache came to him then, the pain shooting into the top of his head and pulsating whenever he blinked his eyes. Kenny sat up and looked over at Craig, who was breathing and sleeping soundly. He observed as his long eyelashes fluttered while he twitched in his sleep. Kenny wished that he had the calm dreams it looked like Craig was having. He didn't want to have these mind-breaking nightmares anymore.

Kenny thought back to the other day when he had seen his dad at the strip club and heard his boss' voice. His dad was being impatient about not receiving the money, who knows why? The thought of his dad drove Kenny mad and caused him to not think clearly. But he needed to question his dad to get more answers. He had a plan in mind, but he wasn't sure if it was going to work.

He opened Craig's door quietly and headed downstairs, looking for a medicine cabinet. Kenny opens up a couple of doors and cabinets before he hears someone come up from behind him, "Looking for something?"

The voice was nasally like Craig's, but more high-pitched and feminine. Kenny turns around to face Ruby, Craig's little sister. Her face was unmoving, arms crossed tightly against her chest. Kenny feels a bit awkward facing her after so long even though they had been in contact through text. He quickly mutters, "Yeah, I'm looking for a medicine cabinet."

Ruby scoffs and turns on her heel before saying, "Follow me," She takes him to the medicine cabinet in Craig's house and opens it for him, watching Kenny intently. It looked like she wanted to say something. "Craig told me that you'd be staying here for a while," Kenny pauses, shifting through the bottles before taking something and putting it into his pocket when Ruby wasn't looking. "I just wanted to let you know, that I don't mind."

Kenny turns to face her, to see her looking off to the side uncomfortably, "Well, thanks. I got what I was looking for."

He starts to walk downstairs until Ruby grabs his wrist to stop him, "I-I know what you and Craig are doing," She lets go of his wrist and continues in a strained voice. "I…I'm not here to stop you, I just…want you both to be safe. And also…please bring back Karen if you can."

Kenny only nodded, grasping the medicine bottle in his pocket tighter with newfound strength. He left for his house to find his dad, watching TV on the couch through a broken window in the kitchen. At the sight of him, Kenny felt both fear and anger at the same time. His dad was falling asleep and looked so vulnerable then. He could just wring his neck out right then and there, and he wouldn't have to harm what was left of their shattered family. Kenny could have ended him then, but he decided not to. After all, he needed answers and to find out who his dad was talking to and where he was meeting them. Right now, Kenny has an advantage over him.

He quickly snuck into the kitchen and mixed sleeping pills into Stuart's drink. While his dad drank it, he went into the master bedroom to take the pistol from his dad's safe, eyeing the shotgun before ultimately leaving it alone. Now, it was time to wait. It took a while, but his dad was finally able to pass out onto the couch.

This was his chance.

He grabbed his dad and dragged him into his car, which was parked inside their dilapidated garage. In the bathroom, he changed into his Mysterion suit and got into his car to start the ignition. Kenny didn't know where he was driving, he just knew that he had to drive to the middle of nowhere to confront his dad. As he pressed the pedal to reverse his dad's car, he felt the pistol shift under his belt. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to use that as a last resort.

It took hours before his dad came to, noticing that he had a bag over his head and his arms were bound. "Now what the fuck! Where the fuck am I!?"

Kenny's heart was beating hard, in his chest at what he was about to do. He swerved the car off to the shoulder and got his pistol out, pointing it to Stuart's head in the back seat of his truck. Kenny pressed the gun to Stuart's head, huffing quietly, and started in his deep voice, "...Shut the fuck up. Now, I'm going to ask you some questions- I expect you to answer."

Stuart was shaking in his seat, bag over his head and arms bound tightly together. "You're the fucking rat that saw us back at the strip club, right? I thought you were fucking dead! You…you couldn't have survived that fall."

Mysterion rips the black bag out from over Stuart's head, causing him to snap back from the recoil. He discarded the bag off to the side to see his own dad's unkempt hair and beads of sweat dripping off the sides of his head. Mysterion pressed the gun further to Stuart's head, causing him to quiver in fear and close his eyes. "I'm doing the talking, now shut the fuck up before I pull the trigger on your redneck ass," Stuart gulps and nods quietly. "Now, you're working with someone intent on paying you out in exchange for a good product. Tell me who, or I'm going to blow your brains out."

Stuart spits a loogie in the back of his car, shaking his head no in response, "You're not gonna find out, ya wedgie-wearin' asshole. They'll find you and kill people like you," Mysterion grits his teeth and hits Stuart in the side of his head with the pistol. "Ugh…fuck you, ya lil bastard…"

"Fine, if you won't tell me who you're working for, tell me what the product is. Now," He tapped on the side of the pistol and spun the rounds before locking it into place. "You're running out of chances."

Stuart opened his eyes and looked at Mysterion, his blue eyes reflecting Mysterion's image at him like a mirror. Although his eyes were bloodshot, the colors of his eyes were bright and fierce- unyielding, "Fuck. You. I'm not telling."

Mysterion shoots a warning shot out the window, which makes Stuart flinch backward. "...The next one goes in your leg," Then he takes Stuart's arm and twists it in a way that causes it to crack. He yelps out in pain, his eyes looking as though they might bulge out from his skull. "Now, are you going to say something or not?" Mysterion starts to reach towards Stuart's other arm, twisting it and feeling the muscles in his arm tear against the harsh resistance.

There is another scream of pain before Stuart falls limp into Mysterion's grasp.

"It's girls…!" Mysterion's eyes widen underneath his mask. "The boss wants girls that nobody wants fuck-nun' to do with. They're…they're holdin' em inna barn a hundred miles out from town." Mysterion felt his heart sink into his stomach at those words. Would Karen be there…?

He doesn't have time to think when he hears loud popping noises and the sound of glass cracking. Mysterion looks in the rearview mirror to see black cars speeding towards them with their high beams on. It takes seconds for Mysterion to register that the black cars are shooting at them.

"We're both screwed now that you know." He looks at Stuart and sees the light fade away in his eyes as he reclines himself against the back seat.

"Fuck!" Mysterion hops over the middle console and starts driving, trying to find a way that he could lose them. There was a slight panic in him knowing that he was alone with Stuart in the middle of nowhere- and he was suddenly reminded of how he tried to lose them in the woods a couple of weeks ago. It took a couple of minutes for his heart to fully stop and for his body to dissolve before reincarnation. Those couple of minutes would be deadly. They would find out that he was Stuart's son and his mysterious identity would no longer be a mystery.

The only thing Mysterion could think of to get them out of this situation was to fake their deaths. But he was deeply conflicted on the inside.

Why not just kill him? Stuart had admitted to handing Karen over for money. Even worse than that, he disregarded her as a person and the dreams that she had. He said that nobody wanted anything to do with her.

Mysterion felt his eyes sting as he remembered the countless times he protected Karen from bullies at school, or when she talked about her future when running track. She didn't commit suicide, Stuart or someone tried to make her look pathetic. And Kenny couldn't stand that.

The lies they built for her…none of it was true at all.

Mysterion might as well have crashed the car and killed his own dad and how disgusting of a creature he believed him to be. But he felt an internal struggle with himself- with Kenny. He couldn't kill his own dad…could he? As much of an asshole he was, he was still his parent.

Kill him.

Mysterion shook his head back and forth, seeing the speeding cars behind him gain on his trail.

KILL HIM. He's killed you many times before, without any remorse. What's stopping you this time?

The thoughts inside Mysterion's head felt awfully loud, this night. He bit his lip so hard it split between his teeth, causing a drop of iron to gush out. He pressed his foot onto the gas pedal harder than ever before, not knowing what to do besides getting away and surviving, for now. He needed to lose these cars.

A couple loud bangs and cracks sounded and made their way through the glass of the car, causing Mysterion to panic. He looked at Stuart in the backseat, who was ready to give up. "Keep your head down, fucker!" Mysterion hisses towards the other, causing Stuart to lay on his side, his arms still bound.

"They're gonna kill you," He chuckles wetly under his breath, his face moist and covered with sweat. "Then…they're gonna kill me next."

Mysterion sighed harshly, gripping onto the steering wheel as he swerved the car from side to side, trying to dodge all of the bullets coming their way. A bullet pierces through one of the tires, causing him to lose control of the wheel. The truck was struggling to keep going now, as it was turning on rubber, metal axle, and broken dreams. Of course, it was also Stuart's piece of shit car. Mysterion eyed the gas meter, noticing that it was getting pretty low. How convenient. Gas was too expensive for Stuart, so he tried to ration it out so he didn't have to buy some.

Then, an idea comes to him as lights start to make themselves clear in the distance.

"There's a gas station," Mysterion has a smile on his face as he laughs to himself in relief, thinking of his idea. "I have an idea. I'm going to drive this car into the gas station there."

Stuart's eyes go wide as he realizes the other's death wish. "Boy! Are you fucken crazy!? This is my damn car an–"

"-I'm doing this to save your life!" Mysterion growls and interrupts the other, "Now are you gonna listen to me or not!" Stuart stays quiet, taking his silence as approval. The blonde haired hero throws a pocket knife at Stuart, which he uses to cut the ropes binding his hands. "I'm going to ram this car into the gas station and before that happens, I want you to open the door and roll out into the shoulder, into the woods where they can't see you. On the count of three–"

"-Kenny?"

Mysterion hesitates. Stuart, was in fact, not drunk right now and could tell that this was his own son that he was talking to.

"One…"

Stuart unbuckles his belt. Mysterion clenches tight onto the wheel and presses the accelerating pedal the lowest he could go, sparks now emitting from the metal axle of the wheel grazing against the road.

"Two…"

Stuart had his hand on the door. Mysterion put a weight on the acceleration and let go, his hand also on the driver door.

"Three!"

Mysterion and Stuart both pushed out of the car and rolled themselves out, their arms crossed tightly against their chest as they flew out the sides. The car rammed into the gas station and created a huge explosion from afar. It was all too blurry to catch, but the black cars now tailing them have all but decided to u-turn and escape the scene- worried that the police or authorities would now arrive. The two hit the road hard, but kept rolling into the darkness, their breath knocked out of them as they gasped hard for oxygen. Once they recovered, they ran out into the shadows in the same direction, running and running until the forest absorbed any presence they had.

Mysterion's lungs burned as his cape flowed from behind him, and his muscles ached as he overexerted himself to propel through the overgrown foliage of the forest. Stuart and Mysterion were not far behind from each other, as their legs give out from under them and they collapse onto the ground. After Stuart catches his breath, he looks at Kenny. He gets out the pocket knife from where he had been hiding it, with his good arm. The other arm lay still and floppy at his side.

"You lil' rat bastard, I should've known it was you, Kinny." Stuart collects his saliva altogether and spits it at Kenny's feet.

Kenny gets up, his breath now regained, and uncovers himself of his darkened hood. "Stop it."

"So it is you Kenny, you meddlin' fuckin' bastard, I should've never birthed you–"

"-I SAVED your life," Kenny's hair blew around in the cool wind, a nice transitioned from being in a moldy, dampened up car. He took his mask off and looked at Stuart, face to face, father to son. Stuart faltered, the pocket knife now shaking along with his arm. "And you took away Karen's in return."

Stuart gulped.

"If I didn't have a heart, I would kill you right now…but I'm not," Kenny sighed, gripping the mask tighter in his hand. "I fucking hate you with every fiber of my being. But…I still saved you," He continues, unsure of the feelings and the words that were pouring from his own mouth. He wasn't sure if he could contain it anymore. "You know what I want you to do most? After all the damage you've done- the family we have left?" Kenny looked Stuart dead in the eyes and smiled. "I just want you to leave."

"Y-you can't tell me what to do," Kenny walked quietly towards Stuart, who was now raising the pocket knife with conviction. Using Stuart's phone, Kenny pressed the power button five times to send out a 911 signal to their coordinates in one hand.

"Yeah, but I can do this." The two were now inches apart from each other, the pocket knife touching Kenny's neck. Kenny took the pocket knife from Stuart gently and slit his own neck with it, the blood squirting out and covering the other man in front of him.

As Kenny fell onto his knees and fell forward from the sudden onslaught of extreme blood loss, he could hear a string of curses from his dad and the sound of police sirens from a distant place. His whole body felt numb, but his face felt warm.

He was smiling.

—-

Kenny softly blinks his eyes to a darkened scene that he could only recognize as Craig's room. Street lamp light poured into through a small crack in Craig's curtains, and he could only assume that it was around nighttime that he was reborn. He had a lot to tell Craig, but he didn't want to do so right now. Kenny wanted to be alone.

There was a deep, heavy feeling in his chest as he found himself walking aimlessly outside of the other boy's house. His feet were taking him somewhere, but his brain couldn't comprehend where.

Was what I did right?

A snowflake drifted out from his peripheral vision, and soon many more came. Kenny looked up towards the sky to see a blur of white start to slowly accumulate towards him.

Should I have killed my dad right then and there?

When everything came back into clear focus, Kenny realized where he had walked, and a lone tear fell from his eye.