And here it is, the last of it, the very last:
"Who are you?" Kenny stared from one to the other, not recognizing either. Trey smiled, turning to Matt with an evil glare in his eyes. "He doesn't know. He doesn't know a bit of it." "Know what? What do I-who are you, I-" Kenny stepped back from the pair, as if frightened. "You have a power, a great power.." "They're the gods," Sarah said solumnly, gazing up at them with a glare of hatred in her eyes. "They appeared to me years ago. They made your fate." "Not quite..." Trey paused. "I suppose you could say that for every time you died," he chuckled. "You never truely met your makers." "Nice one, Trey. Did you think of that all by yourself, or did you get some monkeys to help you?" A girlish laughter echoed through the trees, causing the duo to glance around warily, trying to pinpoint it's location. Stan, Kyle, and Cartman, watching from the woods, also couldn't find where it was coming from, nor did they know the voice. Only one did. "Elisabeth!" Kenny cried, as she emerged from the trees with a small smirk on her face, sporting that look that said to everyone, even Trey and Matt, 'I-know-something-you-don't-know'. "Yeah, it's me, the girl who has to explain everything. May we all rejoice!" she said sarcastically. Her glance went to Trey and Matt, and she seemed to be studying them. "Well well, it's the gruesome twosome in person, how about that?" "Who are you, girl? How do you know us? And how did you make your voice echo like that-" "Oh, good God, shut up!" Elisabeth's cocky attitude subsided and she slowly became more serious. "I'll tell you all. Everything. Who I am, what you are, and what this is all..aboot." She chuckled. "You said I'd find out everything in the end..does that mean this is all over?" "Almost Kenny..listen.." Elisabeth paused for dramatic effect, and began. "A few years ago, two ordinary men decided to make a short cartoon. It was all about Frosty and four kids and a little baby version of Jesus. Does it ring a bell, Kenny?" "What-" "I didn't ask you, Matt, I asked Kenny." "No.." Kenny paused, trying to recollect it. "Someone wasn't himself, something wasn't right..wait, it never happened, nothing like it ever happened, I never saw anything like it.." "You don't remember..this is to be expected..listen, there's more. Someone saw this litle cartoon, and liked it so much they asked for a Christmas card, featuring the boys. It provided more then the pair ever dreamed of. Soon, offers were rushing in for them to make and direct movies, TV shows..eventually Comedy Central won out for a little spinoff show that became a great success." "Where is this leading, Elisabeth?" "Be patient.. The show was called South Park." "What?!" Kenny stood straight, panic in his face. "Someone made a show about us? Someone's been watching us-" "Hush.." Elisabeth went slowly, knewing the most important came soon. "The show starred the same four boys as the original cartoon..the fat, one, or big-boned, so he said, the leader, the Jewish boy-" "Cartman, Stan, Kyle.." he knew what came next. "And a rather mysterious one. He wore a hood, so nobody could see his face save the eyes, and all things he said-perverted, usually-were heavily muffled. Thus you didn't care about him when he, well, died every week. The cries of 'Oh my God! They killed Kenny!' became a catch phrase, plastered on t-shirts, said across the US, and later the globe..it was what the show was most known for, really. And so the boys and everyone else in their lives were watched, from the moment Cartman got an anal probe, to when Mr. Hankey appeared, to helping Chef overcome his financial problems. And so we will continue to watch..and watch *you*." "Dude..we're a show," Stan whispered, and the strange, twisted reality hit the boys: that they were *not* reality. They were puppets to reality, living lives that had never existed, that were written and recorded and acted out. They were fiction. "Who did this to us?" Kenny asked coldly, already knowing the answer. Elisabeth calmly pointed to Trey and Matt, who had started to slowly inch away. "They did." "BASTARDS!" "Wait.." Elisabeth placed a hand on Kenny's shoulder, trying to calm him. "There's more." "How can there be more? We're fiction, that's all we need to know." "Yes, but do you know who *I* am?" She paused, waiting for answers. "I didn't think so. Kenny? Have you ever heard of fanfics?" "Like the ones people write for Terrance and Phillip? They usually suck," said Kyle, the boys having long since broken their cover. "Yes," Elisabeth said, with a small chuckle, "Like those. I suppose it's true, Terrance and Phillip is indeed South Park's equivalent of South Park..fanfics for South Park were not common at first, now they are..but only a few authors have taken time to become very well-known for their work. The first, first in everything, to have her own fanfic site, to probably write fanfics in the first place, was SnowCalico, or so they called her, her real name being Valerie. She was hilarious in everything she wrote, but has sadly retired, writing only a few things every now and then. Next, Alyssa. Does that name inspire anything?" "It's in my subconscious..fear. Awe. Disgust.." "I thought so. She's still writing, she's close to my age, but not me. She's brilliant, better then some adults, I think. Kyle Broflofski..yes, Kyle, she took your name. She, yeah, she's a girl, a rather, um, different one. About Snow's age, I think. She's smart, and nice, and a great author with a lot of potential, and she created the character of Shelia, Cartman's girlfriend. Martin, Dan, they're both great authors, but they're not important. Let's just say that some of their scripts are better then actual episodes. Here's the important ones. Lindsay and Kim." Stan shuddered on impulse. "Death, and insanity, and fear..that's all I think of when I hear those names, it's creepy, dude." "You should. They were a milestone, really. You see, South Park is a comedy show. But with a story called 'Playing the Game of Revenge', they made the first serious..well, *very* serious..South Park story. Think, Kenny, see if you can remember it." Kenny concentrated, shutting his eyes, and for a moment he seemed to slacken. "Death..death, it's everywhere, it's come for everyone except me, it's all because of me, 4 girls, they mean well, they-madness, insanity, suspicion..fear, fear, tears, Chef, Kyle, Cartman..Stan..oh no..how dare they, I swear I'll-" "Kenny! Kenny, dude, snap out of it!" Kyle shouted. Kenny shook for a moment, and opened his eyes. "Thanks, Kyle..I lost myself for a second." "My, this is turning out better then I expected. This is important, Lindsay and Kim are important..Kim in particular." "And why," said Trey, speaking up for the first time since Elisabeth had silenced him, "Is that?" "Oh, you don't know? Think. This situation isn't exactly comedic, is it?" "No...and I know for a fact.." Matt said, "That we're not writing this. So she is?" "Right." "But what does this have to do with you are?" Cartman asked, not really following any of it. "Haven't you guessed? Why would I know everything, everything in the past, everything to come? How would I know unless.." she smiled, once again pausing for dramatic effect. "Unless I was Kim herself?"
"A fictional...en-bot-ee-ment?" "You four never were one for pronunciation, were you?" "Hey, we're only 8." "A fact I should have kept in mind," Elisabeth muttered. "Well, yeah, but I like being mature. It makes me feel older." "It makes you *seem* older..Kenny, before I go, there's one thing I need to say. You'll need to make another descision, even harder then the first one..I didn't call this part of the story 'Dual Sacrifice' for nothing. But I promise, whatever choice you make, Trey and Matt won't stop you." "You know," Kenny said, glancing over to them, "they've changed, they've changed a lot. They're not, well, crazy." "Trey was the only one who ever really was..and neither will be until I will it so. That will be soon, though..when I leave." "You're leaving?" "Right now, actually.." Elisabeth rose. "But you just got here!" said Cartman. "Well, I'd love to stay. After all, it's the South Park kids and their creators, not to mention Sarah, who looks like Lindsay and has her middle name..Kim's middle name *is* Elisabeth, by the way. But I have a test Tuesday, friends to talk to, a life to live..." She turned to Trey, smirking for a moment, giving a light chuckle that was barely evident to those who did not listen closely. "And there are other stories to be written..yes, many other stories to be written." Suddenly, a rush filled the air, a strange, bizarre feeling. There was a flash of light, so bright that all could not help but blink. When they opened their eyes, Elisabeth was gone.
"Are you sure this will work?" "How do you think I used those dogs to threaten you when I first had you captured? They were illusions, part of black magic. I dabble in it, I needed something to do while I lived alone all these years. And this is a portal..if my calculations are right, it should take you home," said Sarah, her eyes going from Stan, to Kyle, to Cartman, studying their faces. This, she knew, was the last time she would see them. Trey and Matt had gone, defeated and humiliated. The boys knew they would never see them again, but they would always feel them..every movement they made would probably be because of them or the mysterious fanfics. They were still their creation, and under their control. A lump formed in Kenny's throat, as slowly he realized something. His choice had come. Would he stay..or would he leave with his friends? Either way, he would lose something he loved, something he loved in many different ways, but he loved all the same. He silently turned to his mother, giving her a look that said he knew now the descision he needed to make. And he closed his eyes, trying to think.
'Kenny, listen-Kenny, come home...' 'Bring Kenny home..' 'The stars are so beautiful...' 'Dude, we're a show..'
So many thoughts filled his mind, so many twisted images, horrible memories and wonderful ones, images of death and images of happiness and friendship. Slowly, he made his descision. "Mom, I love you. We've gotten so close, in this short time. If I left, there wouldn't be a moment when I wouldn't miss you.." he studied her face for a moment, the expression unreadable. She wanted whatever made him happy, he knew, and that comforted him. "But..South Park has been my home for my entire life. It's all I've ever known. There are people there, people who know me, and care about me as much as people like them can..I'll never forget you, though. Never." Tears welled up in his eyes, eyes that looked a bit more human then ever, holding experiance of things he had never experianced before. He motioned to Sarah, and she knelt down. He gave her a small kiss on the forehead, full of the tenderness a boy gives to his mother. The kiss was through the cloth of his hood, but she didn't care, and neither did he. They felt the love. Suddenly, his hood shimmered, and for an instant, it disappeared. His face was an ordinary one, with his father's hair, and his mother's eyes, eyes still filled with tears, his cheeks dotted with a few freckles, thin with his years of poverty. And yet, there was more to that face, those eyes. They rang out with a truth that could bring one to tears. Something you read in that expression showed the love, the pride, the determination that said 'I will be strong, and I will conquer all odds, I will do anything to find my happiness and what I desire, 'born of fire' is the meaning of my name, and to that name I will be true'. Even Kenny himself, with no mirror, somehow knew his face, and knew what he looked like, with all the beauty in the expression that the other boys and Sarah saw. And as if it had never happened, Kenny shimmered again, and the orange hood fell into place again, and only his eyes could be seen, but they were eyes that still carried that fire, and that love. "Thank you, Elisabeth.." he whispered, and squeezed Sarah's hand for another moment. The boys silently stepped into the portal, all four, and as the portal was closing, Kenny for a second felt a desire to rush back and remain there. But he knew what he wanted was to go back..he would miss South Park too much if he never saw it again. "Goodbye.." he said again. "No matter what happens, I'll never forget you."
Blackness, everywhere was blackness. Images filed his mind, surrounding him. Trey, Matt, Stan, Kyle, Cartman, Chef, Ms. Cartman, Jimbo..Jimbo, he realized, who shot him.., Elisabeth, Sarah, who's image he kept in his mind and heart and he vowed he would never forget, and him..him, unmasked, with that gaze that showed everything he had been through, as he had first kissed someone with his lips, and not through folds of cloth. A song ran through his ears, powerful, filling his mind with broken images and words.
And I don't want the world to see me.. 'Cause I don't think that they'd understand...
I'm going home, he realized, I'm going home..
When everything's made to be broken.. I just want you to know who I am.. I just want you to know who I am..
And suddenly, there was more darkness, more silence, and there was nothing.
"Kenny? Wake up and get to school..and avoid your father, he's having a hangover.." "Huh?" He had expected a headache, but he felt fine, as if just waking up. Something was beneath him..a cot? His bed..his bed..he *had* just woken up..but why? "Kenny, wake up and get ready, damnit!" Hadn't his mother missed him while he was gone? Wasn't she going to welcome him back? A thought hit him. No. It couldn't have all just been... He felt like screaming. No, it couldn't be..it just couldn't..Sarah, and Jimbo, and Ms. Cartman, and Trey, and Matt, and Elisabeth.. He noticed, pinned to his wall, a few Playboy foldouts. 'Sarah Strauss' one read, 'Elisabeth Berkley' the other. No, no, no.. His friends, they would remember, they would remember it all..they had to.
"Hey guys!" "Hey, Kenny!" There, you see? So much more respect in that tone, so much more happiness, they were different, there was no denying that. "Wasn't it awesome, you guys? Wasn't that the strangest, coolest experiance-" "What are you going on about? What happened?" Cartman asked. He was much more civil then usual, perhaps even smarter..but not a thing, he didn't remember a thing, he- "It couldn't have just been a dream. It couldn't have...could it?" Dreams subsided, but this had stayed in his mind, a memory, and he knew it would be a powerful memory, one he would have until he grew older, maybe even remaining until his death. And they had changed, they had grown closer..the Playboy foldouts, the names, Trey and Matt would fit in somewhere..it would all seem, he knew, like a twisted, strange dream. And he knew that he would always wonder if it was.
"Why? Why did we have to do it? Couldn't we let them at least have their memories?" "It's better this way..less sadness, and more good out of it. They've changed, all four of them. Kenny most of all. His mother will show how much she loves him more, too, I figure." "Will Trey-will he be alright?" "Of course. Back to normal..as normal as he can be." She smirked. "And you too..it'll all be as it was. Only the boys, Sarah, and you two will ever remember even the slightest bit of it." "But what was the point of it? Sure, they've grown closer, but what good would that do?" "More then you'd ever know. Friendship is valuable, it's a powerful force." "I wouldn't know that? You know I do." "You really worried about Trey through all that, didn't you?" "Of course I did. Maybe I'm in his shadow sometimes, and everyone knows who gets the chicks.." He chuckled softly. "But nothing changes the fact that we're friends, best friends. And so, yeah, I know friendship." "Everything is for the best, I hope. Be happy..you've done the right thing. Oh, Matt?" "Yeah, Elisabeth?" "Call me Kim, Elisabeth is no more...one last thing." "What?" "Are you lurking at the newsgroup?" "Hmm..maybe we are, and maybe we're not. You'll just have to keep on guessing." "That's what I expected out of you. It was nice meeting you..bye, Matt." "Bye, Kim. Oh, and by the way, great fanfics you and Lindsay write." "Thanks, I was hoping you'd like them." Matt studied her for a moment. Even now, even with nothing that he needed to know left unrevealed, Kim held that look of 'I-know-something-you-don't-know', that sarcastic smile that made him feel as if she was a higher power. In a way, she was, for those last brief instants when he was still a character in her story, and she still wrote him. And then, she disappeared, back to her normal life, and her next plans for finishing her stories. For indeed, there were other stories to be written.
THE END
"Well, you've certainly been quiet.." I say, smirking. "How did you like it?" A pause, brief, but enough to give me a sense that something is wrong. "Kenny?" Another pause. "Kenny?" I turn to the chair and notice it contains only fragments of skin. I had been so engrossed in my story I hadn't noticed when Kenny blew himself full of holes. Evidently, the real Kenny is far from the one I wrote and pictured. Ah well, we can't all be perfect in our opinions of someone. Ah, yes, I almost forgot. "Oh my God, they killed Kenny. You bastards." I say, softly smiling. After all, he'll just come back next Wednesday, right on time for another demise. Gathering my manuscript, I grin again, thinking of the time, the thoughts, the dedication. It had all evolved from a few tiny seeds, and became an epic, a strange, twisted epic, but one that was the serious, and indeed, beautiful side of South Park.. Or maybe I'm just over-analyzing things, as usual. Whatever. I exit the room and shut the door behind me, with only this poem on my lips:
And so it's at an end of love, and hope, and friends.. One Kenny found his fate for the other, it was too late Elisabeth was great for she controlled all fate Even for villians, too friendship all evil slew.. and so I say goodbye with a tear in my eye for even with my hectic life there are stories left to write.
THE END
-Kim
CREDITS Thanks to Alyssa and Kyle, who begged me to write more, and to Ashley and Lindsay, who saw it before anyone else. Lindsay helped me in writing the scene talking about Sarah's vision (aka the Gods scene), send her kudos if you liked that. Thank you, Goo Goo Dolls, for writing a cool song like Iris with such a fitting chorus, it really came in handy, and gave the song a new significance. To everyone who encouraged me, to everything that inspired me..thanks. I can't believe McCormick is finally over. Yeah, yeah, I'm overly dramatic, but try writing something like this and having it finally be over, and be more then you ever imagined it would be..one more thing, you guys, to anyone who read this, RESPOND! And now, I bid you farewell, but not for good, for "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."