V/n was exhausted beyond belief. 

Her legs shook as limped through the shadows, her hollow breathing echoing off into nowhere. She should've known that this would be hard, but with everything that had happened in the last couple of hours, she was shocked to even still be standing, let alone fighting. 

She glanced beside her, gazing out at a party of cultists searching for someone. That someone was V/n herself, or The Deathless, as they lovingly referred to her. Those guys may have had the advantage in numbers, but none of them knew the U-STOR-IT's layout, as well as Mysterion did.  

He explained he had a summer job there a few years ago, so he knew of all of the 'staff shortcuts.' They were traveling along one now, a tunnel that traveled from unit to unit via holes in the side of each connected area of storage. 

He called it; "The tunnel that travels from unit to unit via holes in the side of each connected area of storage." How clever. It rolled right off the tongue. 

Though, no matter how distasteful the naming, the shortcut did seem to prove effective by V/n's standard. The pair ducked from unit to unit, avoiding cultists while exposed to their vision and silently breaking through layers of tinfoil left behind by Professor Chaos on the interiors.

 Eventually when V/n voiced her need to sit down, they took temporary refuge inside of a dark, musky unit with a few flickering overhead light-bulbs that barely illuminated their surroundings.  

V/n's aching joints sighed in relief as she sat herself down on a nearby cardboard box, though she did feel the unmistakable sting of an open wound on her leg. She looked down to examine it. A giant gash sat there on her leg, oozing out blood and bodily fluids by the gallon. V/n let out a short gasp in surprise. How had that happened? 

"Probably from one of those serrated knives that those cultists carry around," She grumbled in her head bitterly. She vaguely remembered getting nailed with one.

Retching at the sight, she gently put her leg down and raked her shaking hands through her h/l hair. She couldn't afford to panic. What would Mysterion say? She looked over to him. 

He looked like he was doing some kind of surveillance check on their surroundings, sweeping an analytical glare at every little thing in sight. In a way it was amusing to watch, she was doing something similar to that less than a week ago when she was scared of encountering him.

"I think we're safe for now," Mysterion grunted, nodding towards his companion. "Are you feeling alright?" He moved over to V/n, stopping himself short at the sight of her leg wound. "Crap. Is it infected?" V/n glanced down at the gash casually, taking mental note of the white puss that was beginning to pool and crust over the top of it. She looked up at him. "Um. No." Shakily, she stood up, repressing her wincing. "Let's just keep moving. The nights not getting any younger here." As she attempted to trudge past him, Mysterion shook his head, then grabbed V/n squarely by the shoulders and sat her back down.

"You need to stay here and rest," He insisted. "I don't want you getting yourself more hurt than you already are." V/n scoffed but didn't protest. She wanted to save Cassandra, but her leg was starting to ache horribly.  

"Here, let me look at it." Mysterion knelt, taking V/n's leg in his hands. She whimpered slightly at his cold touch, but not because it had hurt her. 

It felt weird to have him this close, especially after she had almost kissed him half an hour ago. The memory of that moment made V/n want to jump away from him and go bury herself in some garbage, but she held her breath and stayed perfectly still as Mysterion examined her wound. After a moment of silence, he gently placed V/n's leg back onto the ground. He moved to sit next to her on the cardboard box, heaving an exasperated sigh as he did. Straightening his posture slightly, he flicked his gaze towards her. She gazed back.

For a single moment, they just. . . looked at each other. The thick silence grew thicker as they held each other's stare, until V/n couldn't tolerate the intense, wordless interaction. She hung her head down, staring instead at her s/f/c boots. A small blush dusted her s/t face, one that she would have attempted to hide if not for her exhaustion. Mysterion, however, noticed the h/c(ette)'s rosy cheeks. 

Sitting there, beside him, she looked gorgeous. Scars, bruises, leg gashes and all. He couldn't help but break character slightly and smile. Not like a flirtatious, sexy smirk he would have given to a passing girl, but one that felt genuine. It was weird, really, the only person able to make him smile like that- feel like that, even, was Karen, in all of her purity. Guess the count was up to two now.

Looking the still girl up and down, Mysterion cautiously slithered his hand into hers, gripping it in a tight, affectionate squeeze. 

Shocked by the sudden move, V/n looked up, first at him, then at their intertwined hands. She opened her mouth to say something, but all that came out was a string of inaudible mutters. "God, what is wrong with me?!"  V/n yelled to herself. "Now he's gonna think I'm weird, fuck!"

"You know," He chuckled. "I always figured I'd be the one to make the first move and kiss you first." V/n snapped out of her bewilderment. "Uh, what?" 

"Earlier. When you tried to kiss me after I gave you the band-aids. Sadly. . ." Mysterion gestured down towards V/n's leg. "That gash of yours might be a little too big for one."  He chuckled a little at his joke. V/n smiled slightly at his laughter.

Even if they were being hunted down by a cult and would probably end up dying tonight, she couldn't help but feel somewhat comforted by his lame attempt at comedy. She exhaled in contentment, and the two sat in comfortable silence, his hand still on hers. Eventually, she mustered up the will to say something.

"Hey, can I be real with you for a second?" He turned to look at her and nodded. "Yeah, go ahead. Be as real for as many seconds as you want." She snorted at the comment, but quickly recollected herself. She inhaled slowly, scanning her mind for the best words she could use to explain her emotions, to convey her message to him in a meaningful way.

"I- I really like you, Kenny. Like- really. I-" V/n sucked in a breath. She had to keep her cool. "I know we haven't known each other for that long, but I want to try to make us work." V/n tried to map out what she should say next. Whenever she watched sappy drama shows with Cassandra, confessions were normally fuelled by raw emotion. . . maybe she should try that?

"When I'm around you, you make me feel things I've never felt before," She spoke hesitantly and slowly in the fear she might mess up. "When we first met in the park, I thought you were going to be a threat, with your punching and your kicking and your terrible batman impression. I was terrified of you, to put it simply." 

She swallowed a breath, fumbling with the words in her mouth. She could practically feel them buzzing at her lips, each one desperate to pour out of her maw into a chaotic waterfall of words.

"I used to berate myself for moving me and my sister here.  Perhaps all of those missing kids wouldn't be missing, and these cultists wouldn't be out for my blood if we never moved here. But, oddly enough, I don't regret being in South Park anymore." V/n paused for effect. "I think that was because of you. Ever since we met, I've always had a good feeling about you. I didn't really understand at the time, but as I got to know you better, in and out of costume. . . I kind of fell for you without even realizing it."

V/n wiped the accumulating beads of sweat from her forehead. She had to admit, it felt amazing to finally tell Kenny how she truly felt, light a hefty weight had been mercifully lifted from her shoulders. Taking a stable breath, she steadily met his gaze, calm and reassured by only herself.

 "After we're done with all of this shit, and we get my sister back, maybe we could go out. . ." She trailed off of the sentence she had planned on saying when she saw the way her crush was looking at her.

 His eyes were shining in a way she had never seen them before. A torrent of emotions seemed to be swimming through his wide-staring eyes, though all of them were unreadable to V/n. He looked her [small/tall] frame up and down, mouth slightly agape in what looked like surprise. 

"Uh, are you listening to me. . . ?" She asked uncertainly. The blonde boy snapped out of his daze. "Yeah, of course, it's just. I didn't expect you to say anything like this." Shaking his head slightly, he smiled at the beautiful girl beside him. "I'd love to go out with you Y/n."

Y/n's face lit up. She opened her mouth to speak, but was quickly cut off guard by a sudden gust of wind and Kenny's lips pressed firmly against her own. She gasped in surprise at the sudden contact but soon felt herself ease into it.

 The kiss felt both juvenile and mature, stimulating and nulling, humble and assertive. Despite the somewhat awkward atmosphere, the certainty of their overwhelming passion for each other canceled out all their indifferences. Kenny softly cupped her cheek with his hand, deepening their kiss as he did. 

It was clear to Y/n now. Right now, they weren't masked heroes or rogue villains. In the moment they were caught up in one another, they weren't even Mysterion and V/n.

They were Kenny McCormick and Y/n L/n, two stupid kids in love.

Eventually, the two had to reluctantly pull away for air. As she inhaled once more, the once stale, tense air tasted. . . refreshing, and much more satisfying than it had been up until her confession. 

"Hey, babe. . . is your leg feeling any better?" Y/n's heart fluttered at the affectionate nickname. She looked down to re-examine her leg. It was still just as gross-looking as it was when she last checked it, if not worse. She attempted to stand on it. 

A stinging burst of pain shot up through her lacerated wound, causing her to hiss in discomfort. "It feels fine," She lied through a set of tightly gritted teeth. Her partner looked her up and down with a judgemental eye, clearly unimpressed with her horrible attempt at acting. 

"Do you really expect me to believe tha-" He stopped abruptly. Out of the corner of his eye, at the edge of the darkened storage unit, Kenny noticed a stack of boxes shift in a rather peculiar way. Was someone else in the room with them? His suspicions were only validated further when the boxes toppled over and he heard a sharp exchange of whispers. "Be quiet, somebody's gonna hear us!"

"Relax Professor Pansy, no one is even in here, not that we couldn't take those cultists on ourselves. Anyway, why did you want to come to this unit of all places? It looks like a total dump."

"Because this is where we keep all of our ChaosBombs!™They'll be pretty useful in the final fight. Duh."

Mysterion heard the other anonymous intruder scoff as if offended. He glanced at V/n, who gave an affirmative nod to the unasked question. She had heard every word in that questionable conversation and interpreted these mysterious new figures as a threat.   

The pair soundlessly stalked over to where the voices were heard, cautiously encircling the space at a safe distance. As they begun slowly closing in, though, V/n found that the snarky entities sounded vaguely familiar. . .

Then, as soon as V/n realized the familiarity, A blur of teal tumbled across the room, splatting against another stack of boxes that toppled over on impact. A disoriented Cassandra sat in the middle of the fallen crates, glaring at someone across from her. "Dude, why the hell did you push me?!"

Professor Chaos shot up from behind the same boxes, glaring at her and folding his arms. "You were irritating me, that was just an act of impulse!"

The choppy-haired girl sprang to her feet. "Oh, I'll show you impulse. . !" She cracked her knuckles, walking briskly towards the villain with a fist zeroed in on his face. 

Irritation evaporating into fear, Chaos gave a bird-like squawk and scrambled to run away from the enraged girl, stumbling over his own feet. Cassandra chased the tinfoil-clad boy around the unit, both of them screaming at each other in an ear-shattering pitch.

"STOP CHASING ME, YOU PSYCO! YOU'RE GONNA GET US CAUGHT!"

"NOT UNTIL YOU FACE YOUR CARNAGE LIKE A MAN, COWARD!"

"CARNAGE?! JESUS, ALL I DID WAS PUSH YOU!"

This heated exchanged for the duration of the pursuit, all the while Mysterion and V/n looked on in horror. "Do you think they even know we're here?" V/n whispered as another stack of boxes toppled over. Mysterion sighed, putting a hand to his forehead."Even if they don't, we need to shut them up before they attract any unwanted attention." He set off towards the two squabbling teens.

Cassandra seemed to have given up her hunt, as she and Professor Chaos were now instead kneeling on the ground amidst a sea of boxes, slapping each other's hands around like bickering schoolchildren. 

Mysterion wedged himself in between the two, glaring down at them both. Cassandra glowered back up at him irritably. "Hey dude, do you mind? We're trying to bicker here- Wait. You look familiar." She squinted at him slightly. "Do I know you from somewhere- WAIT!" 

When the information finally clicked in her brain, Cassandra's eyes widened in panic as she viewed the scowling boy under a completely different light. The young programmer scrambled to her feet, pointing an accusing finger in his face. "You were the guy with V/n! Where is she?! I swear to God, if you abandoned her somewhere, I will fucking kill you and I'll also delete Minecraft from your PC!" 

"I don't have Minecraft on my PC," Mysterion replied. "Well then," Cassandra fumed. "I'll give you Minecraft for your PC, THEN I'LL DELETE IT FOREVER AND YOU'LL WISH YOU HAD NEVER FUCKED WITH CASSANDRA L/N!" 

V/n, yet to be addressed, couldn't help but tear up at the sight of her sister. It had felt like ages since they were in the same room together, and all the while her companion from the womb was still the same old girl she had grown up with: short, sassy, and verbally abusive. 

Barely able to contain her emotion, the h/c(ette) pounced, tackling Cassandra in a bear-tight grip on the floor. Cassandra yelped, flailing her arms in a vain attempt to get V/n off of her. 

"ARG! WHO THE HELL- Wait, V/N?!" V/n released her sister from her hug, nodding and giving Cassandra's bristly hair a good rustle. Tears of shock pricked at the edges of her eyes as she grasped V/n in a grip that put her own to shame. 

"Oh my god. . . I'm so glad you're safe!" She sobbed. "I was watching you from some stupid monitor, then the cultists dropped Professor Chaos in my cell and we decided to make a temporary alliance to escape, and oh my god I'm just so glad you're alive,"  

"Cassandra," V/n whispered gently as she cradled the weeping girl in her arms. "You're hyperventilating, sis. Calm down." Cassandra mumbled unintelligible nothings, pacing her breathing a small amount. 

"Listen, this lil' reunion is sweet and all, but now that we're all conveniently together in one place we should probably go." Professor Chaos cut in, lifting himself off of the ground. "Chaos is right," Mysterion motioned to the doors. "They could be here at any moment. We're lucky as hell not to have been caught by all of the loud yelling," He stared pointedly at Cassandra and Professor Chaos. "We've still got to deal with getting these guys out of our town, so we'll come back tomorrow with reinforcements. For now, we need to leave." 

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," Someone said from behind. The group of four swirled around.  There, at the entrance to the storage unit they had been hiding in, stood a massive sea of cultists. Their leader stood at the helm, all the previous amusement in his eyes gone. He had underestimated these measly children and their abilities to evade his capture, but not anymore. This goose chase for The Deathless was finally going to end, along with the lives of its sickening companions. 

"Our church has wasted enough of our valuable time attempting to neutralize you, Y/n L/n," He addressed her coldly, gaze fixed upon her. Mysterion stepped in front of his trembling lover, meeting his glare with one just as cold and unforgiving. 

"You're not going to sacrifice her in your ritual," He stated. "As long as I'm still standing, you're not going to touch my girlfriend." 

V/n blushed profusely. Cassandra's jaw dropped. Professor Chaos just looked confused. He nudged Cassandra in the shoulders. "Did you know about this?! When did they start dating?" She shook her head, mouth still agape in shock. "I'm not sure. . . maybe it happened while you were holding me hostage?? Shit, dude. . . I can't believe this! My sister got a boyfriend before me!"

While they continued to whisper about it, the cult's leader chuckled. "You know, I think you're right. I have no idea why we hadn't been able to dispose of you lot yet, but you're certainly expendable."

 He snapped his fingers, and a robed someone walked up beside him. They pulled a handgun out of their pocket, taking an expert aim at Mysterion's head. They didn't immediately shoot, the cultist was probably waiting for his leader to say the word. Mysterion didn't look at all startled by death practically staring him in the face.

 If anything, he looked ready to die.  

The leader turned his head to address the anonymous shooter. "Dispose of them, keep The Deathless alive." The shooter nodded. "Also. . ." The leader narrowed his eyes. "Start with the hooded one."

The group knew this was the end. Though none of them wanted to admit fear in their final moments, they knew that they couldn't go against this cult for any longer. If just one of them made a rebellious move, the sea of red would drown them, promising a much slower and painful death than their alternative option.

They were all so young. There was still so much they had yet to do, so many dreams that would shatter the moment their lifeless corpses crumpled to the floor. Once her companions were dead, V/n would die too, even while she was still breathing.   

All that sorrow and all that pain begins as soon as the trigger is pulled.

A single gunshot sounds.

Mysterion braced for impact. But the impact never came. He opened his eyes to see the cultists staring down at his feet in horror. He looked down.

His heart stopped.

V/n. V/n was on the floor, eyelids half closed, cloudy eyed, the bullet meant for him lodged in her brain. 

No. She. . . 

"She's dead."

He couldn't believe it. He was at least expendable, because of his curse he could have just woken up the next day in bed as though nothing had happened. But V/n. . . she was only mortal. 

She was gone, and she couldn't come back. 

Silence squeezed tightly at everyone's throats. No one could say any words, or make any sounds. 

But then, something did make a sound. A loud sound. More specifically, the sound of a remote bomb detonating and exploding half of the unit.

Across the room, a few terrified screams could be heard over the overhead debris ramming into the ground. The cultists stumbled to the ground, smoke from the blast leaving their costumed targets obscured. 

"Guys! Up here!" Everyone turned up toward the noise, surprised to see Call Girl frantically waving at them from a hole in the ceiling. She must have been the one to set off the ChaosBombs.™ She threw a rope down to the ground, motioning for them to climb up. "Hurry! While they're distracted!"

"I'm not leaving V/n!" Mysterion roared, attempting to lift the limp girl's corpse up off the ground. As he struggled, Cassandra suddenly grabbed his wrist. "You have to leave her, Mysterion." He bared his teeth. "Like hell I will! She just died, do you think I'm just going to abandon her body like it's nothing?!"

  "THIS ISN'T EASY FOR ME EITHER, YOU KNOW!" She shrieked, making him flinch. "SHE WAS MY SISTER, AND SHE DIED FOR YOU! DO YOU REALLY THINK SHE WOULD WANT YOU TO GET KILLED OVER THIS?!" Cassandra exhaled, letting go of his wrist. 

"Just. . . don't let her sacrifice go to waste." Salty tears spilled from watery eyes. "She obviously cared about you." With that, she turned around, reaching for the rope and hoisting herself up. Professor Chaos shuffled his feet around awkwardly, then followed ensuite. 

The smoke was now gradually beginning to clear, and the cultists were slowly recovering from the blow that had rendered them fallen. Mysterion gazed down at V/n one last time and bit the inside of his lip.

 Crouching down, he gently swept a hand over eyes to close them. "I love you," He whispered. Not that she would hear him. "I swear Y/n, I'll do everything in my power to avenge you. I will do you justice." His vision became blurry with tears. Wiping his eyes, he stumbled backward and grasped the rope. 

Climbing up to the roof, he could see the somber stares of the lucky survivors, along with a pitiful gaze from Call Girl. They must have told her what had become of V/n.

Stealing one last look down at her body, he sighed. V/n may have lived a villain, but she died a hero. A hero he would never forget, and a hero he would never stop loving.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Her eyes shot open. Shooting upright, she felt her entire body up and down in shock.

She could almost still feel the pain of the bullet throbbing through her head, although when she felt for it, it wasn't there. It was like a ghost wisping around her forehead, except with ghosts you weren't entirely sure they were there. She knew for sure that she had been nailed in the forehead with a bullet.

She had died. She was supposed to be dead right now. How was she not dead? How was she alive? Maybe someone saved her. "

No, that can't be right." She thought. "I was dead the moment I decided to be a human shield. Besides, I'm not even in a hospital. . . wait. Where am I?"

Her eyes darted around the room. It looked plain, maybe a little run down. The blinds were drawn, but she could see some light shining in from underneath the door. If she could get out of the crickety old bed without making any noise, maybe she could get out into the hall and catch her necromancer captors by surprise. 

Just as she shifted the duvet and placed her bare feet on the carpeted floor, the door she had her eyes trained on creaked. She froze. Someone was opening the door. It was too late to hide, not that there was anywhere for her to go. 

Puffing her chest, she was ready to combat her mysterious savior with every cuss in the book, including a few foreign words she had learned from an online Spanish course. 

Light flooded into the room, a silhouette of someone standing imposingly at the door. They looked hesitant to step in, but they did, flicking on the light as they went.

"Hey, who the fuck are you that you can bring people back from the dead?! I was shot in the fucking forehead, for god's sake-" 

She stopped. Now that she could see this person clearer, she recognized them. Or rather, her. It had been a while since her memory of her face had been updated, but she knew who this was. 

And she couldn't believe it.

Lovely e/c eyes avoided her gaze, instead focusing down on her own feet. "Hello, Y/n." She voicelessly whispered. 

". . .Mom?"   

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

O my gosh, how plot twisty. I know, the stories finally getting fricking interesting (you all can applaud me now)

Hope it wasn't too bad, took this mf a fricken month to write it -o- 

Still tho, this is one of the longest chapters I've EVER written. (4,200 words! Can you believe that shit?!)

Speaking of, I feel the need to address a few milestones we have achieved over the course of this past month

1st: 3k rEADS HOLY MOTHER OF BUTTERS- 

2nd: 160 vOTES HOLY MOTHER OF BUTTERS-

3rd: (As of this writing) #1 in the kennyxreader tAG HOLY MOTHER OF BUTTERS-

Gamers, I cannot express my gratitude to you all enough. You're the reason I write, and your support is so overwhelming I just can't-

 The story is still a ways away from concluding, but until then, please know that I am so happy you all love my work so far. Love you gamers

Until the next chapter,

-Ever