Chapter Text
Kenny knew the saying 'life’s not fair'
He carried it with him for 17 years. He knew that good people didn’t always find love, and he knew that cruel people were wealthy with power, and he knew that death would do anything to knock him off the earth for good.
Well, good fucking luck with that.
Kenny didn’t understand much about death, but he knew it was dark and cold. It swallowed him up weekly and crushed his spirit with astounding cruelty.
He thinks about it a lot, just like the way he was thinking about it right now before a snowball slammed across his face.
He gaped for a moment, then whipped around to see Kyle grinning at him with a pile of snow in his hands. Stan, Tweek, and Craig trailed behind him.
“Gotcha!” Kyle beamed.
“You asked for it, Ky...” Kenny replied with a laugh as snow dribbled down his cheek. He leaned down to gather the slush on the ground as another snowball smacked against his right leg.
"I'd love to see you try." He rolled his eyes affectionately in response. "You can't aim for shit! You throw like a— FUCK!"
Kyle was cut off with a well-deserved snowball to the face. He sputtered out complaints as he attempted to shake off the wetness while Kenny reached the four with a wide grin.
Stan snorted. "Nice one, Kenny. For a second there, I thought we were actually going to have to listen to another speech."
"Screw you, Stan." Kyle remarked lightly. "Anyway, are we skating, or what?"
"Well, ice hockey is actually pretty dangerous when you think about it," Tweek squeaked out, but he grinned. "But let's do it!"
Tweek Tweak had loosened up over the years, and Craig had grown kinder, much to everyone's surprise. In addition, Stan had gotten used to the fact that the 'love of his life' was now his girlfriend; Kyle joined the state debate team to release his frustrations surrounding certain aspects of society. Things were beginning to change, but the statement could not be said for a certain blonde.
Nobody remembered shit about the hundreds of times that Kenny McCormick died.
"Are the other guys coming?" Stan asks as he hands an extra pair of hockey skates to Kenny.
"Not today. Jimmy can't be the referee because he's grounded, and Token and Clyde have detention." Craig answers as Tweek sticks earmuffs onto the boy's familiar hat.
Kyle tilted his head curiously. "What'd they get detention for? The last time I remember Token of all people getting punished was like, fifth grade for punching Cartman in the face. But like, the punch was well deserved." he rambled on. "The fatass was going on about how it wasn’t women that belonged in the kitchen... which would've been correct if he hadn't added that 'black people' should be doing the work instead. He still thinks slavery should be legal! Can you believe such an arrogant dickhead is—"
"You talk too much, Broflovski." Craig interrupted. "We get it, you're obsessed with Cartman."
"Obsessed? Obsessed, Craig? Sure, obsessed with the fact that he's intolerant and supports white supremacy!"
Stan sighed. "Oh, brother. Here we go again."
"His opinions devalue the rights and humanity of anyone who isn't exactly like him! His attempts at rising racism or anti-Semitism somehow always finds its way to South Park's head, and he never gets the blame! He doesn’t suffer any consequences, and it leads to several loopholes that allow him to do it over and over to the point where..."
Kyle continued to release his statement, not noticing Craig ushering the others out onto the ice.
"...you'd think that we, as the progressive United States, wouldn't allow this bullshit to continue in 2020, but here we are still listening to Eric Cartman's intolerance while the public proceeds to act like his beliefs are just another little quirk of South Park! His behavior should be deemed unacceptable and..."
"Let's leave this one alone. He'll snap out of it soon enough. I'm going out onto the ice." Craig whispered as Kyle took notice.
Stan and Tweek made eye contact, shrugging at each other before following Craig. Stan turned when he realizes the other pair of footsteps was not close behind and watched Kenny McCormick with a puzzled expression.
He was staring at Kyle babbling and staring at him like he was the whole universe. He was staring at Kyle babbling about intolerance and society as if he hadn't heard the redhead's opinions a million times before.
Stan's a bit dumb.
He doesn’t get it.
Kenny doesn’t really understand it either.
"South Park needs to be better... we need to focus our privilege into those who are less fortunate instead of spending our energy discriminating against others for looking different. Cartman's fat-assed opinions are encouraging the people to do the exact opposite and you can't prove me wrong! You must admit he has some type of power over South Park—some evil type of control—something that makes the people want to listen. This is exactly how Hitler—"
"Kyle! Dude!" Stan snapped with exasperation.
Kyle's cut off speech halted as he blinked, looking at Stan's crossed arms. He didn’t say anything, and Stan continued.
"You broke Kenny."
Kenny too snaps out of his gaze. "Hey! I—I was just listening!"
Stan seems to be connecting the dots by now.
"You were—" looking at my best friend like how I look at my girlfriend. Stan shook his head. "Let's just... play a match of hockey, right?"
Stan doesn’t wait for their response; he is quick to turn and scramble out onto the ice with Tweek and Craig.
Yup, he's definitely connected the dots by now.
Kyle sighs as he plops down in the snow beside Kenny to slip on his skates. "Dude, why do you listen to me?"
Kenny looks over at the boy's warm face. "Hm?"
"When I give my annoying... speeches, you listen. You don’t roll your eyes and—and you listen. Like, really listen."
"Maybe I like what you have to say, Ky."
"Well, I don’t think I ever thanked you for that. So... thank you."
Kenny doesn’t say anything in response. He simply sends a smile and stands, holding a gloved hand out to help Kyle up from his position after his skates are fully on. It only takes a moment before Kyle accepts his hand and rises from the snow with a grin as they bump shoulders walking down to the frozen pond.
And Kenny knows he's an unlucky guy.
So why was it such a surprise when the ice beneath his feet began to crackle?
"D'you guys hear that?" Tweek questioned curiously, glancing around.
"Holy fuck. Holy fuck—Kenny!" Stan shouts out.
Kenny feels like everything around him is shifting in slow motion as he slowly looks below his feet.
And right below them is a splitting crack in the ice.
Just a daily quirk in the life of Kenny McCormick.
He can hear Kyle distantly. "Kenny—you'll be okay, just... just fucking take my hand, okay?"
You'll be okay.
Kenny likes to pretend Kyle isn't lying his ass off as he listens to the crumbling of melting slush below him; his feet feeling heavier than ever.
Seeing as Kenny won't move, Craig takes the most logical step in a very illogical time and tugs Kyle away from the breaking point, stumbling as he does.
Because McCormick is too far gone.
Below the surface where Kyle makes desperate attempts to pull away from the other three boys who hold him back lies Kenny McCormick's dead body.
Hours pass.
Memories fade.
Frowns turn into grins.
"It's a good thing nobody got hurt." Stan says to Kyle, staring at the hole in the ice that remained as they had begun to finish up their game and gather their equipment.
And with a slight thought of the orange-coated blonde crying out for help was whisked away from his memory, Kyle Broflovski smiled.
"Yeah, thank god."