Sweet Dreams

Part 1

Kenny woke up the same as any other day. He sighed and got out of bed, throwing on his iconic orange parka. He walked into the living room, already tuning out his parents yelling and his brother threatening to move out again.

As he walked into the kitchen he noticed his sister Karen sitting, kind of hidden behind the table, crying. He walked over and sat next to her, calmly talking to her. He mentally cursed his parents for making this entire thing such a routine.

After a few minutes Karen stopped crying and just held onto her older brother. They both got up and Kenny offered to walk her to school, he knew it would cause him to be late but his sister needed him. She nodded and the two headed out, through the back door, he didn't want to have to deal with his parents.

They got to Karen's school about 10 minutes later, he hugged her and said bye and watched as she ran into the school. Kenny smiled before heading to school.

The walk was quiet, as usual, he liked it. Though as he walked he noticed another person, a good ways ahead on the sidewalk. As he got closer he recognized the blue jacket as the one Butters wore. He went to call out for Butters but stopped when he saw Butters was crying. He quickly walked up to him.

"Butters? Is everything okay?" He asked with a concerned tone.

Butters nodded, "yeah, I'm fine Ken"

Kenny didn't ask anymore questions, but he didn't believe that Butters was actually okay.

When they got to school, they both were late. Butters just went and hid out in the bathroom, leaving Kenny standing in the hallway, worried for his friend. He shook his head and sighed then walked to his own class.

Finally lunch rolled around and Kenny was the first kid out of the classroom. He caught up with Stan and Kyle as they walked to the cafeteria. Cartman was already at the lunch table waiting for them. They all sat down with their food and mostly talked instead of eating.

A few minutes into lunch there was some yelling across the cafeteria. It was Butters arguing with one of the older students, all because Butters accidentally bumped into them. A good handful of kids went over to watch the arguing, kinda laughing about it. Kenny didn't think it was funny and got up, Stan and Kyle did as well. The three walked over just as the fight escalated. The kid punched Butters and watched as the younger boy fell to the ground. Everyone who had gathered went quiet before slowly beginning to chant for them to fight. Butters was still though, he didn't move. He stayed hunched over on the ground. Kenny looked worried and went to step in, but Butters got up. At first Kenny was relieved until he saw the look in Butters eyes. It was of pure anger, an unnatural look in the usually happy boy. Butters threw a punch that knocked the other kid to the floor, though as soon as the kid was down he kicked him. It was clear that Butters was angry, too angry. Kenny ran over to Butters and pulled him back, silently pleading for him to calm down. A few friends of the older kid ran over to him and glared at Butters, who seemed to not care. Kyle and Stan ran over to Butters and asked if he was okay and what happened. Butters said nothing and just pushed Kenny away before he walked out of the cafeteria, being greeted and escorted to the principal's office.

Kenny walked down the street to the park, the fight from the cafeteria playing itself on repeat in his mind. He was scared of the anger that he saw, Butters was so sweet and usually just took whatever he got. The wind blew a bit as he heard a scream. He immediately looked around before his phone rang. He quickly answered it, it was Cartman.

"What is it Eric?" He asked, slightly annoyed.

"We need the Coon and friends to gather now. It's an actual emergency" Cartman said before hanging up.

He sighed and checked his bag making sure he had his hero costume with him. Luckily he did, with that he made the run to Cartman's house. On the way he wondered whether it was an actual emergency or a stupid prank the boy was pulling.

Upon arriving he was greeted by his friends, also in their hero costumes. Each one had a look of fear and concern. It's serious, Kenny knew immediately.

"What's wrong?" Kenny asked using his Mysterion voice.

"There's an apartment building on fire, but there are people stuck inside, apparently someone trapped them" Toolshed said pointing to the tv showing a live news broadcasting.

Kenny looked over and felt his blood run cold, the news showed a live video feed of the people trapped inside.

"Guys this is actually serious, we've never actually saved anyone, we just play around" The Mosquito said.

"We may just play around but someone needs to help them" The human kite said, Toolshed giving an agreeing nod.

"Let's head out then, and be quick about it" Mysterion, aka Kenny, said.

After a good few minutes of running they all made it to the building. Kenny looked up at the apartments that were on fire.

"Human Kite take Toolshed with you and get to the top, see if the fire escape is open. Coon, Mosquito, I need you two to help the firefighters down here and get people out" Kenny said.

"And what are you going to do then Mysterion?" The Human Kite asked.

"See if I can get through the front doors and slowly make my way up to see if I can find the person who started this fire" Kenny said looking at the building.

They all nodded then ran off to do the jobs Kenny had given them. Kenny ran to the front door and managed to get inside, a decision which he slightly regretted. The fire was pretty big, he could immediately feel the heat from it when he stepped in. He began to call out for people and checked some of the rooms where the door had fallen or already burned. Just then, so faintly, Kenny could hear someone call a reply to his yelling. He ran to where he heard the voice as quickly as he could. It was a mother and her two kids stuck in their room, the door was jammed. Kenny looked around and noticed a wooden beam was jamming the door. He began to kick and push at it with all of his might. It didn't take long for the beam to snap, it had already burned mostly away.

He opened the door and spoted them as soon as he opened the door. He ran over and helped them out, letting Coon and Mosquito take them when they got out.

It was like that for a bit, Kenny going in and out helping people to safety, then he managed to get to the roof. The fire was under better control but not gone. He could still hear the fire crackling below him as he got up to the roof. The Human Kite and Toolshed had gotten the fire escape door open and were waiting for him. Just as the three were going to get down they heard the fire escape door slam shut. Kenny turned and saw who closed the door. He felt his heart drop as his eyes met the sky blue ones looking at the three, anger flickering through them. The Human Kite and Toolshed turned around and saw who Kenny was looking at. The boy who had walked out the door and stood before them looked so much different then he usually did. The fire reflecting off the silver accents to his outfit, his cape whipping behind him, his blonde hair seeming to glow from the light of the flames, and his usual soft caring look was twisted and bitter.

"B-Butters...? Did you do this?" Kenny asked, almost choking on the words. He didn't want to believe Butters did this, but it was the only option that made sense with this situation at the moment.