Beauty and the Beast Ch. 1

20 Years Later…

"I'll be back, Kyle," a black haired man called as he slipped his black Vans on.

A man with a head of curly red hair poked his head out of the garage, his face covered in ash. "Where're you going?"

"I'm gonna go pick up some new sheet music." He waved back at his friend.

Kyle smiled and waved at him with the wrench in his left hand. "Okay. Be careful."

He nodded and walked out the door as his pulled his dark brown jacket on over the white long-sleeved shirt and the very top of his blue hip hugger jeans. Ever since his sophomore year of high school, he'd played the violin, loving every moment of it. A lot of the music he owned he'd had since beginning to play, and playing the same things over and over was getting boring. True, he went to the music store every other day or so to buy or borrow new music from the owner, a friend of his he'd had ever since middle school, but he rarely bought any - his job at the bar didn't pay much.

Easily, he ignored the many strange looks he received from both the men and women of South Park, a small town situated in the mountains, as he entered the music store. Everyone thought his fixation on music was weird and unusual, but they never thought that until he had graduated from high school, thinking that he just enjoyed band class. The only people who didn't think it was weird were Kyle and the owner of the music store, Wendy.

"Hey there Stan," the black haired woman in a purple hoodie and blue jeans, Wendy, greeted when he walked in the wooden door.

"Hey Wendy." Stan smiled. "Any new music?"

"Not since yesterday, I'm afraid," she said as she took back the music he handed to her, something he'd borrowed only a few days ago.

He shrugged then. "Okay," he turned to a shelf, knowing exactly what he was looking for, "then I'll just borrow this again."

Her mouth formed into a smile. "Beauty and the Beast again? You've borrowed this like six times."

He smiled as well. "It's fun to play. The chords are complicated yet simple, elegant yet crude. It's exactly how I imagine the tale."

She chuckled and glanced at the sheet music for a moment. "Well, then you can keep it."

"Really? How much?"

She shook her head. "It's free. Consider it a gift from a friend."

His smile widened and he leaned across the counter Wendy was behind, giving her a hug. "Thank you!"

She giggled, a light blush present on her face. "It's nothing." She waved at him as he turned to leave. "Have a good day!"

"You too," Stan said back before walking out the door. With his smile still on his face, he held the old, yellowed sheet music close to his chest. Today was already turning into a great day! He now owned his favorite piece of sheet music and he didn't even have to pay a penny for it! What an amazing start to the–

"Hey there Stan." A dark haired man in a blue jacket and dark blue skinny jeans stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, a smirk gracing his pale face.

Stan rolled his eyes and brushed the man's hand off. "Hi Craig."

"So," Craig trapped the other boy in his arms, "wanna do anything later?"

"Wow…" Stan easily escaped Craig's arms. "Um, as great as that sounds, I'm going to have to pass up that offer."

"Why is that?" His eyes narrowed, he wasn't happy that his advances were being spurned…again.

"I promised Kyle I'd help him finish his work."

"That crack head?"

"Kyle's not a crack head! He's a smart guy, and his invention is going to get us out of this town!"

Craig laughed. "I'm so sure…"

Grinding his teeth together, Stan kept on walking, only to find Craig cutting him off again and that he plucked the sheet music from his hand. "Hey! Give that back!"

Craig studied the music and then laughed again. "Beauty and the Beast? Ha!" He tossed the music aside, towards a puddle of mud - Stan managed to snatch it before the wind could catch it. "Music and fairy tales, that's all you ever seem interested in anymore."

Stan shot a glare at Craig. How dare he try to destroy his sheet music! "You don't like either, then…?"

"I don't need to," Craig swooped in to be just inches from Stan's face, "when I look this great."

Stan rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Look, I'm gonna get going."

"Not until you promise to meet me tomorrow."

"For what?"

"Well, I'm not gonna ruin the surprise."

"Right…" Stan inched his way around Craig. "See ya then." He took off at a full run back to him and Kyle's house.

Seething, Craig turned to a shaking blonde haired boy in a wrongly buttoned gray jacket. "Dammit Tweek, is there something wrong with me? Why does he continue to reject me?"

Tweek's head twitched to the side. "Gah! N-No! There's n-nothing wrong with you! You just h-have to give him some time."

Craig turned to glare at Stan's disappearing back as a small explosion erupted from the house he shared with Kyle. Craig and Tweek both couldn't help but laugh along with the people around him. Kyle Broflosky really was a crack head.

…

"Kyle?" Stan threw open the garage door and waved the lingering smoke from his face as it poured outdoors. "Kyle? Are you okay?"

Kyle coughed. "Yeah, I'm fine." He banged a screwdriver against the large metal machine in front of him, mad that it had failed again. "This damn thing…it keeps screwing up!" He groaned and hit his forehead off of the machine.

Stan walked forward as the smoke cleared, seeing his best friend covered from head to toe in ash and oil. "You need a bath."

"I know," Kyle sighed and opened a hatch in the side of the machine, "but I need to finish this before I do anything else."

Stan shook his head and handed Kyle a wrench when asked to. "Will you be able to get it working before the fair?"

"I'll make sure of it, even if I have stay out here all night." He slammed the hatch back and screwed the seal into place. "Okay, let's see if it'll start up this time." He reached up and pulled down a red lever.

The machine suddenly made a lot of noise, groaning and whirring, and both boys thought it was going to blow again. Just as suddenly, the noise smoothed out into a gentle hum and the machine was running smoothly. Stan chuckled and clapped Kyle on the back.

"Awesome, it works! But…what does it do?"

Kyle slipped off his jacket, showing his arms and the light green t-shirt unaffected by the ash and oil that covered the rest of him. "If it works, it'll wash, dry, and fold my jacket."

Stan nodded, impressed. "That would be cool!"

"Yeah, it would." Kyle threw his filthy jacket inside of the machine and hit a button after he closed a door. Anxious, the boys watched the machine for about five minutes before the button Kyle had pushed down popped back up with a ding. He pulled down the door and smiled as he pulled out a washed and dried jacket. "It worked!"

"Awesome!" Stan began jumping up and down excitedly with his best friend in celebration. The machine worked, which meant that it was only a matter of time before they would be able to leave South Park! It really was a great day!

…

The sun was low in the sky as Kyle attached the small flat tow with his machine on it to the back of his motorcycle. He had showered and eaten only an hour ago, but he needed to leave right then to make it to the town where the fair was in time for registration. He stood up when he was sure that the hitch and the belts holding the machine down would hold.

"Okay then," he said with a nod, "I think I'm ready to go."

Stan handed over Kyle's helmet. "Dude, call me whenever you get there so I know you made it."

Kyle nodded and sat down on the seat of his motorcycle. "Don't worry, I will." He pulled his helmet on and started up the bike. Just before he took off, he looked over at Stan and saluted. He revved the engine and left towards the direction of the woods.