Beauty and the Beast Ch. 10

Suddenly, Stan skidded the motorcycle to a stop next to where he could see part of an orange jacket poking out of the snow. He jumped off of the bike, not even bothering to remove the black helmet. He dug the limp redhead out of the snow and turned him over in his arms.

"Kyle?" Stan yelled through the helmet, brushing the snow off of his best friend's face. "Kyle, can you hear me?" The man was still breathing, so he was still alive, it was just a matter of if he would respond.

Kyle opened his eyes part way and looked up at his friend. "S-Stan?" He asked with a scratchy voice.

Stan let out a breath of relief. He was okay, thank God! "Just hold on, I'll get you back home!" He pulled one of Kyle's arms around his shoulders and sat him down on the bike. Stan took off the helmet and put it on Kyle's head as well as put his own jacket around his shoulders, knowing that he had to keep his friend as warm as possible right then.

Ignoring the frigid cold of the winter air, Stan climbed onto the bike behind Kyle and kick started the engine again, speeding off towards South Park again. Snow and wind blew in his face, making it nearly impossible for him to tell what he was doing without the protection of the visor of the helmet, but after he turned back to the direction of his home town, he was completely fine. Him and Kyle had ridden that particular road hundreds, if not thousands of times since turning seventeen, they could ride it in the dark with no headlights - they did once, completely by accident, they didn't realize that they needed to replace both, and they just went out on a ride home one night.

Faster than he had anticipated, Stan pulled into the driveway of him and Kyle's house. He stood up and put the kickstand of the motorcycle down before picking up Kyle bridal style in his arms. He ran into the house, reassuring Kyle that he was going to be okay.

Still in the pile of snow in the corner between the house and the garage, Tweek pushed his way out as he sneezed. It had taken them long enough to get back! "Gah!" His head twitched to the side. "F-F-Finally! Time to g-go get Craig!" He ran off towards the bar.

Inside the house, Stan had laid Kyle down in his bed and had made a hand-held soup in the microwave - he poured it into a bowl though - the motorcycle helmet, Stan's jacket, and Kyle's wet clothes had been thrown to the side, replaced by a fluffy green bathrobe and a thick blanket. Stan sat next to Kyle's bed with a plaid red house-robe on over his t-shirt and blue jeans. He was still shaking a bit from the cold ride in his t-shirt but he was calming down.

As he took another drink of his soda, Kyle groaned and slowly opened his eyes. "What?" His eyes wandered over to Stan's face. "Stan?" He sat up and looked at his friend like he himself was going insane. "You're…here?"

Stan nodded and set the soda aside, grabbing the bowl of soup he made for Kyle instead. "Eat this." He held out a spoonful of the soup for him to eat.

Kyle slurped the soup from the spoon and sighed in relief. The warmth of the liquid felt good after that much time spent in the cold. He ate a few more spoonfuls of the soup before stopping Stan. "Dude, is this for real? I'm not hallucinating, am I?"

Stan chuckled. "Yeah, this is real. And before you ask," he said when Kyle opened his mouth, "you're not dead either. I found you in the snow and brought you back home."

"But…how did you escape that monster?" That was the one reason Kyle kept telling himself that it couldn't be real, Stan had been taken prisoner by a beast!

"He's not a monster," Stan said defensively, "he's really just…a misunderstood guy."

Kyle shook his head. And people called him crazy! "But how did you escape?"

"I didn't, he let me go." Stan smiled.

"He just…let you go? That sounds odd for someone that was determined to keep one of us prisoner only a few days ago."

"Yeah, but," his eyes became soft as he remembered the love he'd felt while dancing with The Beast, "he's changed somehow. I don't know how or why, but he's a kind, sweet guy. I just don't think he knew how to act around people because he'd been isolated for so long."

Something clicked in Kyle's mind in that moment. Could it be that Stan had fallen in love with The Beast? It couldn't be, he'd only been there for a few days. "Stan," he looked at his friend with an accusing smile, "is there something you need to tell me?"

Stan's face turned bright red. "What're you talking about?" He shoved a spoonful of soup in Kyle's mouth. "Just eat the damn soup!"

Kyle had to swallow hard to get the soup down his throat since the spoon had just been shoved into his mouth. "Thanks dude," he said sarcastically.

Stan stuck his tongue out playfully. "No problem." Both of them began laughing like always, almost as if it was just another time when one of them was sick.

Suddenly, Stan's jacket rustled and there was a muttering noise coming from where it laid in a heap on the ground. Both men looked at the jacket with some fear. What the hell was in Stan's jacket? Just as Stan set aside the soup and stood up investigate, Ike popped out from the jacket pocket with a smile.

"Holy…!" Not expecting it, Stan fell down to the ground with a startled expression etched onto his face. "Ike? What're you doing here?"

Ike hopped up onto the bed with Kyle as Stan pushed himself back onto the seat. Kyle smiled and chuckled as the tea cup hopped into his palm. "Well, I never thought I'd see you again."

"Stan," Ike looked over at the other man, "why'd you leave? Do you not like us anymore?"

"It's nothing like that Ike," Stan said, shaking his head. "Of course I still like you guys."

"Then why?"

"It's…complicated. You wouldn't understand unless you were older."

"Oh…"

Kyle's eyes narrowed as the motion activated street lights around their house came on, flooding through the window facing the front yard. It was unusual for anyone to be out after dark, especially around him and Stan's house. "Stan, someone's outside."

Stan stood up and looked out of the window, his eyes widening when he saw a large white van and a large mob of people, led by Craig, Tweek, and some man with black hair. "Um," he looked at Kyle again for a moment, "stay here for a minute, I'll go see what's going on."

"Who's outside?" Kyle called as his friend left his bedroom for the living room.

Stan ignored the question as he continued for the front door. Something wasn't right, no one went out after dark and there had never been a mob that size gathered around one specific area. And just who was the man with the black hair? Hesitantly, Stan unlocked the door and opened it.

"What do you want, Craig?" He asked with hostility. Craig was the last person on Earth he wanted to see, especially after the wonderful past few days he'd had.

But Craig just gestured to the black haired man standing next to him. "I am Damien. Is Kyle Broflosky home?"

Stan's eyes narrowed, he didn't trust the man, but he nodded and said, "Yes, he's here. He's sick right now though, so if you wanna talk to him, come back later."

Damien laughed evilly, as if amused by Stan's statement. "Of course he's sick, that's why we've come." He moved one of his arms and two burly men shoved Stan to the side and walked into Kyle's room, grabbing him, kicking and screaming, and dragging him with them back outside. "You see, he's not well enough to be allowed to live outside of an asylum."

"No!" Stan tried to run forward to stop the two men from taking Kyle away, but was caught by both Craig and Tweek. "Let him go! He's not insane! Let Kyle go!"

"Stan," Kyle screamed, trying to fight off the two men but failing - (they seriously weren't even concerned with it, they just kept walking towards the van), "help me! Let go! Help!"

"Let him go, dammit!" Stan then turned his attention to Craig and a ridiculous thought popped into his head: maybe Craig could help. "Craig," he gripped onto the front of his suitor's jacket, "tell them to let him go! You know he's not really insane!"

"But of course," Craig responded with a sly smile. Everything was going just as he planned.

Stan threw both of his arms in the direction of the van that Kyle was being dragged to. "Then help!"

"If you agree to my terms," Craig wrapped an arm around Stan's shoulders, "I can make all of this go away."

His eyes narrowed and he ground his teeth. Things were starting to look bad - not that they weren't already bad, but it was getting progressively worse. "What?"

Craig looked at the man he was certain he was going to marry that night. "You have to agree to marry me."

Stan's eyes widened and he shoved Craig away from him. "What?"

"Become my husband and Kyle goes free!"

"Never!"

Craig ground his teeth; Stan wouldn't agree even to save his best friend, that meant there was no chance of getting him to ever marry him. "Then your friend goes to the asylum!"

"On what grounds is he being committed anyway?" Stan demanded.

"He ran into the bar yelling about a beast kidnapping you," Craig said angrily. "A bunch of bull–"

"He's telling the truth about The Beast!" Stan announced at the top of his lungs, making sure everyone could hear. Everyone stopped, even the two men dragging Kyle, and looked back at Stan.

"What?" Craig began to laugh, allowing everyone else to laugh as well. "You're defending something as stupid as that? A beast would've eaten you alive if it had kidnapped you!"

"He would never do anything like that! He's a kind, sweet–"

"I've heard enough!" Craig yelled. He looked over at the two men dragging Kyle with them. "Take him away!"

As Kyle's screams for help started again, Stan ran back into the house for the mirror The Beast had given him. It was the only way to prove that Kyle wasn't insane, the only way to save him from being committed to an asylum. He grabbed the mirror off of the nightstand next to Kyle's bed, taking it from under Ike, and ran back outside.

"Kyle's telling the truth, and I can prove it!" Stan yelled, catching everyone's attention again. Craig didn't look amused at all, while beside him, Tweek was starting to laugh hysterically, saying something about the crazy rubbing off on Stan. "Show me The Beast!" He yelled at the mirror.

The crowd gasped as the mirror's surface glowed and showed The Beast roaring with sadness and sorrow at the night sky.