never too late /style💙💚

chapter 8: not here, not there, then where??

sharon: "linda, just tell us!"
linda: "butters said that stan, eric and kenny wanted to open a portal to the afterlife, to take kyle's soul back here, to the living world."
stephen: "and.. and he also added, that they would have tried everything to go «there», even if they weren't sure if they would be able to come back"
linda: "at first, we weren't really scared. we just started to be when they got missing"
sharon, liane and carol: ...
sharon: "oh my god.. i just wanna hope everything is alright.."
liane: "try to call randy, maybe he has news"
sharon: "i hardly think so. he would have called me already."

even if sharon knew that randy had not received any news, she called him anyway. as expected, randy had not received any call and stan and the others were still missing.

[meanwhile, in hell]

satan: "i'd gladly accompany you where you need to go, but i'm very busy at the moment"
stan: "do we have to.. walk in hell by ourselves?"
satan: "no, of course not. it wouldn't be safe... my son will lead you anywhere you need"
kenny: "damien? he will never accept"
satan: "trust me, if i tell him to, he will."

then, satan moved his finger towards the ground, until a big and incandescent flame appeared, releasing a short tempered, black haired and black eyed boy

damien: "what do you want now, dad?! i'm busy!!"
satan: "no, you're not. i need you to lead these three human boys to our souls records"

damien looked at the three of them for a while

damien: "are you guys.. alive? even you, kenny?"
stan: "yes. we're here because my best friend died and i want to take his soul back to the living world"
damien: ...
damien: "you could have just said: «i'm super gay for him»"
satan: "DAMIEN!! that's not funny! my bad stanley i'm sorry"
cartman: "damien was right, actually"
stan: "cartman!!"
satan: "anyway guys, i have to go now. see you soon, kenny!"
stan: "dude, just to know, how many times have you died?"
kenny: "over one thousand for sure"

stan and cartman stared at him with eyes wide open

damien: "follow me, fag guy, poor guy and fat guy"
cartman: "wait.. if stan's the fag one and kenny's the poor one, does that mean... you're the fat one?"

damien frowned at him

damien: "are you fucking serious?!"
cartman: "of course i am. why do you ask?"

everyone else just ignored him.
hell was scorching hot, there were flames everywhere and the only noises they could hear were the sinners' screams.

damien: "you must have a very low opinion of your «best friend» though. you're searching for him in hell"
stan: "trust me, this is really the last place i expected him to be in. i already searched in heaven but he wasn't there"

damien looked at him saying nothing. it was obvious he was thinking something that he was not going to tell

cartman: "guys, does any of you have a folding fan???"
stan, kenny and damien: ...
damien: "there's no way he's being serious right now."
kenny: "you don't know him well enough."
stan: "how long until we get to the records?"
damien : *shouting* "for satan sake, can you all shut your asses up?!"

[meanwhile, at marsh's house]

*knock knock*

randy: "who's it?"
sharon: "randy, it's.. it's me, sharon"

sharon was clearly sobbing

randy: "still nothing, right?"
sharon: "yes. we might know where he is but we have no way of reaching him"
randy: "wh-what do you mean?"
sharon: "apparently, butters told linda that stan and his friends somehow.. opened a portal to the afterlife to get kyle's soul back.. i know it sounds crazy, but stan is nowhere in town.."
randy: "i guess we just.. we just have to pray in the hope he's alright.."

it was night, and there was no sign of the boys yet. when sharon got back home, shelley was already sleeping. it was almost one a.m in the night and randy and sharon spent all the rest of the night sleepless, in the hope to receive a call from someone who had found stan.
the moon shined in the starry sky, it was a beautiful night, but not for the marshes.
while the sky was dark and the only light in their house was given by the moon, sharon and randy marsh kept insistently looking at the phone, waiting for someone to find stan. flyers with stan's picture and the word "missing" were posted everywhere, from the farm to south park.

[meanwhile, in hell]

they kept walking without a break. actually, they had asked many times to have one, but first, stan wanted to make sure kyle was there and that this adventure was about to end soon

cartman: "guys, guys it's one a.m, i-" *yawns* "i have to take a break"
kenny: "as much as i hate to admit it, this time cartman is right"
stan: "guys, please. we've almost arrived, we'll rest a bit after finding his name on the records"
cartman: "if you don't sleep, when you'll meet kyle again, you'll look like you're the dead one"
stan: "ugh.. ok, fine. we'll rest"
damien: "but actually, here isn't safe for miserable mortals like you guys are: we're getting closer to the violence ring"
stan: "where do we hide to rest??"
damien: "follow me, i have an idea"

in the violence ring, there were lots of caves, and the majority was uninhabited. damien brought them into one of these caves, which was big and kinda cozy.

cartman: "how do we know that you won't try to kill us??"
damien: "if i wanted to kill you, i could have easily done it at anytime, plus if i did my dad would kill me, you dumb fat piece of shit"
stan: "this last part has its point..."
cartman: "HEY!! i'm neither dumb nor fat, you guys!"

the three boys immediately fell asleep, even stan was very tired.
they woke up at 10 a.m, october 31st. then, they proceeded their journey to the lowest ring of hell.

[after a few minutes]

damien: "we've arrived. here's the records."
stan: "thank you for everything"
damien: "don't thank me, if it was for me i would have never accompanied you"
stan: "thank your father for me, then, please"
damien: "search your friend's name, now. after you find it, i'll have to accompany you to the ring where you can find him"

stan opened the record book and searched for kyle's name again. but, just like in heaven, there was no trace of kyle. just like there was no kyle broflovski in heaven, there was no kyle broflovski in hell.

stan: "WHAT?! there isn't.. there isn't his name.. so where is he now??"
damien: "you said that you already searched for him in heaven but have you considered the third option?"

stan and cartman looked at damien for a few seconds: they obviously didn't remember what the third option was