A/N: Sorry it took me so long to put this up, you guys! I was busy writing my own story, and then I left for San Francisco, 4 days with no access to the computer... :( Well, the important thing is that it's finally here. I would like to thank Shadow_Right for his idea, which unfortunately I won't be able to use for two reasons: I think a sudden tragedy would be tearing away and discontinuing the direction I'm directed; also, your idea would immediately open up possibilities and call for later chapters of angst, and I want to write an epilogue to wrap things up. Still, I find the idea of a sudden tragedy at the end very interesting, so maybe I could write it as an alternate ending... Tell me what you think!

Until then, here is the epilogue of The Real Kenny, which I sincerely hope you'll like.

Enjoy.

Epilogue

Kenny

"McCormick!".

The teen clad in the orange parka swung round. A tall brunette was running towards him down the hall, waving his arms madly to attract his attention. "Dude, Kenny, wait up!".

Kenny halted and waited for Clyde to reach him and say what he had to say, so he could leave and go about his business. An annoyed expression was painted on his face, that expression that he'd always worn at school ever since meeting Craig. The disastrous encounter with Craig had sucked all the wind out of his sails. When he'd first arrived he'd taken for granted that he'd immediately make friends and live a happy life... Now he wasn't so sure. He hadn't made any friends... Or better, he'd quit trying.

"Have you seen Craig anywhere, man?" the breathless Clyde called out as he came to a stop next to him. The boy flinched at the mentioning of the name, that horrible, horrible name. He flickered his gaze away.

"No." he answered monotonously.

Clyde looked up at him and eyed him curiously.

Kenny looked uncomfortable and his eyes shifted nervously, though the frown, scowl and expression of utter annoyance were still engraved on his pale face.

An outer shell of anger, half-hiding nervousness and fear.

"Hey, you know what?" Clyde asked, a grin forming at the corners of his lips, "You're just like Craig!".

Kenny stiffened.

Craig... Again, the name. He didn't want to hear that name ever again.

He wanted him to disappear from the face of the Earth, crawl in a hole and die somewhere, far away, alone. To pay for what he'd done to him.

And for once, it looked like his prayers might have been answered: Craig had been absent from school for a whole week now.

"Why do you say that?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"An outer shell of strength to hide your own uncertainties." Clyde answered simply, "Trying to be tough when really, you aren't... Being all depressed and thinking there's nothing left for you in the world until something proves you wrong." he added, pointing his index finger into Kenny's face.

Kenny took a step back in surprise. "How-".

Clyde interrupted his question.

"We're not all dumb." Clyde answered, "You think no one understands how you feel, but there's always someone looking over your struggles... There's always someone who notices... Someone who understands".
Clyde smiled. "You think you can hide everything from us. But really, you two are lousy at keeping secrets".

Kenny looked away.

"You all think you can understand how we feel..." he muttered, "But how would you know? The two of us are the only ones who can understand each other. We are different from you.". He spat, uncertainty turning to anger. "Even your oh-so-wonderful Craig doesn't understand! It's only us! We're on our own!".

"Who is she with now, then? Is she alone now?" Clyde challenged.

Kenny froze. Of course. Craig.

It was all easy for her. She had Craig.

It was only he who had nothing. Nothing and no one.

His eyes, which had been pointed back to Clyde's face, turned away again.

He was alone. Why was he always alone?

He clenched his fists in anger and anguish. Why? Why was it always him?

Suddenly, he felt an arm sling around his shoulders, resting on the back of his neck.

His hands opened in surprise, and he turned to Clyde, eyes wide. He didn't try to shake the arm off.

The brunette grinned at him.

"Can't let her beat you, can you?" he joked.

Kenny averted his gaze, unaware of the small smile forming at the corner of his lips.

Maybe... Just maybe... Maybe he wasn't so alone after all.

"Kenny!".

A male voice, breathing hard.

The girl didn't stir. Her eyes were fixed, mesmerized, on the sky. The evening sky was tinged with beautiful shades of pink and orange, growing darker and darker until they reached the sun as it set beyond the distant mountains.

A boy was running towards her. He was out of breath, and the call he had just uttered had knocked all the air out of his lungs. Still, he didn't stop. He was almost there, he had almost reached her...

Suddenly, the boy stopped dead in his tracks. His mouth, opened to call the girl again, quickly shut as she came into closer view, sitting, hugging her knees, on the top of the hill. Her blond hair waving in the wind, her blue eyes twinkling in the dim light of the setting sun.

Craig walked slowly towards her.

There was something peaceful about this scene, so beautiful and delicate that Craig was afraid that if he called her again it would break.

Suddenly, when Craig was only a few feet away from her, Kenny turned her head towards him. She smiled softly.

"Come join me." she murmured, patting the patch of grass next to her.

Craig smiled back and nodded. Quietly, he sat down beside her. Together, they looked back up at the sky.

There they were, two dark figures against the darkening pink sky. Two figures at peace.

"Hey Craig?" Kenny asked, as the sun disappeared, swallowed by the mountains farther away.

Craig turned to look at her and questioningly cocked his head to one side, slightly furrowing his brow.

"We're just misfits, aren't we?".

Craig wrapped an arm around her shoulders, hugging her to his side.

"The best kind." he answered, smiling down at her.

Kenny smiled back, then turned her eyes to their hometown below them.

The two sat in silence once more, on the top of the hill overlooking South Park, the small, white-trash town they'd grown up in and had come to love.

They both looked down at it fondly, as happy childhood memories of life and friends in the Colorado mountain town washed over them.

Neither wanted to leave it behind, but it was the only solution.

There just wasn't room for two Kenny's in South Park.

Craig was going to miss Tweek, Clyde and the gang. He never had thanked that pervert Clyde for all his help... Well, no time for that now. He would send him a postcard one day. He would send them each a card, he decided, for old times' sake. And a letter of apology to that poor fake Kenny too.

The sky was starting to get dark. They had to go.

Craig stood up. Kenny looked up at him with a questioning glance, as if to say, "Already?". He nodded and offered her his hand with a smile.

Again that smile. That smile that, up to a week ago, Kenny had never seen. That expression of pure happiness.

He had smiled more to her this week than he had in a lifetime.

Happiness... So simple and yet so hard to achieve.

What exactly was happiness? Was there any such thing as real happiness in the first place?

"Shall we go?" Craig asked.

Kenny grabbed Craig's outstretched hand and heaved herself up.

The two clasped their hands together and smiled at each other once more.

Yes. This was it. This was happiness.

Perfect happiness.

The two walked away, hand in hand towards their future, and soon disappeared over the hillside.

There definitely wasn't room for two Kenny's in South Park, Kenny thought as they left their hometown behind. But there always would be in Craig's heart.