So, that was some depressing shit last chapter, huh? But, now that we've got that out of the way, let's move on to something more fun, shall we? I'm not sure what's going to happen in this chapter, but hopefully I'll figure something out.

Chapter 10 – The Break

Clyde let out a sigh as he returned to the main area of Hell. He had no idea what was going on with Craig. Normally they would share everything with each other, but Craig had been constantly flying off to places without him, never telling him where he had been. It was frankly starting to insult Clyde. They were supposed to be best friends! Why wouldn't Craig tell him what was going on with him?

He was so preoccupied worrying about his friend that he almost flew straight into Bebe. He managed to stop himself short, but she turned and spotted him nonetheless. Her face went from being surprised to looking flirty in half a second.

"Oh, hey Clyde," she greeted him. "Fancy seeing you here."

Clyde gave her a look. "What are you talking about?" he asked. "This is Hell. I live here. I've lived here for a while now. It's not that surprising."

"I know," Bebe said in a somewhat pouty voice. "But I hardly see you anymore! You're always out with Craig, and it's never been just us in a long time!" Clyde couldn't help but roll his eyes at her. He doubted she missed him over the hundreds of other people she "missed."

"Have you seen Craig?" he asked her instead. She blinked at him, and something flashed across her eyes for a moment.

"No," she replied, sticking her nose up. "I haven't seen him since yesterday. And if you do see him first, tell him that he's been neglecting me lately!"

"Fat chance," Clyde muttered under his breath before flapping his wings and flying off. He could feel Bebe's eyes following him, but he refused to turn around and look at her.

As he reached the upper level of hell, he could see the three goths in their usual spot next to the Pit of Despair. Clyde had barely spoken to the goths since they got here; he figured they liked being alone. Then he suddenly remembered what Craig had said the day before. He wondered why the goths of all people would be asking about love.

One of them certainly seemed uncomfortable, but the others didn't seem to notice. Curiosity got the better of him and he swooped down and landed in front of them. They looked only mildly startled by the sudden sight of him.

"Hey guys!" he greeted cheerfully. "What's up?"

"What do you want?" Henrietta asked instead of greeting him back. Clyde cocked his head at her, as if confused.

"I'm just trying to be friendly," he replied. "Craig told me that one of you was asking about love or something, so I was curious."

"No, we aren't!" Pete and Henrietta said at the same time, a little too fiercely. Firkle and Clyde blinked in surprise at them as they both refused to look anyone else in the eye. Clyde shook his head. He had a feeling that he shouldn't try and press them for details.

"Have any of you seen Craig?" he asked instead. "He hasn't been acting like himself lately and I'm worried about him."

"He was saying some weird things when I saw him yesterday," Pete replied, glancing at him only briefly. "But I haven't seen him since then."

Clyde let out a sigh of defeat. Why was Craig avoiding him? Why was he going up to the surface without him for so long? And Craig had been rather dodgy about answering him when he asked about the person who was causing him pain. He and Craig told each other everything, so why was this different?

"Well, if you do see him, can you tell him that I'm looking for him?" he asked the goths.

"Sure," Firkle replied, tossing his used cigarette down the Pit of Despair.

Clyde nodded and the three of them watched as he spread his wings and took off towards the entrance. After a moment of silence, Firkle turned to his two friends.

"Maybe we should go up to the surface," he said thoughtfully. Pete and Henrietta glanced over at him with slightly confused looks.

"Why?" Henrietta asked.

"Well, we still have to find out what happened to Michael," Firkle pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess that's true," Pete agreed. "Besides, it is getting kind of boring just hanging around here all day." Henrietta let out a sigh and stamped out her cigarette.

"Fine," she replied. "But only because that bitch Bebe is coming this way and I do not want to even look at her." She felt Pete stiffen beside her at her words, but she thought nothing of it. It was hard to relax around a bitch like Bebe.

Bebe had already spotted them and was coming closer. The last thing Pete wanted was for her to get close enough to greet him like she knew him, so he quickly grabbed Henrietta and Firkle's arms, spread his wings and took off towards the surface, dragging his two friends behind him. Bebe stopped short and glared after them but made no move to follow them.

The three goths hissed when they broke the surface and they were greeted by bright sunlight. Despite only having lived in Hell for a short while, the goths were already used to the darkness that Hell offered.

"So, what do you want to do first?" Henrietta asked. Firkle shrugged nonchalantly.

"I don't know," he replied. "This was your idea." His two friends looked at him.

"Coming up here was your idea," Pete pointed out. Firkle looked down at the ground, shuffling his feet and muttered an "Oh yeah," under his breath. Pete rolled his eyes at him before turning to Henrietta. "Maybe we should start at Michael's house," he suggested. "If we died and he didn't he'd probably be moping in his room all day."

"Good idea," Henrietta agreed.

The three of them started down the street, getting their bearings over where exactly in South Park they were. It hadn't been that long since they died, but everywhere in town looked the same. They wandered aimlessly until they saw a familiar sight of their old school. And it looked like classes were just getting out.

"If I remember right, Michael's house was this way," Henrietta recalled. "I doubt he'd want to go to school anymore if we're not around."

"He didn't want to go to school even when we were around," Pete pointed out as he began to follow her. They had only gone a few feet, however, when they suddenly noticed something. "Wait, what happened to Firkle?" Pete asked, looking around.

They turned around to see Firkle still near the pathway to the school, staring wide-eyed at the entrance and completely unmoving. He was completely stiff, and he didn't seem to notice anything else going on around him. Pete and Henrietta exchanged glances before marching over to their younger friend. Henrietta grabbed him by the shoulder and started dragging him away. Firkle let out a frightened yelp but didn't resist.

"Come on, we're wasting time," Henrietta snapped.

"What were you staring at anyway?" Pete wondered, giving his friend a curious look.

Firkle avoided both of his friends' gazes, instead opting to stare at the ground. "Nothing," he muttered. Pete looked back to where Firkle had been staring, but only saw a teenager and what appeared to be his younger brother. He kind of recognized the teenager, who almost looked to be staring right at them. But they knew that the living couldn't see them.

Kyle stared after the three goths, wondering why they had been staring at him, and turned to his brother Ike, who could not see angels and demons like he could. Ike was just standing there patiently, waiting for his older brother to stop staring off into space. The younger boy was adopted and therefor couldn't see the things Kyle saw, but he listened to his mad ravings anyway. Kyle couldn't decide if Ike actually believed him about being able to see angels and demons, or if he was just humoring him. Either way, it was nice that someone seemed to take him seriously.

"Whatcha staring at, big brother?" Ike asked, cutting into his thoughts.

"Nothing," Kyle replied, shaking his head. "Let's go home." Then he took his brother's hand and they set off in the opposite direction of the goths.

Meanwhile, the goths were still making their way towards Michael's house. They discussed what they would do once they found him, wondering if it was possible to drag a still living human down to Hell. Henrietta was just about to suggest that they move the entrance to Hell right in front of him so he would walk right into it, when there was suddenly a loud splat, and they turned to see something splattered into the ground. Or someone.

"Oh hey, it's Michael," Pete observed, a note of surprise in his voice. Their friend had fallen from who knows where, and he appeared to have black, feathery wings and a pitch-black halo. He seemed deader than dead.

Before any of them could move or even comment, there was a small popping sound and Michael instantly vanished right before their eyes. As Pete, Henrietta and Firkle stared at the spot he had been in complete shock, Michael reappeared at the gates of Paradise once more. A look of anger spread on his face.

"Damn it!" he hissed. "Not again!"

…

As soon as Kyle got home, he took his bag upstairs so he could start on his homework and not have to talk to his parents or listen to them argue. He opened the door to his room and immediately regretted it. Cartman was lounging on his bed, eating several different snack foods while clicking though different channels on his TV.

Kyle let out a groan of annoyance. He had kind of been hoping that seeing Stan would have kept Cartman away for at least a little longer. Stan wasn't so bad whenever he appeared, but Cartman always made it his mission to make Kyle look insane to his parents. He couldn't remember the last time he was able to have a normal conversation without either of his parents sounding condescending towards him.

"God, damn it," Kyle hissed, making Cartman jump. "Not you again."

"Hey Kahl!" Cartman greeted, a big stupid grin slowly spreading onto his face. "It's about time you got home! I've been feeling so lonely without you!"

Kyle rolled his eyes as he closed his door. "Why do you keep coming around here anyway?" he asked with a growl to his voice. "All you do is make my life miserable."

"Why do you think I keep coming back here?" Cartman replied. "Seeing you miserable brings me joy." Kyle narrowed his eyes at him but didn't respond. Instead, he threw his backpack to the floor and went over to snatch the remote out of Cartman's hands.

"You know, there are a lot of other people you could be making miserable besides me," Kyle pointed out as he turned the TV off.

"Yeah, but none of them can see me, so it's not nearly as fun," the fat demon replied, the big, stupid grin still on his face. "Besides, you should be grateful. You'd be living a dull and boring life if I weren't around!"

"Oh yeah, I'm so grateful," Kyle said sarcastically. "My parents think I'm nuts and my friends hardly want to hang out when you're around because I keep talking to myself. You and Stan make my life sooo interesting."

Cartman's expression darkened when Kyle mentioned the angel's name, but the red head had his back turned to him and didn't notice. That stupid angel! What made him think that he was so great? That loser was always about rules, and he really didn't like how Stan seemed to follow Kyle around all the time.

"Does Stan show up here often?" Cartman asked, trying to make his voice sound casual as Kyle pulled out a hand vacuum from his closet and started cleaning up Cartman's mess.

"About as much as you do," Kyle replied, rolling his eyes. "I'm surprised you two don't run into each other more often with the amount of times you both keep showing up here." Cartman growled softly under his breath, but it was drowned out by the vacuum. "But at least Stan doesn't try and make me look insane to everyone."

"What does that asshole do when he's here anyway?" Cartman asked, frowning at him.

"That's not really your business," Kyle responded.

Cartman grumbled something under his breath before crumbling up the chip bag he was holding and tossing it at the wall, missing the trashcan by miles. As Kyle turned to glared at him, he yawned and stretched, rising from the bed.

"Well, I'm out of food, so I guess I'll be going now," the demon stated. "I actually have a lot of important business down in the underworld, so I better get started on that." As he passed him, he heard Kyle mutter "Yeah, right," under his breath, but he ignored it. He was already making plans in his head. If Stan really did come here that often, then he could use this to his advantage. Stan was going to stay away from Kyle if he knew what was good for him. He would make sure of that.

I'm going to end this chapter here and apologize for taking so long to update. I've been dealing with a lot of personal issues, and I had no idea what to do in this chapter or how to make it interesting. Hopefully I did an ok job and you don't hate me too much. I'm hoping that my sister will have the next chapter out a lot faster than me. And if she doesn't, well then you can hate her instead!