A/N: So, through my bad health, I finally managed to start a new story. It's actually an idea I only thought of the other week, but I feel like it might work well, so here it is!

Please note that I am NOT American, I am British. If I use any terms which aren't American in speech, please don't be afraid to (nicely) point it out. I'll still be using the English spelling for words, for example, 'colour' rather than 'color'.

Warnings: Mental health will be mentioned a lot in this story, mainly anxiety, depression and schizophrenia. I am personally not triggered by writing this, but I understand from reading fanfiction that these can affect people. Please be cautious if you think anything could possibly trigger you. I will be sure to add in other warnings in later chapters if I have to. I doubt I have to warn you about language, what with the fact that this is a South Park fanfiction.

Anyway, I can go on sometimes! I hope you enjoy the story.

Returned

Chapter One - Unexpected Surprise

Despite it being early April, the morning air was crisp and chilly, making coats, scarves and gloves a priority. The hilltops were filled with snow and it had only just began melting away from the streets a couple of weeks back. This seemingly abnormal weather wasn't, however, rare in the small mountain town named South Park.

Craig Tucker left his house with, as usual, a sigh. Though he was generally emotionless, he was definitely not a morning person. Waking up at the horrific time of seven for school never put him in a good mood and made him more likely give a threatening glare to anyone who dared to piss him off.

"Craig, wait up! Hey, don't ignore me!"

That was one person who he avoided glaring at. If he didn't, she'd probably be in a mood with him for days, which got annoying very quickly. The part of her not annoying him was fine; it was the lectures he got off his mother for 'not being a good brother' which annoyed him.

So he tried not to sigh again as he stopped walking, turning his body round to face her. She took no time at all to catch up to him, and the smile that he received from her was enough to cheer him up a little. She was stunningly beautiful already at just twelve-years-old. She shared the darkness of Craig's blue eyes, but instead of black hair like her sibling, she had strawberry-blonde hair which was usually tied into two low ponytails or pigtails. It was obvious that she was going to have a lot of people falling for her when she was older.

"Ruby, I've already told you that you need to wear a scarf," he frowned when he noticed her bare neck. Without a second thought, he pulled away the black scarf from his neck and wrapped it around hers. Despite how cold he could seem, Craig really did care. Well, he cared for a select few people, with Ruby being one of them. Not that he would admit that, of course.

"I wanted to walk to school with you so I forgot it when I was leaving."

After all these years of being Craig's sister, he would expect that she would be sick of him by now. But she still seemed convinced to walk with him everyday, being as her school was on the way to his.

"Well, try remembering it, okay? I don't want to get a cold because I'm always giving mine to you."

"Okay, okay, I will. Thanks though, Craig."

Craig merely shrugged his shoulders. He usually didn't know how to react to people showing him gratitude. He sometimes responded with 'nah, it's fine' or 'don't mention it', but most of the time, a shrug of his shoulders was good enough for him. Even showing emotion – apart from maybe anger – was something that he didn't like doing. When he actually felt enough emotion for it to show, that is.

"You don't have any plans tonight, do you?" she asked, pouting slightly. "I heard you speaking to Clyde on the phone about you guys playing basketball with Stan and his gang."

"That's tomorrow. I'm staying home tonight, don't worry."

Her pouted lips grew into a smile, "Good."

It had become part of their routine that the two of them would watch anime together on Wednesday nights. Of course, Craig's favourite show was still Red Racer, but he and his sister shared the same like for anime and, though they (especially not Craig) wouldn't say it out loud, enjoyed each other's company.

A couple of minutes later they had arrived at her school. After Craig refused to be given his scarf, she waved and ran over to her friends, who were waiting for her on a bench. He then walked ahead, at a much quicker pace than before. It was often hard for him to slow down his long legs when he was walking with someone much shorter than he was.

Clyde and Token were stood by the school gates when he arrived, as they usually were.

"Hey, Craig!" Clyde called when they noticed Craig on the street. Token simply smiled and nodded in greeting when their friend made it to them.

"Morning," Craig said.

"That sounded a little less dull than it usually does," Token laughed. "Did something good happen?"

"Nah, I just don't feel quite as annoyed at the world as I usually do," Craig said, a smirk growing on his face.

"Well that makes a change," Clyde said, placing the back of his hand on Craig's forehead. "You don't seem to have a fever. This is very strange."

"Don't touch me."

"Stop, before you piss him off again," Token grinned. "We should get to class now."

His two friends nodded and made their way inside the building. Their first lesson was history, which they all shared together. Craig was in a couple of honour classes, as was Token, but they both shared a few with Clyde. As did, coincidentally enough, with several other people they once shared a class with in elementary school. The only exception was Wendy Testaburger, who was above average in all of her classes. Kyle Broflovski was the same, excluding history, which he didn't quite excel at as the rest of his subjects. The fact that he had always shared this class with Eric Cartman probably didn't help.

Craig, Clyde and Token sat in their usual seats in the classroom. Most of the students were already inside when they arrived, being as the lesson was going to begin any minute. Craig cursed silently when he lost a life on a game he was playing on his phone, when he noticed that the chatter from the students around him had quietened dramatically. He turned to Token on his right, an eyebrow raised.

"What's with the silence?" he questioned, his voice naturally quiet.

"Dude, it's Tweek."

"What?"

Craig's eyes averted from Token to the blonde who had just entered the classroom, his eyes unblinking as he returned the stares on him from the rest of the class. They seemed impossibly large; the darkness underneath them and the brightness of his turquoise irises made them easily the most noticeable part of his face. His front teeth gnawed at his bottom lip nervously and the way his hand clutched at his shirt only proved his nerves further. Unlike the way it used to be buttoned incorrectly, it was undone with a plain white T-shirt underneath. Perhaps the frustration of not being able to manage buttoning up a shirt got too much and he settled on an easier option.

That, however, wasn't the surprise. None of South Park, maybe not even his parents, had seen Tweek Tweak for years. No one knew where he had gone, though most people presumed either a mental institution or a boarding school, being as his parents had stayed in South Park and never told anyone where their son had gone; their mere answer was that he was 'away'.

But, if Tweek was joining their class, the boarding school option seemed much more likely. No one could just carry on with education as though nothing had happened after two years.

"It seems as though you have already seen our new student," their teacher, Miss Ozkurt, said as she entered the room behind Tweek. She gave him a reassuring smile when she noticed his anxiety, and his hand loosened – but didn't completely lose its grip – on his shirt. "Some of you may already know Tweek. He's going to be in a lot of your classes now, so I expect you to be welcoming. Now, where can you sit… Ah, there's an empty seat behind Eric, why don't you sit there?"

Craig rolled his eyes at that suggestion, hardly able to believe that they still believed Cartman's 'I'm such a good student' act. Making an anxiety-ridden teenager with a lot of obvious issues sit behind an insensitive, racist and just an overall asshole was one of the worst decisions in the world.

It was obvious Tweek thought this too, but apparently he was too nervous to say anything. With a brief nod of his head, he scurried in between the desks to sit down.

"Okay, so today we'll simply be continuing from our last lesson. Please turn to page 178 and answer the questions on there. If you need any help, just come over to my desk."

The room was then filled with the noise of pages rustling and simple conversation between the students. After Craig started to answer the first question in the textbook, he found himself glancing over at Tweek behind him. Between Craig and Cartman there was only one student, who was Butters, so it wasn't difficult at all to peer at him. His hand was writing on his paper furiously, as though he only had a minute to answer all of the questions. Craig couldn't decide whether his lips were pursed to stop him from making random outbursts like he used to or if it was simply out of concentration.

"So, Tweek, which nut house did your parents decide to finally send you to?"

Craig found his eyes narrowing when Tweek looked up, panicked and clearly unsure of what to say. Butters, who Craig was now trying to look past to glare at Cartman, seemed as though he was contemplating whether or not to say something. Apparently, Craig wasn't the only one who had thought what Cartman said was completely rude and unnecessary. Sure, Craig wasn't the friendliest person in the world, but he knew when to keep his mouth shut and that there were some things you just don't say.

Luckily, he didn't have to say a word himself, for Kyle had turned around, looking angry.

"Don't be such an asshole, Cartman."

"Come on, we all know that's where he went, he's cra-"

"Cartman!"

"Jesus Kahl, calm your tits."

"Dude, just leave him be," said Stan, who was sitting next to Kyle, as he turned to face Cartman himself. "Keep your comments to yourself and don't be such a dick."

"Whatever, hippie," Cartman said as he rolled his eyes, but looked down at his work and carried on with the questions. History was probably the only subject Cartman would happily do the work for, apart from German.

"Th-Thanks," Tweek mumbled in a voice so quiet that Craig wasn't completely sure if he had heard it. Stan and Kyle simply smiled, before getting on with their own work, quietly chatting to each other and Kenny beside them.

"Dude, are you listening?"

"Sorry, what did you say?" Craig said, leaning forward to look past Token at Clyde.

"I was just saying to you both that it's weird, seeing Tweek again and everything."

"We all got used to him being gone; I guess we never thought about him returning," Token added.

"Yeah, it is pretty weird," Craig said, glancing once again at Tweek for a short moment. "I wasn't expecting it."

"So where do you think he might have gone?" asked Clyde, lowering his voice slightly. Craig shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, I'm guessing a boarding school or something."

"Yeah, that'd make sense," Token agreed. "Unless he just went to stay with a family member. It must have been something where he had education; he seems to be fine with work."

Craig nodded in agreement, staying silent as he began to write again. The topic sparked his interest and he was just as curious as anyone about where Tweek had been for the last two years, but for a reason he couldn't quite grasp, it felt uncomfortable for him to speak about someone so nearby. He usually didn't care, whether they were out of earshot or not, but it clearly must have been a secret if he didn't say where he had been, same with his parents. Craig wasn't the kind of person to pressure someone into revealing something they didn't want to, indirectly or not. This didn't fully explain his discomfort, however, considering he knew that Tweek couldn't hear them – he wasn't reacting at all to their words and was simply continuing to write at a surprisingly fast pace.

When the lesson had ended, Craig, Clyde and Token were asked to wait behind for a moment. All three were confused as they waited, but soon understood when she spoke to them.

"Is it possible if the three of you could keep an eye on Tweek? Perhaps you could even invite him to sit with you at lunch today? The poor thing is a nervous wreck, bless him, and he's not used to being in a public high school. I've been told that you all used to be friends years ago so I thought it would be best to ask you."

"That wouldn't be a problem," Token smiled. Craig and Clyde nodded in agreement.

It was hard to believe that they did used to be friends all those years ago. As horrible as it may seem, Craig could barely remember the times they had spent with Tweek, aside from a couple of memorable moments. The most he could recall was Tweek's sudden outbursts, his coffee addiction and the way he had been paranoid about everything. He wasn't sure how much Tweek had changed from this, but he seemed to have changed at least a little bit if he didn't cry out randomly in class or start rambling about some government conspiracy.

Still, being in his presence at lunch was going to be strange, and neither of them knew how Tweek was going to react to an invitation.

To say that Craig was distracted that evening would be an understatement.

He and Ruby were sat in his room, lounging on his bed as they watched television. At least, Ruby was. Craig was more looking at it without taking in what was happening.

"Yeah, you go Kirito!" Ruby yelled as she raised her fist into the air. She lowered it, however, when she saw Craig's lack of reaction, to either what had just happened or to tell her to be quieter. "Hey, what's up?"

"Nothing, I'm just tired," he said as he shifted into a more upright position as though he had just been startled out of a trance.

The shock of Tweek's return earlier that day started to subside in his next lesson, and even though he was still curious about where he had been, he was beginning to shrug it off. He usually didn't bother thinking over things for very long. However, what stopped him from completely forgetting about it was his reactions.

It wasn't much of a surprise about Tweek panicking when he was asked if he would like to sit with Craig, Clyde and Token during lunch, being as that was similar to how he used to behave. He had said yes after making sure that it wasn't any trouble for them, and though that seemed a little different to how he probably would have previously thought it was part of some government plot, it wasn't a huge deal. It was how he acted during lunch itself which surprised Craig and made Tweek plague his thoughts.

Tweek had sat down waiting for them while they got their food in the cafeteria, being as he could only eat food either himself or his parents made (due to his worry over germs and other horrible things). Craig found himself glancing over at Tweek multiple times while he was standing in the queue and frowned when he saw that Tweek wasn't just sitting nervously, he looked scared. Scared of what, Craig wasn't sure, but Tweek's expression and body language was clearly showing fear. He glanced around at people in the room, observing them as though they would do something to him any minute, and he recoiled from people walking by. They usually chuckled, but Craig found this anything but amusing. He couldn't deny that some of Tweek's outbursts in the past had amused him, but this wasn't just a random cry or shouting 'Jesus Christ!' at his own thoughts; this was true fear of sitting in a perfectly safe environment where he wouldn't be harmed (and if anyone tried, no doubt that the wondrous Kyle and Wendy would step in immediately, followed by Stan most likely, before Craig could even raise his fist). It was actually something which was painful to see, and it only calmed down a slight bit when Craig and his two friends sat down next to Tweek.

He also, which was probably a shock to anyone who had previously knew Tweek, was shocked at Tweek's lack of coffee. In his hands, instead, was a bottle of water. Perhaps he had been advised to give up coffee? It seemed likely from the way his eyes sometimes glanced over at people's own cups of coffee enviously. Craig wasn't sure if this was a good or bad thing – Tweek seemed to be shaking less and didn't seem to have such a dangerously high amount of caffeine in his system, but he also seemed a bit lost without it.

Tweek just seemed lost generally, sitting as though he didn't quite belong there, as though the place he had just been was more fitting for him, or at least was something he had gotten used to. It couldn't have been more obvious that he wasn't used to this normal high school life. Lots of people felt uncomfortable in high school, Craig knew that, but this went past the regular behaviour of a teenager. Saying that, Tweek had always been far from regular.

Craig eventually decided that it wasn't something he should keep thinking about. Tweek probably just needed a little bit of time to get adjusted, that's all. He'd probably be back to normal – or at least, normal for him – in a few days time.

And so, after thinking this to himself, the nagging thoughts about the unusual blonde slowly began to vanish.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! It's been a while since I've written a SP fanfic, but I wanted to give it another go considering it's my favourite to write for.

If you don't mind leaving a review, that would be greatly appreciated! I love hearing people's thoughts and writing can be hard for me being as writing with a severe constant headache every second of the day (plus ten other pains all the time), so having a few words makes the effort worth it. Thanks to anyone who does, and also, thank you for reading!