A/N: I don't think it's ever actually taken me this long to update a fanfic... Apologies for that. I've barely had time for any of my hobbies aside from animating! Somehow, I have to fit in college work, art, writing, relaxing for my health AND socialising in my spare time! There's seriously not enough hours in the day. Ah well, at least one of the reasons why I was busy was because I went to my first convention! *happy sounds*

Anyway, here it is (finally), and is the second to last one because I really need to finish this as soon as possible... Well, I was planning to end it after this chapter's events, so you know! Hopefully you enjoy it.


Returned

Chapter Nine - Drastic Measures


Merely a couple of weeks later, Tweek Tweak was once again out of South Park. Somehow, being able to say goodbye this second time made some things sadder, though at least there was less confusion and worry. It was a lesser of two evils.

Just like they had done many times since Tweek had returned, the four friends had one of their usual sleepovers, this time at Token's house; the place where they had the most memories. Like always, there was laughter and teasing as they played their favourite games. But it wasn't the same. The whole time, none of them could push away the knowledge that this would be the last time, at least for a while, that they would spend time together. After this last night, Craig, Clyde and Token would once again be alone, a thing that they had gotten used to over those two years. But despite them once being accustomed to being a trio again, this time it would be harder for in just the short time of Tweek being home again, they had somehow gotten closer than ever before as though they had been making up for lost time. It was hard to let go.

The one thing that made it easier to deal with, however, was how it was Tweek's decision rather than his parents. He wasn't being forced to return to the place he had despised, he made that choice by himself out of maturity and the knowledge that he needed the help which he couldn't receive from his hometown. Even if he was upset about doing so, he knew he was making the right decision, and that's what helped to keep all of them strong.

This is what Tweek reminded them with when his friends hugged him before he left. His saddened parents watched them as they stood by the car, the negative emotion increasing as each of Tweek's friends hugged him. Craig was the most upset, but he tried not to let it show. For once, he couldn't conceal his emotions, and there were obvious tears in his eyes. He didn't allow them to fall until he was alone later that day.

His parents thanked the three friends before they left, expressing the gratitude they had for the people who made Tweek felt like he belonged. Though they were positive words, it still made the situation even more upsetting, but they received forced smiles in reply. They watched as the car drove into the distance, once again taking their friend away from their lives.

The hardest thing was the uncertainty of when they would see him again.


Settling back into life seemed far too easy. However, even though it lacked difficulty, it still felt like an ever-lasting ache would be left in the hearts of Craig, Token and Clyde. At least, the ache appeared as though it would be continuous until the day they saw their friend again.

Everyone seemed to have worked out fairly quickly where Tweek went. For several weeks, however, no one said a word. That was until in one art class, when none other than Cartman came across an abandoned piece of Tweek's work.

"Oh, this belonged to Tweekers," he said as he read the name written on the back. "You haven't said anything about him, Craig. Did he get sent back to the nuthouse, then?"

"Shut the fuck up," hissed Craig. There was no Clyde or Token to hold him back, nor was there Kyle, Stan and Kenny to sort their 'friend' out. The only people watching them was a few of their class - not even including their teacher, who had left the room briefly.

"Avoiding the subject, are you? Come on, it's obvious! The little guy was too crazy to stick around for long, we all know it. He's right back where he belongs; good luck to him getting out, eh?"

It barely took any time at all after Cartman finished speaking for Craig to grab onto his collar and push him into the wall behind him, his hand knocking over a few pots of paint as Craig did so.

"I said shut up, you fat piece of shit!" Craig shouted, applying more pressure so that Cartman's back dug deeper into the wall. "It doesn't matter what Tweek deals with, he's still a much better person than you'll ever be! I'm sick of your shit, just shut up about Tweek before I fucking make you!"

"Ooh, you're a bit protective over your boyfriend, aren't you? Threatening me and everything? I'd calm down if I were you, before you get as mad as him and and up getting sent there your-"

Cartman was interrupted by a punch to his jaw. Before long, he was on the floor, being ambushed with furious hits to his abdomen as weeks of built-up anger over his harsh words was unleashed.

"CRAIG TUCKER, get off him right now!"

Just as the hand of the returned teacher was placed on his arm, he brushed it off and rose to his feet, looking at Cartman with satisfaction. He didn't care what looking at such an injured person with a positive emotion seemed like; the bastard had deserved it.

"To the principal's office, now!" the teacher bellowed, before she turned to one of her students staring at the scene with wide eyes. "Kevin, go get the nurse!"

"Yes miss," he said, scurrying away. A hand was placed back on Craig's arm, tugging in the direction of the door.

"I said the principal's office! I'm not letting you go alone; you'll only end up leaving."

Craig rolled his eyes, but allowed himself to be escorted through the halls. He wasn't worried. No punishment would make him think twice about his actions.

The teacher only left after Craig had sat down in the chair for a few minutes, not showing any signs of moving. His arms were crossed, his leg resting on the other. It wasn't until the door to his side opened and he saw a flash of blonde hair that he jumped out of his seat. Right after, he felt like a fool. Of course it wasn't Tweek, what was he thinking? Kenny McCormick, instead, raised an eyebrow at Craig's sudden movement before he walked away, his hands buried in the pockets of his parka. There was then a call from inside the room, and Craig sighed before he entered the room.

"Craig Tucker?" the principal said as she looked away from her paperwork. "It's been a while since you've been here. Take a seat."

He did so, handing her a piece of paper that his teacher had given him silently. She read it, her face expressionless aside from the odd moment of her eyes widening for a split second.

"To put it simply, she returned to find you on the floor, hitting Eric Cartman numerous times?" she questioned, receiving a simple nod in reply. "You do realise, Craig, that such violence is not allowed here at South Park High."

"Neither should be some of the shit that he comes out with, but you know, they're just words so you don't care about that."

"Language, Craig! Yes, we do care about that, but you could have seriously injured Eric, judging by what Miss Roberts has told me!"

Apparently, smirking wasn't the right thing to do in this situation. It just didn't help that those words made him even more satisfied.

"This is not a smiling matter! I thought that you were a great student with so much potential, but this is has made be begin to think otherwise."

That is what made Craig start to become angry himself. "This doesn't have anything to do with potential! That fatass insulted one of my closest friends, who isn't even here any more! Aren't you against bullying and all that? So why only get mad at me?"

"We will talk to Eric about this. I'm not saying that he will not be punished. But Craig, violence is never the answer. We have spent many years here trying to rid the school of violence."

"As if one person would-"

"If one person thinks it's all right to resolve issues with another student through violence is acceptable, then others will begin to, as well. This is why suspension-"

"Suspension?"

"..Is how we deal with this. I will call your parents, letting them know that you will, for two weeks, be suspended."

"You can't be serious," Craig said. "You can't just suspend someone for defending their friend!"

"I am suspending you to teach you that this behaviour is unacceptable."

Craig's fists slowly clenched. He couldn't care less about the suspension itself – he was just worried about what his parents would do. What if they took away the keys to his car, not allowing him to use that new license? What if they took it for months? It had already been a few months since he hadn't saw Tweek. The plan had been to find the address and go, it was simple. At least, it would have been without this. It seemed as though he would maybe have to go through with this plan sooner than he thought.

"Fine," Craig said through gritted teeth. "I'm not sticking around anyway."

He ignored her calls after him as he stormed out of the office and made his way out of the school. Grabbing the brand new keys out of his pocket, he unlocked the door of his car and stepped inside.

First stop, the house of Mr and Mrs Tweek.


He knew the route to the house off by heart from the school and made it there in barely any time at all. Not hesitating once he was stood outside it, he raised one hand and knocked on the door loudly. Mrs Tweak answered, looking surprised to see Craig there.

"I didn't expect to see you here," she said. "Can I help you?"

"I need you to tell me where Tweek is," he said simply. She sighed and shook her head.

"You're not thinking of driving over to see him, are you?"

"And you're not? He's your son, for God's sake! Are you just going to let him stay there all by himself, with no visitors? It's been well over ten weeks! Imagine what that must feel like!"

"I want to visit him," she said, her voice trembling as though tears were going to pour down any minute. "I do Craig, believe me. But… But I'm scared that he'd hate me for encouraging him to go back there. The doctors say he's not feeling the best right now and I'm scared that… That I'd be the reason for that."

"You wouldn't be," Craig argued. "He chose to go back himself. You didn't force him to do anything, all right? So you wouldn't be the reason for that."

"You're right, I just… I can't face him yet, I'm sorry. I will, I promise, I just don't have it in me. But… That's not going to stop me from letting you go."

She grabbed a pen and notepad from a nearby cabinet and began to write down an address. When it was handed to him, he found that her handwriting was very similar to Tweek's. It wasn't the same, though. Craig would never forget how Tweek's looked.

"Thank you," he said, turning his body round to leave, but a hand on his arm stopped him. He turned to find that the tears she had been holding back had started to fall.

"If you're going to go, then please give him a message from me," she begged. "Tell him that his mother loves him and that'd she'll be there soon."

It was a tiny sentence, but Craig knew the importance and emotion behind it. So he nodded.

"I promise I will," he said, continuing his walk out of the house when the hand was released from his arm. He felt her eyes on him the whole time he walked down the path, and so turned to smile at her reassuringly once he was sat inside his car. She looked surprised, but that emotion was quickly replaced with gratitude and a heart-warming smile.

He glanced down at the address given to him as he turned on the engine. He'd be travelling for a couple of hours, maybe more, but it was worth it. He wasn't just seeing a friend any more; he was passing on a message. That made this even more important to him.

Before he started driving, he had a quick glance at his phone. Fifteen missed calls and three text messages. He sighed, deciding to type a message before he left. Calling would only take longer – he'd definitely be ranted to.

'Cartman insulted Tweek, that's why I ended up fighting him. I know that you're probably going to end up banning me from driving so I'm going to go and see him now while I have the chance. I should be back by tonight.'

Before he even gave enough time to receive a reply, he turned off the phone and began to make his way to Tweek.

'Hang in there,' he thought to himself. 'I'll be there soon enough.'

The hours passed by painfully slow. What took three hours felt like the longest days of his life. But finally, after all those times of biting his lip as he checked the time, he arrived. For some reason, he hadn't expected the institution to look so basic. He didn't exactly understand why. Perhaps it was the way it had affected Tweek last time that had given him an image of what the hospital looked like, or maybe he just had expected it to look different than a regular hospital. Either way, he was finally there. His palms were beginning to sweat from nerves; something that he had rarely experienced. But he still allowed himself to put one trainer in front of the other and open the main doors.

He glanced around once inside, realising that he was indeed the right place. It wasn't like an exaggerated image of what a mental institution would look like, but he did see a patient mumbling into their hands and another looking around nervously. He guessed that anyone else was in their rooms or a lounge, if they had something like that.

"Can I help you?" the receptionist smiled at him warmly.

"Um, yes, I was hoping I would be able to visit someone?"

"We usually have an hour in the evening for visitors, I'm afraid."

"Ah, I see… I just haven't seen him in months and I have a message from his mother."

"I'll see what I can do. What's his name?"

"Tweek Tweak."

There was a hesitation which made Craig's heart, which had previously been calmer from the woman's kind presence, beat a little faster.

"Tweek is… Well, he's been missing since this morning. We haven't told his parents yet because we were sure we would find him today. It's rare that people go missing but every time they do, they always turn up in the hospital or nearby it."

Craig had to take a couple of moments to process the information. "Missing? He's missing?"

"I'm afraid so. But we're doing everything we can to find him."

Just as she finished those words, two security guards entered the foyer, walking over to the receptionist.

"Could you get Tweek Tweak's parents on the phone?" they asked.

"Why, what's happened? Have you found him?"

"He's on the rooftop, threatening to jump. We're hoping that they could convince him not to."

"Wait, he is?" Craig demanded.

"Who are you?"

"I'm his friend. Please, show me how to get up there, I need to speak to him!"

"I don't think you can-"

"Listen, he's more likely to listen to me than a bunch of nurses or whoever is up there. That's probably just going to scare him. Please, you have to take me to him!"

The security guards exchanged glances, before one sighed, rubbing his neck.

"I don't think we have much of a choice."

Nothing else was said as they showed him the way to the rooftop, tensions rising as they climbed up the steps. Craig burst out of the door to find another three security guard, a nurse and what Craig guessed was a counsellor stood on the roof. A messy haired blonde stood far too close to the edge, his back to everyone on the roof.

"Let me through," Craig said, walking forward. The people turned, but obviously out of options, let him walk past. "Tweek, it's me."

The head rose up from looking down at the roads below, turning slowly. Large eyes widened in disbelief.

"Craig? What… What are you d-doing here?"

"I couldn't wait any longer before visiting you," Craig said, hesitantly stepping forward. "Tweek, please don't do this."

"Why not? Nothing has ever been right for me. S-Seventeen years, and it's all been hell from the moment I was born. Happiness has never lasted with me. I don't think it ever could."

"Tweek, we can help you," the nurse said. "Please, Tweek, just give us a chance."

"I did. I gave you a chance for two years. You're lovely, but… It's me that's the issue. I'm never going to get better. It's like my brain is a-against me being happy."

"You can be happy," Craig said. "Remember all the joyful times with me, Token and Clyde? You can have all that again, Tweek. All those times we had fun together, they're not over. We can do that again."

Tweek looked down at his feet as he spoke, "I've missed you so much. You were the only thing that made me happy."

"Then focus on us, not the things that causes you pain. Imagine those times we had and all of the other things waiting for us in the future. If you need a reason to keep on living, think of that."

Tweek's head raised back up, and though his face was wet and glistening with tears, he was smiling.

"That's always been the only thing that's kept me going," he said. "Knowing I have you in my life, knowing I have friends. Maybe… Maybe I just needed to be reminded of that."

Craig, mainly out of relief from hearing those words, smiled back and reached out his hand.

"Then please, come down from that ledge so you can make more memories with us."

Tweek's smile grew as he reached out his own hand and began to step down off the ledge. However, the smile on his face was wiped away when his feet slipped on the concrete beneath him, causing him to fall backwards out of sight.


A/N: I mean, 'Craig and Tweek then held hands and skipped into the sunset.'

I don't think I ever write a nice and fluffy fanfic xD God, I'm sorry, I'm so cruel.

Despite the fact that my fanfics are depressing as hell, I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave a review if you have a moment, it will help make my busy self take a moment to get the next chapter written in less time.

Until the next - and last - update!