Craig woke the next morning to the sounds of mountain birds chirping on their balcony. He didn't mind, it was much more peaceful than waking up to the clucking of chickens he was used to any day. The curtain blocked out all the light in their room, but he could tell from the edge of it that there was sunlight peeking through from the other side.

He slept on the floor the previous night, but this arrangement didn't happen without arguments. Craig insisted he didn't need the bed, but Tweek in turn argued that as a Barbarian, he was used to sleeping outside anyway and that Craig should have it. In turn, Craig argued that that meant he should use it even more, that it was a bigger deal for him. After a while, they agreed that they'd alternate between the bed and the floor-and they had every night for the few weeks so far that they had been there. Craig really didn't mind the floor.

To his surprise that morning, Tweek was already awake. He was sitting up on the bed, eyes wide open but not really paying attention to anything in particular. He looked relatively tired still, but like he had been sitting there for a while.

"Mornin'," Craig called out, deciding it was would be weird to just stare at him and not alert him to the fact that he was awake too.

"Oh!" Tweek jumped slightly, becoming more alert. "Good morning, Feldspar," he said cordially as he moved to sit on the side of the bed and stretch. Craig too got up from where he slept on the floor and pulled open the animal skin curtain open. The bright morning sunlight filled the room.

"Think it's any warmer today?" Craig asked. What he really wanted was to get going already, but the people of this village kept insisting that there was still a bad snowstorm up in the middle of the mountains.

"I can't tell."

The two got ready for the day with relatively little to say to each other. When they were finished, they went down for breakfast that the inn provided. There were a handful of other people there, about half of them dwarves. He found out that not only was this a popular place to visit for them, but there were also a small number of dwarves who resided here permanently.

He realized soon after arriving that Neunbruck was very heavy on meat. Meat was always a luxury food that he never had all the time, but in turn he had ended up not being comfortable eating this much of it and wanted more vegetables or grains to balance it out. Tweek seemed to have no problem, but Craig guessed that barbarians probably did eat a lot of weird creatures.

"Did you ever have any stew like this growing up in the Lost Forest, Tweek?" the innkeeper asked with a big grin.

"No," Tweek responded, "Barbarians don't really eat soup or stew. We usually just cook things over a fire and then immediately eat it."

Hiding the fact that Tweek was a Barbarian didn't last long. Thankfully, for all of Tweek's warnings about how much Neunbruck citizens would instantly kill his kind, they didn't take much of an issue.

"It was obvious," one of the guards laughed late the other night at a big dinner holding what seemed like half of the village. It was a very jovial event, and it felt odd just how much everyone who lived in this village seemed to know each other and genuinely care for each other. He didn't even have that level of connection with most of his fellow neighbors in Sundorham.

"I thought you hated his kind," Craig had asked skeptically at the time, "Like...kill on sight sort of hate."

"Nah, we don't hate all of them. It's just more often than not, they're stormin' in trying to kill us. We gotta be precautious is all," another man laughed, "No offense to you, Tweek."

"None taken," Tweek gave an embarrassed smile.

"Plus," the innkeeper's wife leaned in as she handed over new rounds of beer, "We all think it's incredibly sweet."

"What is?" Craig found himself confused as he took a sip of the beer.

"You know," she winked, "A kid from Kupa and a barbarian falling in love and running away together."

Craig spit out the drink and coughed up a storm. Tweek likewise was choking, probably having done the same.

He knew they would likely think they were a couple-he had already resigned himself to that. They also weren't wrong, as someone from Kupa he was strictly forbidden from being romantically involved with non Kupa residents. If he fell in love with someone from an allied country like Neunbruck it would cause trouble, let alone a barbarian. He thought it was somewhat stupid of himself to not consider that before he let them think that they were romantically involved.

"We really are on a mission," Tweek insisted, somewhat bashfully.

"Yeah, it's not like we're even together," Craig added, wiping the beer he spit out on his face with his cape, "We just let you think we were so that he could blend in with me more."

"Sure," another woman gave a smirk with a raised eyebrow.

"Trust me. We're not even friends, let alone some star crossed lovers," Craig was getting annoyed, "This is entirely a business thing and once it's over we'll never see each other again. Right Tweek?"

If he was dating Tweek, he'd just admit it. He didn't care about Kupa's rules, so if he really wanted to be with someone from somewhere else he would be. Hell, it wasn't like he was planning on staying in Kupa after this anyway.

Still, Tweek took a moment to respond. Craig turned to him, and saw Tweek staring back at him with incredibly hurt eyes.

"Yeah," he finally answered.

For a few days after that until this very day as they ate breakfast, Tweek had remained melancholic. Craig wasn't an idiot, he knew it was kind of a dick move of him to announce that he didn't like him at all over dinner. He really didn't mean it in a mean way, he thought Tweek agreed. It wasn't like he wanted to hurt him.

"Good news for you two," the innkeeper called out, joining them for breakfast fashionably late, "They say the mountains are clearing up. You can leave as early as tomorrow."

"Oh, but don't you two want to stay forever?" the innkeeper's wife frowned. Her eyes did seem to suddenly turn misty.

"It's incredibly hospitable for you to offer that," Tweek smiled sympathetically, "But we really do have to go as soon as we can."

"Just be careful," the innkeeper warned, "You only have a short window before it'll be blizzards for months. Since you aren't experienced hikers, I do recommend you wait until spring."

"We can't," Craig insisted.

Craig and Tweek were more than stocked up on supplies and were close to running through their money, so it really was good for them to get going. Not that the innkeepers would likely kick them out, given how overly hospitable they were, but it would feel...wrong. Craig wondered if that was an odd thought coming from a thief. He thought back to the meat pie lady, another person he absolutely refused to steal from or even take offered freebies. Some people just shouldn't be stolen from. He wondered if she was doing well.

"Since it's our last day," let's walk around, Tweek had offered. Craig would have ordinarily refused, but he decided on a whim to join him. He had seen everything this village had to offer, but it was the first time in a while Tweek actively reached out to him beyond what went with basic universal politeness norms.

They walked down the wooden streets and passed the shops and homes they had both come to be familiar with. It was a cute town and he definitely didn't hate it. Even their royal family seemed less obnoxious, roaming the streets with the everyday folks, inviting them into their palace directly a few times. Tweek went, but Craig declined every time.

Still, as much as he didn't dislike this place, he could tell Tweek loved it. His bright blue eyes sparkled as he took everything in, as if each time they walked down it was the first. The people here loved him, far more than they loved Craig. Tweek didn't even mind when children came and tried to touch his body paint that he reapplied.

"Why don't you stay here?" Craig asked, breaking the silence.

"Excuse me?" Tweek stopped.

"You love it here, they love you...why don't you just, you know. Stay here?"

"What are you talking about? We-We have our mission. I can't," Tweek insisted.

"It's my mission. My very dangerous mission that's only going to get more dangerous. You were never under any obligation to join me," Craig pointed out.

"But I...I have my reasons," Tweek frowned, "It's for a good purpose. Plus, I can't go back to my people until-"

"Fuck them," Craig cut him off, "If you stay here with people who already accept you, you can just forget all about those assholes."

"Feldspar, I can't just leave my people!" Tweek's voice had a twinge of anger.

"Why not? I am."

"It's different with me!" he insisted, voice practically in a yell.

"How so?" Craig asked with a mild laugh.

"I don't get you!" he dodged the question. The anger on Tweek's face seemed to morph into sadness. Well, no. He was still angry, but he definitely sounded like he was on the verge of tears.

"What do you mean?" Craig found himself getting irritated, "I'm just trying to-"

"Get rid of me?!"

"What? No!"

"You don't even like me," Tweek turned away, "That's what you said. I know you didn't always, but I thought over the time we've been together that you…" he trailed off.

"Tweek," Craig let out an exasperated groan, "I know I sounded like an asshole—more than I meant. But I don't dislike you. We've been over this, haven't we?"

"But you don't like me," Tweek said matter of factly, his voice still uneven from the amount of emotion seeping out. It was then it suddenly clicked within Craig that it wasn't just the rude way he said it that upset him.

"You like me," he let out flatly. Tweek didn't respond. That was enough of an answer in and of itself. With a deep breath Craig asked, "Did you think of us as friends or something?"

Tweek hesitated for a moment. "Am I stupid that I thought we were?" he asked quietly, his gaze looking directly down at the wooden street.

"No," Craig said, "Not stupid. But..." He paused for a moment. It really wasn't stupid. Yet at the same time… "You really shouldn't want to be my friend, you know. I'm not exactly a good person."

"Why, because you're a thief?" Tweek looked back up at him with an eyebrow raised in skepticism.

"No. I mean I guess in part, but no."

Tweek grew angry again. "See, you're just saying that to let me down easy."

"What are you even talking about?" Craig realized that he likewise was getting irritated again. Even after weeks together, he still couldn't remotely understand him yet somehow he was very talented at getting under Craig's skin. Much like Red, but somehow in an entirely different way.

"This is going nowhere," Tweek sighed. Craig quietly agreed, angry at how annoyed this confrontation made him, and the two returned to the inn in silence.

For the rest of the day, Tweek decided to take up an offer to visit a local family who offered to host both of them. Craig politely declined.

He tried to tidy up their room as they would be leaving soon and didn't want to put too much on the innkeepers. The two ate dinner at the inn without a single word towards each other except that they both agreed they'd go to bed early to get a head start tomorrow.

Craig had bed that night. It was the most comfortable bed he ever had. Sure, it wasn't a feather mattress of a royal, but it was more than anything he could have ever hoped to afford. Yet at the same time, he found it hard to sleep. Everything about his earlier confrontation with Tweek bothered him.

"I really don't dislike you," he said in the darkness. There was annoyance in his voice, which probably wasn't helping anything. Yet at the same time, not saying anything would probably only make things worse.

"Please just drop this." He could hear Tweek shifting on the floor.

"I know you don't believe me. But what I said earlier about you staying. It's not because I wanted you to go. It's because I thought it would be what's best for you."

"I don't care anymore," Tweek said almost inaudibly.

"I think you deserve to be happy is all." His eyes were getting heavy. He let out a yawn. "I just think someone like you shouldn't get caught up in my bullshit."

Tweek didn't respond. Craig's eyes were too heavy to remain open any longer and soon enough he drifted to sleep.

It was as if the whole village came out to see them off. Craig almost expected some horror story scenario where everyone's eyes would turn black and they would insist they had to stay forever. Yet they didn't. They merely came to say their goodbyes and wish them luck.

He knew they cared a lot more about Tweek than him. Tweek had socialized with them a lot more. He talked about trying to improve relations between their kingdom and the Barbarians when he returned to the Lost Forest eventually. Even though it was a short stay, he took the time to try and learn their language. He only learned a few basic things, but he used it to tell them farewell. Some kids ran up and gave him some flower chains to put around his neck.

Craig really did mean that he should stay. He didn't want to get rid of Tweek. He was too kind for him to hate and even if he didn't make any sense, he knew there wasn't a bad bone in his body. Things were only going to get messy, and he deserved to be safe here. Or hell, return to his family now with the improved relations from this kingdom. Not as impressive, sure, but impressive enough. Plus…

"For Feldspar!" a child interrupted his thoughts with her thick accent. She had two braids in her hair and smiled with gaps from missing baby teeth as she held up a flower chain to him.

"Th-Thank you," Craig stammered, taken aback. He crouched down and allowed her to put it around his neck. She giggled and jumped a little before running back to her parents, excitedly saying something to them in her native language. Tweek looked up from the small crowd of kids around him and gave him a big smile. Craig blushed and looked away. Tweek giggled.

"Let's get going already," Craig walked over to gently pull his arm. His face was still red, so he looked straight on as he did so.

"Alright," Tweek went with him. He called out a word that probably meant goodbye as he waved back one last time.

"Are you really not gonna wear a shirt?" Craig asked as he pulled along Tweek's exposed arm.

"I told you," Tweek protested as he finally turned from saying goodbye to watch his step forward on the path, "Barbarians have better temperature regulation due to our diet."

"Does it even snow in the forest?"

"No but—"

"Don't say I didn't warn you when you get frostbite," Craig frowned as he let go of him.

Thankfully, there was a trail through the mountains. It made sense—when relations were better, it was far more common for humans and elves alike to cross borders to visit each other. Much more difficult than the more direct path through the mountains that could have circumvented the Lost Forest entirely...like the elves did when they attacked Sundorham. Still, this was the second quickest path.

The path was relatively flat, going back and forth up the mountain at a steady pace. They were warned that the higher they went, the steeper and less neatly paved the trail would become. People didn't really take the trail nowadays with the state of Zaron as it was, so they couldn't guarantee that the trail would be in a good condition at all.

They were told experienced expedition in summer could pass the ridges of the mountain range to elven territory in about a week. However, as inexperienced travelers in more questionable weather, the estimate was twice that at least. Still, they had about a month until winter fully hit, and they were warned if another winter storm came to take shelter in a cave. They had more than enough food for two months, and Tweek especially was a talented hunter. Besides Tweek's ridiculous insistence on no shirt, they should be fine, Craig figured.

The first night they found a decent campground. They hadn't gone to too much higher, so it wasn't much colder than the base of the mountain. Still, at night it was chilly, and Craig knew he would have to make a fire for Tweek to not freeze. Tweek warmed his hands to the fire, but instantly retracted them when he heard Craig let out a noise of discontent. They hadn't talked much as they hiked that day and they didn't say much before they went to sleep.

The second day went about as well as the first. The trail was still quite easy, staying relatively low between several mountains. Tweek pointed out how lovely it was. The view was spectacular, being between inside of the mountain range, Craig had to admit to himself. There were several other crystal clear lakes like that back in the village, and they unspokenly became their resting points.

"I'm sorry I got mad," Tweek said abruptly as he sat at the edge of the lake to refill his canteen.

"Nah, don't worry about it," Craig said as he sat upon a large boulder at the lake's shore. "I know I come across as an asshole a lot of the time."

"I think I've just lived my life presuming most people secretly hate me," Tweek continued, looking down at the water, "I don't really trust people very well. But for some reason…" He looked up, "I trusted you. From the beginning."

"A terrible decision, probably."

"Maybe," Tweek frowned, looking back at the water, "But I guess that's why I got so angry. No, not angry...hurt."

"I don't really follow."

"I know," Tweek stood up in the ankle deep water, "But that's okay."

"You're pretty weird, you know," Craig raised an eyebrow. There was a twinge of playful humor in his voice.

"So are you," Tweek smiled.

"But do you still trust me?" Craig asked in a more serious tone.

"Yes," Tweek told him. He walked over to sit next to him at the boulder, leaning back to take a break.

"But why?" Craig looked over to him, more wide eyed than he intended.

"I dunno," he answered, looking up to the sky. "Maybe it's because you have a clear purpose, someone to fight for. Maybe it's because you're too brutally honest for your own good. Maybe it's for no logical reason at all..." After a few moments of pondering he looked back to Craig. "But regardless...I do."

"Huh."

"Do you trust me?" Tweek asked.

"Yeah," Craig laughed, "You're too nice. It's hard to believe you think people don't like you, you saw how everyone back there loved you so much."

"It was actually really hard," he confessed, looking to his knees, "I kept thinking that it was all a front and that any minute they were going to kill me for being a barbarian. Or maybe they thought I was going to kill them and were actually afraid of me. That's why I tried to be so nice and social, to convince them to let me be."

"They really liked you. I could tell."

"Thanks," Tweek let out a slight melancholic laugh.

"You shouldn't think that way, you know," Craig said standing up and taking a stretch as an indirect insinuation that they should keep going, "I think you're a naturally likable person. You should use that to your advantage."

From day four, the trail was going to get harder. They could no longer venture on the low elevation or through mountain passes—the range was becoming too steep and too thick. They would have to climb up the nearby mountain ridge through the already existing snow and over the summit. Physically, they were about halfway there, but due to the increase in difficulty timewise they still had a long way to go.

They took their time as the steepness increased. Tweek was thankfully pretty good at hiking, which Craig figured made sense in retrospect given how easily he climbed the ladder in the gnome tree. Craig was also not bad from scaling things in his thieving career, he just needed to make sure not to look down.

Eventually they reached the snow. It had already gotten quite a lot colder before they reached it, but once snow got into his boots Craig became incredibly annoyed with this whole mountain hiking thing. He was also worried about Tweek, but he insisted he was fine. Craig still noticed him inch closer and closer to the fire at night.

On the seventh day they hiked a steep, snowy ridge. It was incredibly dangerous, but they figured they didn't have any choice. Tweek almost slipped once, but Craig quickly caught him. Even through Craig's gloves, he could feel that his arm was like ice, not to mention all of his exposed skin was bright red.

They managed to find a small cave to sleep in. It wasn't big enough to safely build a fire. Calling it a cave was incredibly generous—it was more a small hole in the side of the mountain. Still, it was dry and marginally warmer. Given how freezing Tweek felt, he didn't mind them being pressed together—his own body heat kept him from freezing to death at least.

In the morning it was snowing, much to Craig's dismay. They had gotten past the steep ridge and it was by no means snowing hard, so the two decided to continue and hopefully find a bigger, genuinely cave to wait it out if it snowed any harder.

Still, even if the snow wasn't dangerous, they had to be even more careful for avalanches. It also made it even colder, and it made Craig feel cold looking at the snowflakes land on Tweek's exposed skin.

Tweek was shivering. He tried to hide it, but at this point he couldn't. Maybe Tweek was right about Barbarians, Craig was pretty sure most humans would have gotten hypothermia by now. Still, he was turning more and more alarmingly red and his pace was only slowing.

With a sigh, Craig took off his cape and wrapped it around Tweek.

He meant to put it on him and immediately walk on, but Tweek felt like ice, absolutely shivering under his grip. Some shivering was natural, (Craig himself was, too,) but not like this. So instead, Craig kept his arms wrapped around the frozen boy, allowing his own body heat to transfer through. When he finally stopped shivering so aggressively, Craig wordlessly let go and continued on.

He wondered if Tweek was going to protest. Yet he didn't, Craig only heard his footsteps in the snow continue behind him.

In the afternoon they found a very large cave. Even though they could have gone on for several more hours, they decided a bird in the hand was worth more than two in the bush and stopped there for the day.

It was a true cave. It was incredibly large, with many caverns that broke off.

"I wonder if this connects to the dwarven tunnels," Tweek thought out loud.

"Possibly," Craig nodded, "So let's not go too deep. We don't want any trouble with them."

"Right," Tweek agreed.

Still, they went deep enough that they didn't get any of the snowy cold wind and set up a fire. It was much warmer, and he could feel himself defrosting like a melting ice cube. He could only imagine how much better Tweek felt.

When warmed up enough, Tweek slid off the cape that was wrapped around him like a blanket and held it out to Craig. He didn't look at Craig as he did this, and he could swear in the firelight he was blushing again. "Thanks," was all he said.

"Nah, keep it until we're out of these mountains," Craig gently pushed his hand away. "You need it more than me and I didn't really notice much of a difference without it, anyway."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. I told you it doesn't make much of a diff—"

"I should have listened to you and prepared."

"Oh," Craig said in realization. He looked over to Tweek to give him disapproving look. "Yeah you should probably apologize for that. I told you countless times."

"I'm sorry," he said again.

"It's whatever," Craig shrugged and leaned back. Even if they didn't walk a full day, he was tired. He wasn't going to go to sleep right away, though. Not tonight.

"You are a good person," Tweek told him.

"Excuse me?" Craig sat back up.

"You said that you weren't. I thought at the time you were just saying that, but now I think you meant it," he clarified. He bit his lip for a moment. "But you're wrong. You're a very good person, Feldspar."

Craig froze. That was probably the first time anyone ever told him that. Perhaps his mother said something to that extent so very long ago, but if she did the memory faded.

He was a bad person, wasn't he? He lied, he stole. He stole precious family heirlooms, he stole an invaluable necklace from a family that was gifted it for condolences for the death of their child son and scammed them into having him steal it back. Hell, that wasn't even in the top ten of bad things he's done, that he'd planned to do. Even people who liked or tolerated him would say what a heartless asshole he was.

"Craig," he said.

"What?" Tweek asked, confused by his one word response.

"My real name," he explained quietly as he let his gaze focus on the orange fire. "It's Craig."

Craig pretended to fall asleep before Tweek. He waited until Tweek's breathing became steady in his sleep and even then still waited a while to make sure.

"Tweek," he said in a very quiet voice. No response. He was definitely asleep. Quietly, as to not make a sound, he sat up.

The fire was dwindling some, so Craig added a little more kindle. The fire abruptly louder crackling noises and Tweek shifted slightly in his sleep. Craig held his breath, but after a few moments he could tell that he was still asleep. He was using Craig's cape as a blanket. He couldn't help but look at him for a few more moments.

Eventually, however, he carefully stood up. Making sure each step was quiet, he walked deeper into the cave. Not too far to get lost and he made sure the glow of the fire was still visible. But far enough that Tweek wouldn't hear.

He had to make contact. He had avoided it for far, far too long. Not since he first entered the Lost Forest what was now weeks ago, far longer even given how time was different there. It was foolish and irresponsible for him to not have earlier.

He used the excuse of not wanting Tweek to hear, but really that was an excuse. There were plenty of times he could have. He just…

It was no use thinking about what stopped him now. He was going to make contact. He would get yelled at, but he would deal with it. Still, he trembled slightly and knew it wasn't from the cold. Heart rate increasing, he laid down the communicator and got down ceremoniously on one knee as he did. Usually he wouldn't. But given how long it had been, he knew he had to.

"Holy shit, you're actually alive!"

"I know," Craig grimaced, unable to look up at the projection.

"Do you have any idea how long it's been?"

"I'm aware," he answered emotionlessly.

"I hope it's because the rumors about the Lost Forest are true and time got fucked up. But even still, that doesn't fucking explain why you didn't contact me while you were still there."

"Yes and no," Craig looked up to the projection, "Yes it was a lot longer. It was about a week for me, but went from early summer to mid fall for you."

"And the no is?"

"I'm currently in the mountains and have been for a week," he looked away again, "I was also in Neunbruck got a few weeks."

"Are you shitting me? After fucking everything, with an important mission like this you just decided to go off the grid for that long? How can I trust you? How do I know you're not just going to fucking take off and run?"

"I'm not going to betray the kingdom! You know my reasons, you know I'm going to do everything to get that stupid fucking stick to your stupid fucking throne," Craig stood up, angry by the insinuation, "Things just got complicated! I can't help that. Shit happens."

"Well then, explain!"

"Well, someone...joined me."

"Who?"

"A barbarian joined me," he explained, heart beating even more profoundly.

"Now I know you're fucking with me. Those uncivilized pieces of shit wouldn't do such a thing."

"That's what I thought too, but he did!" he insisted, "And I know what you're thinking, I should have just killed him when he tried to follow me but...But you know, having someone who knew the hellforest and how to overcome stupid fucking dragons and ogres and shit was useful!"

"Okay, but you're not there anymore. Kill him now."

"No!"

"Excuse me?"

"Barbarians and elves have better relations. I told him the official cover story and he wanted to join in and be a Barbarian representative of the peace talks. I figured he would help me get my foot in the door."

"That's way too risky, especially when you steal the stick from the elves. Kill him."

"No!"

"Why? Did you fall in love with him or something?"

"I...no!" Craig turned red, "Fuck off!"

"Bingo, huh?" the voice laughed, "Well, in that case I won't make you kill him. Maybe you can recruit him. After all, it's only fair given how I always wanted to talk about bringing Bebe with us."

"I didn't fucking fall in love with him, Clyde!"

"Well still...as gross as Barbarians are, you can recruit him. I guess. If you like him that much."

"He would never go for that," Craig answered sullenly, "He's too…"

"Conscionable?"

"Yeah," Craig sat down on a rock on the cave floor, "He's too pure of heart to go along with our plan of stealing the Stick to reinstate the Dark Kingdom and create an eternal darkness and all that." Craig smirked, "It's kind of a big turn off for a lot of guys. Who'd have guessed."

"He's going to hate you. More than if you gave the stick to that piece of shit wizard."

"I know," Craig's smirk faded, "But I still don't want to kill him."

"Maybe you aren't as heartless of a bastard as I thought," Clyde joked. Yet beneath that playfulness, Craig heard some level of skeptical accusation in his tone. Despite his smile, his eyes narrowed.

"Oh I am," Craig shrugged, standing back up, "Anyway, I should go back before he wakes up or something."

"Sure," Clyde chuckled, this time more genuinely, "If he came up now and saw us talking you'd have no choice but to kill him."

"I'm not that careless," Craig retorted with a frown. Still, he went back into his ceremonious kneel, this time with more overdramatically, with playful sarcasm. "You know that...My Lord of Darkness."

"My Dark Mage."

With that, the transmission ended. After a few moments of staying in position he stood back up, collected the communication device, and headed back to the campfire.