"You slept in today," Tweek announced as Craig awoke the next morning.

"I was tired," he yawned as he stretched his shoulders that were stiff from the hard cave floor, "Plus the cave is always dark, so I didn't have sunlight to wake me." It was a little lighter in the cave than it had been at night, due to being not too terribly far from the exit, but still considerably dark.

"That makes sense," Tweek replied, "Hiking the snowy mountains would take a lot out of anyone."

Craig couldn't say that part of it was staying up especially late to talk to the man he was planning on betraying him with. So instead he tried to shift the subject elsewhere.

"How's the weather looking today?" he asked.

"It's not snowing, thankfully," Tweek informed him, "Though there's still a lot of snow on the ground and it's still cold."

"So you finally admit you feel cold?" Craig gave a crooked smirk.

Tweek frowned, his cheeks becoming slightly pink. "Anyway," he tried to change the subject, "I think we should eat quickly and get going. Who knows when it will start snowing again. This winter is only going to get worse."

"Alright," Craig stood up and stretched his back, "How are we doing food-wise, anyway?"

"I think we're fine. I prepared some for us while you were still asleep. I think as long as we don't get stranded or lose anything, if we ration we should last a few more days. Once we get to elven territory we're going to have to find more, though."

"It shouldn't take more than about that much time," Craig said as he rubbed his stiff neck. He slept in a lot of hard places, but the cold, jagged cave floor probably won the prize for the most uncomfortable.

"Right," Tweek nodded. He then stood up from the boulder he had been sitting upon and picked up a small sachel that had been on the ground beside it and opened it. He took out a handful of the substance and handed it to Craig. He looked at it.

"Dried fruit?" he asked. It was hard to tell in the dimly lit cave, but that's certainly what it looked like, albeit a type of fruit he had never laid eyes on before.

"Yes," Tweek confirmed, "It's from my home. I've been saving it all this time since I left, but decided after everything we could have some now."

Craig blinked. "Why now?"

"As a thank you," he answered plainly.

"For what?"

"Telling me your name," he said with a smile.

"Oh right," Craig blinked, "I'd already forgotten about that."

"Craig," Tweek nodded.

"Yeah."

"It's a nice name, I think. Less of a mouthful than Feldspar," he chuckled quietly under his breath as he sat back down on his boulder.

"I guess," he shrugged, looking down at the fruit in his hand, "Like 'Tweek.' One syllable."

"Syllable?" Tweek tilted his head to the side, "What's that?"

"Oh right, even with your accent I always forget this isn't your first language," he replied. He sat and thought for a moment. "I never really thought about what it means, actually. But 'Craig' and 'Tweek' have one. 'Feld-spar' has two...if that makes sense."

"Maybe?" he pondered, bringing a finger to his mouth as he thought.

"'Bar-bar-i-an' has four," he explained as he took a bite of the dried fruit. It was surprisingly sweet and chewy. He liked it.

"Oh, I get it," Tweek nodded, "But I think in my language we don't really have a word for that."

"Still, you're really good at Kupa's language. Is it normal for Barbarians to know it?"

"Thank you," Tweek smiled, "But no, not really. I mean some do, so I was able to study it formally, but I learned a lot of it from the gnomes. I liked studying languages."

"Barbarians actively study languages?" Craig raised an eyebrow as he chewed some of the dried fruit, "Do you have some Barbarian academy or something?"

"We don't really have the same sort of formal schools like other countries, but of course we still study things. How to read and-"

"You have a writing system?"

"Of course we do," Tweek frowned, visibly offended by the notion.

Craig realized he had gone back to the negative stereotypes again. "I'm sorry, I...I didn't-"

Tweek sighed, "It's fine. I know by now you don't mean it."

They sat in silence for a few moments. Tweek too began to eat some of the dried fruit.

"Say Tweek," Craig finally broke the silence, "How many languages can you speak, anyway?"

"Oh, a few. Barbarians have a few dialects which can be tricky to understand, but I am good at them all. I know a few Elven languages, particularly High Elven. Studying the gnome's language-and by extension, yours-was more of a hobby."

"That's impressive. I don't think most people in Kupa know more than one. Knowing Elvish is gonna be real useful to us especially."

"Thanks," he gave a slight smile.

"Is it normal for Barbarians to know a lot of languages?"

Tweek looked away quickly and abruptly. "No," he replied softly towards the cave floor.

It was clear that hit a nerve somehow. It felt somewhat odd to Craig that of all things, that was something to be cagey about, but he decided he wasn't going to push it further. Instead, he shoved the rest of the dried fruit into his mouth.

"Alright, let's go," he said standing up, still chewing the remnants of his breakfast.

"Sure," Tweek gave a fake smile as he stood up himself. He reached for Craig's cloak that had fallen on the floor.

"It's still gonna be cold, so use it," Craig told him.

"O-Okay," Tweek nodded, wrapping it around his shoulders, "Thank you."

"Don't want you to freeze to death."

Tweek's eyes grew big. "Right."

The two began walking to the cave exit. "Thanks for the breakfast, by the way," Craig added very awkwardly.

"Like I said, it was as a thanks."

"I just told you my name," he replied, trying to blow it off.

"I guess in a way but...Thank you for trusting me with that," Tweek said, walking ahead of him and not looking back.

They reached the edge of the cave. As Tweek had claimed, it wasn't snowing anymore, though there was a thick amount of it on the ground, reaching halfway up his knees. It had clearly snowed hard last night. The brisk breeze wasn't blowing as hard as it could be thankfully, but there was no denying that trying to trek through that deep of snow was going to make for a long and hard day.

"It's deep. Do you think it'll be okay for us to go through? With snow like this we can't see the trail well," Tweek brought up.

"Don't worry," Craig replied, turning around towards Tweek.

"Alright. I trust you." He had a small smile while his big blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight. The body paint on his face was fading and chipping away considerably, and his cheeks and nose were bright pink from the cold, yet somehow he looked. Well, as he had thought when he first met him...attractive? Objectively speaking, of course. Maybe innocent would be the better word? It was hard for him to put into words.

Regardless, it put an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of Craig's stomach.

"Alright, let's get going then," he nodded, trying his best to ignore it.

"He's going to hate you."

Clyde's words from last night echoed in his head.

"Kill him."

There was no way he could kill Tweek. Not now, after all they had been through.

Yes, Tweek was going to hate him. He was going to betray him. Tweek was going to be incredibly hurt by it all. Tweek thought now that Craig was opening up to him, being honest, but in reality Craig was holding back an incredibly dark secret.

He was going to ruin all of Zaron, from the perspective of most people. He was going to help cast darkness, do things that would destroy civilizations. The powerful would fall, chaos would ensue, Clyde would become Dark Lord of everything.

Clyde and him were justified in their plans anyway, right? They both lost everything. They were going to stop the evil that controlled Zaron. They were going to show them karma. The high and mighty deserved to suffer for all their actions and, in other cases, inaction. Serfdoms and thinly veiled slavery would no longer exist, right? Sure, they would do a lot of bad, but they were at least self aware of it, unlike the nobility of today who painted themselves as just beings.

He had accepted his role as a "bad guy" a long time ago. Clyde had always assured him that he was heartless, that none of this would be an issue to him. They lied, they stole, they murdered someone-all of which were justified, weren't they?

Yet he knew no normal person like Tweek would understand. How could anyone but someone who lived a life like Clyde or him be expected to? The way Craig was born with powers he didn't ask for that made him too dangerous to live in the eyes of Kupa. The way Clyde was going to be killed for being born to the wrong kingdom. They way they lived in extreme, oppressive poverty. The way their families were both brutally murdered. The way they were left starving on filthy streets while those would could have helped them didn't.

Could anyone blame them for wanting to turn Zaron on its head?

Well, yes. Yes they could. Yes they will.

Tweek won't understand the justification. He'll just see the all-encompassing darkness. He'll just see a world that he thinks is worth saving as is being torn apart. He wants peace. He thinks that getting the Wizard, the High Elf King, and his own tribes to get along will save everything. Tweek is an innocent idealist, and given his probably average Barbarian life, he couldn't really blame him.

Despite all of this, it couldn't change what he was going to do. He didn't want to betray Tweek, but he couldn't betray Clyde.

"Are you alright?" Tweek broke his train of thought.

"Huh?" Craig blinked, "Yeah, I am. Why?"

"You just looked in a daze," Tweek explained, "In this cold, I was hoping you weren't about to pass out."

"Says the person who isn't even wearing a shirt."

Tweek frowned. "I can handle cold better. I told you this."

"You almost died of hypothermia."

"What?" he asked, tilting his head. Another word he didn't know.

"You almost got-too-cold-to-death."

"I said thank you for the cloak," Tweek frowned even more, furrowing his brows.

"And I've told you I don't mind," Craig rolled his eyes, "Like I said, I happen to not want you to die on me."

Tweek sighed and unreadable sigh. Craig hoped it wasn't out of irritation.

"To answer your original question, I was just thinking," Craig decided to deflate the situation, "I'm fine. I can tell by the sun's position we're going the right way."

"Good."

"But uh...thanks for the...concern...I guess," he managed. He immediately cringed at the awkwardness.

"You're welcome?" Tweek answered, light humor in his voice. Craig frowned. He didn't need to rub his awkwardness in his face.

"I told you before, I'm not good at this people person stuff," he scowled.

Tweek laughed. "Believe me, I don't mind. It's...endearing."

He could tell his face was getting red as his frown grew. He hoped it was from the cold.

Thankfully it didn't snow for the rest of the day and despite the thickness of the snow, they were able to pass with relative ease remaining on the right path. They were headed downwards, so besides having to worry about slipping, the snow gradually got lesser and lesser as they went down. They didn't find a cave to sleep that night, but they were able to build a fire. It was cold, but they managed.

From there, it was all easier. The snow on the ground was just a mild dusting that was far less slippery and easier to pass through.

"We don't have any more ridges to pass, so it shouldn't be worse than this," Craig announced

"Good," Tweek let out a sigh of relief. Craig couldn't help but smirk.

As they traversed across lower elevation sections of the mountains, Craig was reminded of the start of their mountain trek. Far more peaceful, not to mention beautiful. Large evergreen trees, rivers and streams that ran in between the mountains that gave off a soothing running noise, and the view of the range in the background that could be fully appreciated no longer having to worry about falling thousands of feet down with a single step.

"Besides the cold mountain tops, I actually think I like mountains," Tweek exclaimed suddenly, as if reading Craig's mind.

"The mountain ridges were pretty awful."

"I said 'besides'."

"Right."

Tweek rolled his eyes.

"I mean you're right," Craig forced out, "It-They are nice. I guess."

Tweek chuckled. Craig felt himself growing red again. He couldn't blame frigid temperatures this time.

And so they continued to walk on a couple more days. They went long periods without saying anything, but gradually over the extended time they had been together, it felt more natural. Not out of distaste for one another or any sort of awkwardness, but simply that they didn't have much to say. Tweek would always say something every once in a while, being the far more conversational one of the pair, and answering him felt like far less of a chore.

They set up the next night by a small stream. Tweek caught a few fish while Craig set up the fire. They had noticed that there wasn't much wildlife on these mountains, so they should be perfectly safe out in the open.

"We're not far now, are we?" Tweek asked as he came back with a few fish he speared with his arrows. Craig's cloak that hung around him was wet on the ends from the stream and it was even more apparent that his body paint was fading.

"Nope," Craig answered as he handed over some sticks he sharpened to heat the fish over the fire, "Only a day or two more if what we were told was right."

"Alright," Tweek plopped himself down and speared a fish, putting it over the fire.

"We're going to be in elven territory."

"Are you nervous?" Tweek asked.

"I think it's something we have to talk about," Craig replied as he put his own fish over the fire.

"Right," Tweek nodded, scooting more comfortably on the ground, "You're the one with the papers, but I'm the one with better relations with them. I also presume my Elvish is better than yours."

"They taught me some before I left, but I probably forgot it all."

Tweek chuckled. "Alright, I'll handle that. Though I'm sure higher ups probably speak Kupa's language pretty well...considering."

"Hopefully."

"Of course, we'll have to go through a lot of other elven territory before we reach the High Elf Kingdom. They're about as friendly to the High Elves as...well, Kupa and the Barbarians."

"We've made it this far, I doubt we'll get killed by a Drow Elf asshole at this point," Craig shrugged as he idly spun his fish over the fire.

"We should still be careful."

"Of course. We'll lay low and try to avoid them. I'm being optimistic, not careless."

"I know," Tweek said as he pulled his Fish away from the fire and blew off the smoke. "I...I think we'll be fine, too. We'll make it to the High Elves. But then what?"

"That's the big question, isn't it?"

Craig had no idea exactly what would happen. He knew at some point he had to steal the stick, but he knew it wasn't going to happen right away. He would have to play the part of a diplomat along with Tweek and only after he got enough information about the whereabouts and security could he even think about stealing it.

"I guess, we'll try to find peace. Between our three homelands," Tweek said softly as he nibbled at his fish, "We'll make an arrangement to have prosperity between us all. And then…"

"We'll be on our ways?"

"Yeah...I guess so," Tweek's fire lit expression fell.

"It kind of has to be that way," Craig found his tone growing uncharacteristically soft, "You have to go back to your people, I have to go off to my kingdom and help Clyde."

"I know."

"Even if there's perfect peace between us...we kind of live in completely separate worlds. I doubt my kingdom would...you know, like me being buddy-buddy with a Barbarian. I'm sure the same is true for yours."

He wasn't completely lying. But even if he was, as much as he had grown to like Tweek, he needed to let this be clear ahead of time. When he did what he needed to do it would...hurt less this way. For both of them.

"You said you wanted to leave Kupa."

"I don't want to become a Barbarian. No offense."

"I didn't think you would. But…" he trailed off and looked to the sky.

Craig ate his fish. He let it burn a little too much, but it was alright nonetheless. When he was finished, he tossed the stick and bone remnants to the side. With a yawn, he laid back.

"The stars are beautiful, huh?" Tweek commented, slowly laying on the ground himself. There weren't too many trees, so the sky was quite visible. There were millions of stars twinkling in the sky.

"Yeah," he agreed, "Reminds me of my old village."

"The sky isn't really visible in my forest with how dense it is," Tweek sighed, "We can't really see the stars."

"You can't in Kupa City, either," Craig yawned, "Or well, not that many. Too many fires constantly burning, too many lights in buildings. That sorta thing. I missed stars."

"I wonder if you can see them in elven territory."

"I guess we'll find out soon," Craig replied, his eyes growing heavy.

"Oh!" Tweek sat up abruptly, causing Craig to open his eyes. "It's not cold anymore. I should give you back your cloak. You can use it as a blanket."

"Nah," he yawned even louder, "It's all wet now. Later is fine."

"A-Alright," Tweek lowered himself back down to the ground.

The fire crackled, though it was slowly growing dimmer and dimmer. Craig could tell through his eyelids.

"Hey Craig," Tweek called out right as he was about to fall asleep.

"What?" Craig responded, sounding more annoyed than he meant due to his exhaustion.

"I'm sorry, you can go to slee-"

"It's fine, just say it," Craig rubbed his eyes with his palms.

"Alright," Tweek replied quietly. He paused a moment, the crackling of the dim fire and rushing stream being the only things that prevented silence. "You know...say if you weren't from Kupa and I weren't a Barbarian...say that it didn't matter. Would you...would you want to still be friends after all of this was over?"

"Of course," Craig yawned, rolling over to his side, "Don't ask dumb questions."

With that, exhaustion overcame him and he fell asleep.