"You're what?" Craig found himself repeating, his voice hollow.
"When I made that announcement...I was telling the truth," Tweek looked away.
"You're saying you're a prince."
"I was afraid to tell you because-well…" he trailed off.
"You're a prince."
"Yes," he answered, "My father was the King of the Barbarians. And I will be too...one day."
"Was the king?" Craig echoed.
"My parents died quite a few years ago in an accident," he explained, "Before I was old enough to take on the title myself."
"So you're going to be a king," Craig blinked, "Of the Barbarians."
"Yes."
"And have been since the beginning?"
"Yes," he repeated.
"All this time?"
"All this time," Tweek nodded.
"I just...I think I need a minute." Before Tweek could respond, Craig found himself rushing past him, back inside from the balcony. He paused for a moment, unsure of where he should go until he decided upon going back into the designated room he claimed.
It was a grand, beautiful bedroom. The room alone was bigger than his home in Sundorham or his second floor place in Kupa City he shared with Clyde. It was more than anything he could have ever dreamt of. And was allowed to stay here because he was the personal guest of a prince.
The bed he sat upon was soft, so much so that it almost startled him. He gripped the soft blankets into his fists. He always wondered what the bed of royalty was like, hadn't he? It was just like he had always imagined.
Tweek was a prince. The man he just kissed was a prince. The person he had been traveling with for a while now. Was this the sort of living conditions he had been used to all along? He figured that barbarian society was a lot less...elegant than elven, but after all of the things he realized he still didn't know, he knew he couldn't be sure of anything.
Yet still, knowing that Tweek was a prince, suddenly a lot of things about him made sense. Why he was so highly educated and fluent in multiple languages. Why he was so fiercely defensive of his people, taking offense to any notion of abandoning them. Why he was so strict at following his own cultural norms. Why he'd constantly say in vague ways that things were "different" for him. Why he wanted peace. Why he thought that he would have the ability to march into elven lands and bring peace.
Perhaps it should have been obvious to him that he was high ranking in some way, if not a prince.
Still, Craig hated princes. He hated the nobility. They were against everything he stood for. Of course, Clyde too was a prince, but he was-he was different. He wasn't raised in a life of privilege, but the life of a serf, same as him. His kingdom was destroyed. Everything had been taken from Clyde. Even more than had been taken from Craig. Yes, Clyde was different from the others. When he took over, he would remain different. He wasn't the same.
With a sigh, he tried to collect his thoughts. First and foremost, he decided that it meant that any chance of Tweek ever seeing eye to eye with him went out the window. Tweek was raised as royalty, there was no way that he'd ever understand what he and Clyde went through. And even if he did by some miracle, for diplomatic reasons he'd have no choice but to side against him. Before long, they would be enemies. But that was okay, he told himself. He had expected things to end badly since day one.
But did this make Tweek a bad person? Perhaps not. It didn't suddenly cause him to shapeshift into a different creature. He was still the same Tweek that he'd known the entire time. The same Tweek that he had trusted enough to share a lot of his life story about, his real name. The same Tweek that was tough and could kill a small dragon in the blink of an eye, but wouldn't let him swat at a pixie. That spoke against injustice.
No, Tweek was a good person. He would likely make a good king one day. If he had been king of Kupa or the High Elf Kingdom, perhaps none of this would have ever happened. He would probably be a hero.
After all, Craig was the bad guy. He sighed.
He hadn't contacted Clyde since the cave. He knew he should, especially now that he was in the High Elf Kingdom itself. He told himself that enchanted communication device that Clyde had stolen when he worked for the Wizard was limited, and that it was important to only use it for important purposes. However, this was undoubtedly an important moment. Yet for some reason, he found himself afraid to. Which didn't make a lot of sense-he had no reason to be afraid of Clyde.
Okay, sure, Clyde had kept him in the dark much of the time. He always spoke of how something would be the catalyst for them to change things, but it took him forever to say that that thing was the Stick of Truth. Clyde, although cagey as ever, had presumed it was still in the Wizard's possession and thought that working close to him he could figure out exactly where it was kept so he himself could snatch it up. When he was banished, suddenly the responsibility was fully turned to Craig to retrieve it. When he heard the Wizard that one fateful day say that it was out of his grasp, far off in the High Elf Kingdom, Craig had at the time thought it was all over. Yet there he was.
It was almost too convenient, he had thought. Being assigned to steal the very thing they had been wanting to get their hands upon for years. How easy this trip had been. Well, no. It wasn't easy. He nearly died several times. He went through a lot of dangerous obstacles that could have easily gone wrong. And yet…
There was a light knock at the door. "Craig?" Tweek softly called out from behind it. Right. He still had to deal with Tweek.
"Craig," Tweek gently repeated after he didn't respond, "Are you alright?"
"Hm? Yeah, I'm...I'm fine," Craig responded.
"Can I come in?"
Craig didn't answer right away. He had distanced himself from him for good reason, to clear his head.
"S...Sure, just give me a second." He took his time standing up from the soft bed and walking over to the door. He paused for a moment, and with a deep breath grabbed the knob and opened it.
Tweek's face was full of concern. Not like he'd been crying or anything, but like he was genuinely anxious yet meek. It made a twinge of guilt form in the pit of his stomach.
"Can we talk?" Tweek asked, his voice still quiet.
"Fine," Craig nodded, heading back to sit on the bed. After a moment's hesitation, Tweek followed him, sitting beside him. Neither said anything for a long moment, nor did they look each other in the eye.
"I'm sorry," Tweek finally said, "I should have been more honest to you."
"It's not that," Craig replied, "You said you weren't comfortable with talking about your home life. I didn't tell you everything, either."
"Still, I was-"
"It's like you were probably getting at," Craig cut him off, "I don't do well with the whole royalty and nobility concept."
"I know. I'm sorry," Tweek lowered his head.
"No, don't apologize," Craig responded with a sigh, "You didn't-You didn't do anything wrong." Tweek raised his head to look at him, a look of cautious surprise in his eyes. "I mean, unless you're some really oppressive ruler or something. In that case-"
"Of course not!" Tweek shook his head.
"But you do live in better standards than your average Barbarian, don't you?"
"I-I guess."
"Like this?" he gestured outwardly to the room they were in.
"Not at all," Tweek shook his head, nearly laughing, "My castle, if you can call it that, is nothing like this. In design, but also it's not nearly as large or as tall. Generations ago we would have, built into the sides or the tops of cliffs, but that wouldn't be feasible in the Lost Forest."
"Do you wish you could have had that?"
"Maybe for the sake of our culture. But I...I don't think I'm more deserving of a castle than anyone else."
"But you'd still live in it if you had it?"
"Well...sure. Because it'd be my role I was born into. I didn't ask to be born a prince."
"You didn't ask to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth," Craig repeated.
"Y-You know I didn't mean it like that," Tweek grew defensive, "I mean that...I just happened to be born to the King and Queen. It's not some choice I made! It's not just all fun, being royalty. There's also a lot of responsibilities and-"
"Wow, must be real tough," Craig said in a hollow, sarcastic tone as he stood up and began to walk towards the door.
"I meant that-"
Craig turned around, the bright yellow light of the sunset flashing on his face. "Sorry, I can't really relate to your struggles, your highness. But then, what would a lowly peasant like me know about anything, right?"
"Can you braid my hair?" Tricia asked.
"I'm making breakfast," her mother sighed, somewhat exasperated as she stirred the pot of gruel.
"But it's hot today and it's in my way," she protested, stomping her foot lightly.
Her mother groaned, putting her hand to her temple. "Craig, could you please do your sister's hair?" Craig's attention was piqued, sitting up straight on the side of the bed where he was lacing up his shoes for the day.
"Braid my hair!" Tricia demanded, crossing her arms with a frown.
Craig frowned back. "Aren't you old enough to do your own hair?"
"Craig, please just help your sister," their mother's voice grew more tense.
Craig sighed. "C'mon," he motioned for his sister to sit on the ground in front of him. Her demanding expression instantly faded as she flashed a childish, triumphant grin and plopped herself down in front of where he sat on the bed.
He bunched up his sister's strawberry blonde hair. It was frizzier than usual from sleeping with it down, heightened by the humidity of summer, and she let out irritated yelps as he ran his fingers through her tangles. It was annoying, but he had done this enough to know what he was doing.
He parted the top half of her hair from around her ears from the bottom half. Taking the top half, he braided it in a simple braid to the nape of her neck. From there, he took the bottom half of her hair and incorporated it into the existing braid all the way down. When he reached the tips of her hair and couldn't braid any more he grabbed the braid and looped it behind her first braid twice and pulled. It was a simple and easy hairstyle that his mother taught him to do to his sister as it required no ties or fabric to stay in place-something valuable for a poor serf family who couldn't spend much money on aesthetics.
Just as he finished, she quickly jumped up.
"You're welcome," he frowned.
"Thank you" she said overdramatically.
"You really should learn to do it yourself," Craig crossed his arms, "I can't do it for you forever."
"Why not?" she crossed her arms back at him dramatically, "You think we'll ever be separated or something?"
Craig's eyes opened suddenly. With the bed as soft as it was, it was one of the best night's sleep he ever had, even despite how hectic his thoughts were. His body didn't want to move, overcome with how comfortable he was. Yet he knew he couldn't.
Tweek and Craig had been invited to dinner the previous night, but Craig had declined, having claimed that he had a headache. The elf that summoned them disapproved, but they had let him be. Tweek on the other hand went, while Craig went straight to bed. He didn't hear him come back.
He didn't know if he was really, truly mad at him. Tweek didn't mean to come across as insensitive. Perhaps Craig did take him the wrong way, but it didn't really matter. Tweek would never understand. Perhaps he was being overly harsh towards him. Either way, it didn't matter, he decided, groaning as he got out of bed.
It was better to push him away, he told himself. Finding a reason, any reason was a good thing. He merely stretched his shoulders and went to put on his day clothes, trying to get these thoughts out of his mind. It was stupid for him to have kissed Tweek. He should just pretend it never happened, he thought as he slowly made his way out of the bedroom.
When he opened his door and exited the bedroom, he saw Tweek sitting upon a chair in the main room. He was already ready for the day, and had an alertness that gave Craig the impression that he had been up for hours.
"Good morning," Tweek said cordially.
"Yeah," Craig nodded, avoiding looking at him. He bit the inside of his mouth.
"The rooms they give us are nice," Tweek continued, "The beds are almost too soft. It was almost hard to get myself out of bed."
"Sure," he nodded.
"Craig," Tweek sighed as he stood up, "Please...I don't want to do this."
"Do what?" he halfheartedly feigned ignorance, still looking out the window towards the mountains, lit with a warm morning glow.
"Does it really matter that much to you?" Tweek's voice rose. Craig could hear him coming closer to him from behind, but he didn't flinch.
"Don't know what you mean."
"Yes you do," Tweek's voice grew more irritated, "Does that-Does it make you that disgusted towards me?" He reached towards him, lightly grabbing his arm. Craig turned around, looking at him directly in the face for the first time. His expression was pained-and it hit Craig right in the gut.
"No," he looked away again.
"Then-?"
"Fine. You're right. You didn't do anything wrong," he found himself saying, as if his mouth was moving on its own, "It's not-It's me that has...stuff. Alright?"
"Stuff?" Tweek raised his eyebrows in genuine confusion.
Craig rolled his eyes. "Well, let's think about this for a minute here, Tweek. You're a barbarian prince. I'm a Kupa thief. I don't like nobility. You are nobility. You're going to go back and become king of your people. I'm going to be...far away where we'll never see each other again."
"How is the situation any different because I'm a prince?" Tweek asked, "Either way, we were going to separate, right? How is anything different from when you decided to kiss me?"
"It-It just is, okay?"
"Why? I'm still the same person, aren't I?"
"That's not it," he shook his head, getting more irate by the moment.
"Then what is it exactly?"
"I shouldn't have kissed you, okay?" Craig found himself close to yelling, "I really shouldn't. It was incredibly stupid of me."
At that moment they both grew silent. It was as if one could hear a pin drop. "I see."
"No!" Craig groaned, "I didn't mean it like that."
"It's fine, I-"
"I meant that it was stupid for me to ever allow myself to care so much about you! Because I do and it-and it..." he found himself frustratedly trailing off, incapable of finding the right words.
Tweek's mouth was left slightly ajar. "I don't...I don't know what you mean."
"Well, that's the truth. I shouldn't care about you," Craig tried to take a deep breath, "Not you specifically...I shouldn't allow myself to care about anyone new. I'm just-It's not how I'm supposed to live. It's not how I'm supposed to be."
"How is that anyway to live your life?" Tweek asked, visibly taken aback.
"It doesn't matter," Craig found himself practically saying through his teeth, "Because that's just how it is okay? I can't-I'm just...My life isn't like most people. I've never had many people around me, okay? And those who are around me generally speaking, you know, don't like me for good reason. It's just the way I am. People were scared of me, or they thought I was somehow tainted, or heartless, or just some scummy lowly thief not worth their time and honestly they're-they're right. I've always known they're right. I'm not a good person and I always just cause people nothing but trouble. So you know what? It's not you. It's not about you being some fucking prince. I know deep down I don't really care that much. It's that...I have to find an excuse to distance myself from you."
"Why would you say that? You know that's not true about yourself," Tweek shook his head, eyes wide.
"Yes it is. I know it is," Craig's voice cracked, his nails digging into his palms, "You don't have any idea-"
"I know there are others who care about you. You've even said so," Tweek cut him off
"Yeah, and look where all of them are!" Craig practically laughed, "My whole family-my whole fucking villiage is dead! And you know what? All I ever did was cause the whole lot of them problems and yet I'm the one who got to live? What sorta sick joke is that?"
"What about your friend Clyde?" he tried to offer as he moved to sit down on the sofa, "You are risking your life to help him."
"And you know what?" Craig found himself trembling, as he walked over to sit next to Tweek "I could have easily prevented all of this from happening if it weren't for my own selfishness. I could have gotten us both out of that hellhole of a city-of a kingdom if I just did the only thing he ever asked me to do when I could have. But I didn't. I never did. And now because of that he's all of being banished in fuckall knows where waiting for me to do what I've put off doing for way too long while I'm wasting my time sitting around in some elite castle guest quarters. Because I know I'm still putting it off."
"I don't really follow," Tweek admitted, though is voice and expression filled with empathy.
"It doesn't matter," Craig shook his head. He took a deep breath, trying to force himself to calm down. "What matters to you is that I'm not a good person. I'm not meant to be with people. I've never been meant to be around people. Everyone I've ever had a connection with has only ever been fucked over because of me, and I know that the same thing is going to happen between us."
"You don't know that," Tweek put a hand gently on his arm, "You're not a prophet."
"Maybe not, but I might as well be," Craig gave a sarcastic laugh under his breath, as he slouched forward, resting his arms on his legs. He wasn't crying, but he could feel stress tears dampening his eyes. Tweek kept his arm on his, allowing a long moment of silence.
"Well...What if," Tweek finally started, but then stopped for a moment. "What if I told you that I don't care?"
"You don't care?" he asked somewhat incredulously, straightening back up.
"Maybe-Maybe you're right," Tweek continued, "I don't know everything about you. What your life has been like, what you've done. I can tell there's a lot you haven't told me yet, if you ever will. Maybe we will get hurt. Maybe after a couple of days we'll never see each other again. But...that's the future. We're in the present."
Craig blinked. "Is that a good way to live your life?" he echoed Tweek's earlier sentiment.
"Maybe not," he answered, "But I think it's better than however you've been living up until now."
"You don't know what you're saying, you know."
"Like I said, maybe so," Tweek frowned, "But me in the future can handle that."
"Can you be so sure about that?"
Tweek sighed before leaning in towards him. Ever so slowly, he lightly brushing his lips against Craig's. "I am," he said in a solemn voice barely louder than a whisper.
Against Craig's better judgement, he kissed back.
It was somewhat late morning when an elf knocked on their door and announced that they were being summoned for breakfast-no excuses allowed from Mr. Feldspar this time. To be fair, Craig was quite hungry from not eating the previous night so he wasn't going to argue.
The elf led them down the long grand hallway down a different route from where they had entered. Ordinarily Craig would have kept his eyes wide open in order to very carefully examine and memorize his surroundings, but he found himself unable to at that very moment.
What was that this morning? he wondered to himself. He never let his emotions get to him like that. He never even said the vast majority of what he had said to anyone before, including Clyde. He was always in control of his emotions. He didn't allow himself to dwell on his negative feelings on himself, let alone share them with anotherperson.
He took a deep breath. It didn't matter. All this stuff-from talking about feelings to Tweek, to kissing Tweek-none of it really mattered. He was here for a reason. He had to remind himself of that. Still, it was an odd feeling. As if a wall had been broken, emotions and words spilling out beyond his control. As hard as he tried, he couldn't not dwell on that for now.
Red had always teased him, saying that it's good to loosen up and talk about feelings. How it makes you feel better, especially if it's to someone you trust. Yet he didn't. He shared his feelings and Tweek accepted them better than he could have ever dreamt someone could, and yet he didn't feel better. He felt worse.
Perhaps a good thing to come out of it, however, was that it helped put his motivations back in check. It forced himself to be reminded of all he lost, of all that was taken from him. Of what the elves did to him, of what Kupa did to him. Of why it was so important for him to succeed in this mission. Why it was so important to help Clyde.
"Ahem," the elf let out just as Craig was about to absentmindedly walk into a large doorway. That sort of behavior especially wasn't like him.
"This is the dining room," the elf guard said once Craig took a step back, "Your food and...someone is waiting for you."
"Someone?" Tweek asked. The elf ignored him as he opened the large doors.
The dining room was large and grand, although Craig knew probably not the grandest one that fed the High Elf King. Still, it was beautifully decorated with the same overarching aesthetic as the rest of the castle. It had decently sized white stone table sitting in the middle under an elegant chandelier, though the candles upon it were currently unlit due to the natural lighting of the morning sun cast through the large windows. Upon the table there were plates and chairs already prepared for Tweek and him, with food Craig unlike anything he had ever seen before. At the end, sat a man that-
Craig had to do a double take.
It couldn't be.
Not that guy. There was no way.
"He-Hello there, Craig," an annoyingly familiar voice let out with a smug grin.