Craig
Craig knew it had been a stupid idea.
They were right, he wasn't built for fighting Stan, not in the game at least. He was a Thief, Stan was a Ranger. Heck, Stan was more than twice as strong when it came to levels! It was probably suicide. Even if he'd had the advantage of surprise, he probably wouldn't have been able to win.
Somehow, that had ceased to matter.
Maybe, Craig reflected as he watched the Elves and Humans around them cheer loudly, excited for the bloodshed to come, he was losing his mind. Because jumping in and taking Tweek's place had been a gut reaction, and not the good kind. There was something in him that had heard Tweek would be fighting and had given him an image of the blond, cowering and scared, cheek bruised and eyes wide. He couldn't let that happen again, so Craig had insisted on fighting instead of Tweek because at least then it would be him getting hurt and not the blond.
And he knew he'd made a mistake, but there wasn't anything he could do about it now so he just stood there stoically and forced himself not to think about anything. Not about the guilt still twisting in his stomach that had been brewing since lunch, not about Cartman's leering grin as if he couldn't think of any better entertainment than watching Craig get hurt, not even about the shivering boy next to him who looked like he was about to explode if he didn't speak.
What the hell am I doing? I'm acting like an idiot. Somehow, that connection between the logical part of his brain and the part that seemed to be ruled entirely by the negative emotions that were associated with Tweek getting hurt had been severed. As long as Tweek doesn't get hurt, then it doesn't matter, right?
"You're so going to lose this time, fatass," Kyle said smugly, crossing his arms and sitting back down on his throne. "There's no way Craig is going to beat Stan in a fair fight." At those words, the blond beside Craig let out a twitchy growl, as if he were angry. Glancing down at the boy, Craig found Tweek's brows furrowed and a conflicted expression on his face.
At the sight, Craig felt something in the pit of his stomach revolt. Why does he look like that? I'm trying to protect him! He wasn't going to let Tweek get hurt anymore, there wasn't anything to be angry about. So he was probably just upset about something else. For the life of him, however, Craig couldn't think what.
"I'm sorry, I could have sworn I heard a fag talking about his boyfriend being cooler than my Thief," Cartman mocked in a high voice, earning himself a yell of anger from Kyle and Stan, as well as a ladylike swat from Kenny. "I'm just saying, Feldspar is very dangerous and you shouldn't take him so lightly."
"Ugh, your testosterone is suffocating me," Kenny complained, putting a hand to his forehead. "If you'll excuse me, I have a battle to set up." Drawing Craig's attention away from Tweek for a second, Kenny twiddled his fingers and trilled, "I would suggest you go rest for a while, after all, you were fighting not a half an hour ago. I wouldn't want you to lose because you weren't at your best Feldspar."
Craig was about to tell Kenny to fuck off, a pretty typical response to anything the boy said at this point, when Tweek twitched and muttered, "Y-yeah, we should go somewhere else." Crossing his arms, hugging his chest, Tweek walked away, leaving Craig behind to hurry down the dais and catch up. He's clearly upset. What's wrong? Is he worried about me? Watching the boy stay several steps ahead, of him, Craig followed Tweek as he walked away from the dais towards the fence between the court and the playground.
As they walked, many kids waved and said things about the fight, how excited they were and such. Craig ignored them, his attention entirely focused on Tweek, who still wouldn't look at him. Walking up beside the boy, Craig looked down at the blonde's face, but all he found was that same twitching frustration as before. He opened his mouth to say something, but he lost the idea before he could get it out.
Stopping just short of the fence, right near where Jimmy was singing some sort of song, Tweek curled in on himself. His eyes were fixed on the ground and he didn't say anything, he just twitched and shivered, letting out little involuntary noises as he did so. From his little stage, Jimmy sang, "O-o..once there were t-two mighty kings, Who clashed about for si-silly things."
Once again trying to speak, Craig found himself at a loss for words. He couldn't get around the lump in his throat and all Tweek did was stand there and shiver. Craig kept waiting for the boy to speak but he kept not saying a word. It was clear as day that he wanted to say something, but Craig could no more read minds than the next person. Tweek's fear, he could understand, Tweek's anger, well, he had no idea what to do."
"But boy, did they have some c-c-common traits~" Jimmy continued, his song causing the boys listening to laugh. "For one, to be the biggest b-b..bitch before it's too late." As everyone cheered, Craig finally cleared his throat and moved closer to Tweek, who didn't respond.
Clenching his teeth hard enough to hear them creek, Craig took a breath and finally spoke. "Tweek," he prompted, his brows furrowing as he stared at the boy. "Is something-"
"I can't believe you did that." Craig was taken aback at how upset Tweek sounded. Whatever was going on in his mind was clearly stressing him out, Craig could see the way the boy's fingers dug into his own arms and how violent his twitching was becoming. It wasn't until a few seconds later that Craig started to try and work out what Tweek was talking about. What is he talking about? Me taking his place? What did he expect me to do, let him get beat up by Stan?
"Do what?" Craig asked, unable to believe that this of all things was what had pissed Tweek off so royally. He hadn't seen anything close to this kind of emotion from Tweek since they'd fought, and Craig wasn't sure he liked seeing its return. Reaching for the boy's hair, Craig felt his stomach drop when Tweek jerked backward, his eyes wide and accusatory as they flew up to his face and fixed there.
"How is it n-not obvious?" Tweek asked, his breathing coming in shallow gulps. Craig hated seeing Tweek like this, stressed out and angry. He just wanted the boy to calm down but he still couldn't comprehend what was going on. "I c-can't believe you'd just –ngh- throw yourself into danger like that!"
Sighing, accepting that Tweek was probably mostly upset about the idea of him getting hurt, Craig evenly said, "I'll be fine." He tried to keep his face as flat as possible as he calmly reassured Tweek, "I'll be able to beat Stan just-"
"No, you w-won't!" Tweek suddenly snapped, his eyes narrowing as if that had been the last thing he'd wanted Craig to say. As his breath came harder, the boy reached up into his hair and grabbed fistfuls of it, his eyes darting around and looking anywhere but at Craig. "D-don't you g-get it?! They –ghn- w-weren't tossing me into a fight I couldn't win! I would have d-done fine!"
Feeling that thing that kept reminding him of how badly he'd screwed up earlier that day rise up once more, Craig found himself clenching his fists and saying, "I don't give a fuck, I'm not going to let them do that to you." Why doesn't he get it? I'm not saying he would have done badly, I'm just saying I can't take that chance.
"STAN IS GOING TO KILL YOU!" Tweek's shriek made Craig's eyes widen. "H-he's a Ranger and –ngh- he's way stronger and I could have done fine and why are you doing this?! W-what is this supposed to be?!" As he ranted, his hands yanked at his hair and he started pacing, shuffling one way then the other in a frenetic figure-eight. "I can't handle this! IT'S TOO MUCH PRESSURE!"
"I'm going to be fine," Craig insisted, his eyes following Tweek, wanting to reach for him but knowing that the blond wasn't going to let him get close. "Why are you so upset?" Scared I get but angry? I didn't do anything to him! I helped him. "Dude, there's no reason for you to be stressed. If I lose, I lose. At least it's not you."
"AUGH! STOP SAYING THINGS LIKE THAT!" Tweek screeched, his eyes blazing as he turned them on Craig. "Y-YOU DON'T GET IT AT ALL!" Twitching and shivering violently, hard enough that his teeth clacked together and his body looked almost contorted, the boy yelled, "YOU. C-CAN'T. WIN! I CAN!"
Taking a step forward, advancing on the furious blond, Craig bit out, "Do I look like I care?" Even though his insides kept rebelling and his mind shouted that this wasn't okay and that he shouldn't be upset with Tweek, Craig was. I'm doing this for him, why is he acting like I'm doing something wrong? He just wanted to keep Tweek safe, that was all. It wasn't any sort of slight against the boy, it was just that the idea of Tweek getting beaten up as some sort of sick entertainment made Craig furious.
"NO!" Tweek squeaked, his vivid green eyes swimming with the screams of injustice. "NO YOU DON'T CARE! GRRRrrr- Y-you're just b-being stupid!" Craig just stared at him, unwilling to back down. It wasn't like he could anyway, he'd already agreed to fight and he would be damned if he stepped down now. Not if the blond would be the one taking his place. Looking between his eyes, Tweek twitched violently and gave a scream of frustration. "Why is this any d-different from fighting in a battle? I did fine there!"
"That's different," Craig insisted drawing back a pace, crossing his arms and staring down at Tweek with a frown. "This is just entertainment for those fuckers. I'm not letting you be entertainment."
Shaking his head, like he was trying to deflect Craig's words, Tweek snapped, "W-what if I want to be entertainment! What if I don't c-care either?"
"You're not doing it," Craig told Tweek, his face stony. He could tell that the whole conversation was only pissing Tweek off more but he discovered that he didn't care. As long as he could keep Tweek from getting hurt again by another bully, another person who was stronger than he was, then Craig would do it. Tweek didn't have to like it. Fuck, what am I saying? I sound like an asshole. Well, he was, and he didn't care because Craig Tucker had never cared.
Shivering, Tweek's glared dropped for a moment and all Craig saw was helplessness. "W-what if I don't want to see you g-get hurt again protecting me?" the boy asked, his tone plaintive and begging. "W-what if that scares me, Craig?" His voice almost swayed the Noirette, almost made him change his mind, but then he saw the bruise on Tweek's shoulder and his expression hardened once more.
"Of course I'm going to protect you," Craig said evenly, as if this was any sort of answer to what Tweek was saying. Stupid it might be, but he wasn't about to give in. Not now, not ever. "I'll come back in one piece, you don't have to be scared." He was about to reach forward and ruffle Tweek's hair when the face of Butters appeared in his vision, his smile bright.
"Th'Princess sent me t'fix you up, F-Feldspar!" the boy announced, holding out his hand. "It's not gonna be much longer before y'fight Stan, after all." Waving his fingers around, Butters said, "Th-there y'go! Now you've got all your hit points back!" Looking between Tweek and Craig, Butters brightly asked, "Aren'tcha excited Tweek? Feldspar is gonna beat that ol' Drow Elf real good, you'll see!"
Biting his lip, Tweek shivered and squeaked, "I hope so!" before looking back at his feet. Still feeling sick about the whole thing, Craig resolutely pushed it off. He's just worried. That's all. He's just worried about me. He really wanted to continue his conversation with the boy, but Kenny chose that moment to show up as well, draping himself over Butters so he could rest his chin on the boy's shoulder. The Paladin turned bright red at this and stammered something out, which Kenny giggled at but didn't listen to.
"Aww, look at you two. Tweekers, so worried about watching Feldspar fight." Sticking out his bottom lip, Kenny cooed, "It's going to be okay. If he gets beaten then he just wasn't as good as Stan." When Tweek let out a soft scream, Kenny laughed delightedly and looked back at Craig. "What about you Fucker? You ready to make a fool of yourself?" Before Craig could answer one way or another, the boy brightly chirped, "Wonderful! We've got everything set up~"
"OH JESUS!" Tweek shrieked, yanking on his hair. Kenny chuckled at the boy's reaction while Craig clenched his hands and decidedly didn't reach for Tweek like he wanted to. He's probably still upset with me. Fine, once this is all over, I'll apologize. Once more he found himself thinking about the fact that it was guilt more than anything that was driving him into this, but Craig pushed that down as well. He couldn't let that cloud his mind, he needed to be calm and collected for this. He needed to be paying attention.
"I'll be fine," Craig told Tweek once more before turning to Kenny and saying flatly, "Fine, where do I go?" Clapping his hands in delight, Kenny straightened at last and floated around so he could catch Craig's arm and tug him along, though it was mostly Craig following willingly.
"Come along Feldspar, we've got it all set up!" he said, his falsetto as terrifyingly accurate as ever. "You're going to have just the bestest time fighting Stan, oh I'm just so excited!" As they got past the other boys who had all begun crowding around the makeshift ring, Craig noticed Stan. He was standing on one end of the ring, his sword drawn, a prepared expression on his face. Beside him stood Chris, who was no doubt telling Stan how Craig fought. Shit. No surprises I guess.
Turning around once before he entered the ring himself, Craig managed to catch sight of Tweek huddling up next to Clyde and Token, who both seemed to be making him feel at least a little better. Good, because apparently, I can't do that anymore. Struggling to whip his brain of that particularly resentful thought, Craig turned back towards Kenny, who was dusting off his cloak and fussing with his clothing, as if he gave a fuck.
Before he was done, Kenny leaned in quickly and said into Craig's ear, "I know what you're doing Fucker and it's a baaad idea. It's a good thing I enjoy watching you make a fool of yourself, otherwise, I might be tempted to tell you how stupid you're being." Pushing him back, Kenny blew him a kiss and said, "Go on Feldspar, make us Humans proud."
As he stepped away, Craig turned back towards Stan and slowly walked forward, standing in the middle of the ring, his back straight and his face a mask of boredom. I don't care. I don't care about any of it. He didn't even glance at Tweek, because he didn't need to see the boy's anger right now and he definitely didn't want to bear witness to the fear that he'd put on the blonde's face.
Walking forward as well, Stan looked at Craig, his brown eyes calm. "I just want to say, Craig," the Ranger said, his tone not exactly helpful but definitely kinder than Craig would have expected. "Tweek would have done fine. You're being stupid."
"That's what everyone keeps telling me," Craig muttered in return, an eyebrow rising. Why everyone seemed to need to inform him that he was making a bad choice was beyond him at this point, but he didn't care. It was just another fight. Drawing his knives, Craig prepared himself and added, "But I think I can hold my own." A bluff, but who was counting.
From the dais, there was the sound of clapping at the gathered boys fell silent, Elves and Humans alike looking up at Cartman, who was standing and holding his staff high to draw attention to himself. "Elves, Humans, this festival has been nothing short of successful," the boy said, looking over the crowds with those naturally cruel eyes. "Of course, now is the moment you've all been waiting for. The entertainment of the night."
From the side of the ring, Jimmy walked forward and said, "F-f-fighters, the duel will last until one of y-y-you has been r-rendered unconscious by the other." When both Stan and Craig nodded, Jimmy gave a smile and said, "V-very well then. Let the battle be- b-b-beg- Let the battle b-begin."
Instantly, Craig moved. Feet scraping over the pavement, the Noirette lunged in, ducking low in an attempt to get in a quick hit. Of course, Stan was waiting for him, his wooden sword already coming up and blocking Craig's strike. The sound of wood against wood sounded just about as hollow as Craig felt.
Around them, the boys let out cheers as Stan slashed at Craig, a strike which the boy just barely dodged. Ducking around Stan, using his speed to his advantage, Craig threw himself at the boy's unguarded side and managed to land a hit, however glancing. With a growl, Stan retaliated, sweeping his sword down and catching Craig across the back.
Rolling out of the way of further damage, Craig cursed under his breath. He could hear humans and Elves alike yelling out encouragement for both of them but he forced himself to tune it out. I can't lose health, I don't have anywhere as much as him. Shielding himself with one blade, Craig moved back in and struck several times in quick succession, but each strike was blocked by Stan.
"You can't do this dude," Stan called, gritting his teeth as he swung at Craig's head, a move which the Noirette only just dodged. The boy wasn't giving an inch of ground and already Craig felt like he couldn't see a way in. Damnit, he's too good at this. "You're going to lose, I told you, this was a stupid idea."
"Fuck off," Craig growled in return, darting past Stan and managing to land a critical hit on Stan's back. Spinning around, Stan swung viciously and Craig only just got his blades up in time to defend himself. He could hear people gasping and screaming but Craig couldn't tell what was positive and what wasn't, it all sounded like the roaring of a faceless monster. Feinting to the side, Craig struck for Stan's left and never saw the boy's blade until it hit against his arm, leaving a bruise and definitely taking far more health points than he had to spare.
"You've been acting weird all day," Stan pushed out through gritted teeth, preforming a series of lunges that Craig only just managed to counter. The bruise on his back flared up with pain at the movement and suddenly Craig found himself wide open to an attack. Taking the opportunity, Stan slashed at him with a growl of, "It's fucking weird Craig."
Fuck, he's noticed it too. Blocking the hit but still taking damage, Craig deadpanned back, "I'm fine, why do you care." The last word of his sentence was punctuated with a strike to Stan's neck that he managed to land. The boy was definitely slower, but considering how little damage he was doing, Craig knew that his chances were looking slimmer and slimmer by the second.
"Because it's weird!" Stan exclaimed in return, as if this was a good reason. Drawing back for a moment, Stan took a strong stance and blocked the hits that Craig attempted to level at him easily. It was a losing battle and Craig knew it but he threw everything into it, even as Stan managed to kick out one of his knees, forcing him to roll to the side or get hit again. Standing up even though his leg was throbbing, Craig few again at Stan.
"I don't give a shit," Craig growled, managing to get a knife around Stan's throat. With a grunt, Stan shoved Craig off of him and landed a strike across the boy's ribs driving some of the air out of his lungs. Couching, feeling his body protesting this fight after the stress he'd already forced it to deal with today, Craig only just barely managed to get his knife up in time to block Stan's next hit.
"This is pointless," Stan told him, his blade flashing around Craig's head. The boy couldn't even begin to block the strike to the side of his head, which made his ears ring. "You're losing!"
"I know!" Craig pushed out through gritted teeth. Throwing himself at Stan, even though there was no way he could strike from this angle, Craig felt the boy's sword drive the remaining air from his body and didn't bother to fight it. As he went stumbling back over the pavement, he struggled to see straight. It's all for Tweek, as long as Tweek's okay…
But then he saw something that made his whole body freeze up. Tweek, standing on the edge of the ring, his eyes wide with fear and panic. His mouth was open in a scream but Craig couldn't hear it, all he could do was stare at the boy and realize fully that he'd been the one to put it there. God, what am I doing? A moment later, he felt Stan's blade hit his throat, bruising it almost instantly as the brown-eyed boy pushed him over. I lost, he thought numbly, but he couldn't care less because his mind was screaming at him and all he could see was that look on Tweek's face.
As Stan raised his sword and the Elves cheered, Craig stared at the sky and felt misery seep into his bones. Because in the end, he couldn't protect Tweek, all he could do was make it worse and watch helplessly as the blond got hurt.
Fuck.
A/N: All credit for that wonderful little ditty Jimmy sang goes to Telesthesia. She's a wonderful darling for writing it for me~
