Songs:
TIN - Ticking ( Internal Countdown )
Tommee Profitt & Fleurie - Chasing Cars ( Main Theme 2 )
Chase Holfelder - Fix You ( Main Theme 1 )
Sleeping At Last - "Saturn" ( Craig )
A/N: I STRONGLY recommend listening to the Main Theme 1 song...
Unfamiliarity greets Craig when he wakes, not to his kitchen, nor his bedroom, but instead the unified metal walls of a small room. There's a lamp next to him as his sole light source and he sits up, groggy, to get a better bearing of his surroundings. He makes out a single bed off to the side, then a shelf filled with various cans and other things next to it.
"Where… am I?"
His memories are fuzzy, but he tries his best to focus. Bit by bit, the pieces come together as he wakes more. There's a frown spread across his face when Tweek enters his thoughts. Was he the one behind his current situation?
He gets his answer a few seconds later, when the familiar sight of a figure with messy blond hair and a green oversized sweater, steps through the room's entrance.
"You're awake."
"Tweek?" Craig asks, confused, "Did… did you bring me here?"
"Yes," he smiles.
"Why?"
"Because it's unsafe out there."
"Unsafe?"
"Yes. So you must remain here."
"I don't…" Craig shakes his head, "I don't understand."
Tweek walks over and crouches down in front of him. Then lifts a hand and places it on his head.
"You'll be safe here. Where nothing will ever hurt you. Where it can just be us… forever," Tweek tells him, his hand moving down to cup his cheek.
Eerie unease crawls up Craig's spine. Something about this all didn't feel right. This place. Tweek's words. It being just them. Something was off…
"Tweek, where am I?"
"I told you, you're somewhere safe."
"Where's Kenny?"
The smile on Tweek's face disappears.
"You needn't concern yourself with him anymore."
"What do you mean?" when there's no response, Craig starts to panic, "Tweek—"
"Why do you care about him so much!" Tweek yells. It catches Craig so off guard that he falls silent. Never having seen him get angry before. "He doesn't deserve your thoughts, your worry, your kindness…" Tweek tells him and gently rubs his thumb across his cheek, "no one does… you're too good for this world… too kind…"
"Tweek…" Craig whispers, finding his voice, "please, what have you done?"
Tweek remains silent, his gaze focused on Craig's as he continues to gently rub his thumb back and forth along his cheek.
"Do you know the reason why I like this sweater you bought me so much?" Tweek asks and Craig shakes his head, "It's because it's the same color as your eyes. So whenever I look at it, or wear it, it feels as if you're always by my side. Comforting me in some way, which makes me really happy."
Surprise crosses Craig's features initially, but the slow realization of everything starts to make sense to him. All the instances of Tweek with the sweater, a sweater that Craig had thought it no more than just a piece of clothing for him to wear, was something that meant much more to him from the very start. Craig, had meant much more to him from the start.
"Tweek, please… just answer my question," Craig pleads, trying to understand.
Tweek frowns.
"I haven't done anything. Yet."
"Yet?"
"You don't need to worry yourself with it," Tweek tells him, as he stands back up.
"Wait!" Craig exclaims, quickly standing as well.
He grabs Tweek's shoulder, in an effort to stop him. Tweek shoves him away, causing Craig to grab ahold of his arm instead. The two struggle before the rug underneath them shifts and they both fall.
Tweek's hands slam down on either side of Craig's head startling him.
"Can't you see that I'm trying to keep you safe!" Tweek yells, propping himself up.
"Safe from what?" Craig asks, hesitantly.
"From them! The people who will hurt you! Who don't really care about you! Who will only use you for their own selfish purposes! Then toss you away the moment you've used up your usefulness!" Tweek screams, leaving Craig too stunned to reply, "I'm keeping you safe from those who will just toss you aside like you're nothing once you've given them what they want."
"That won't happen," Craig tells him.
"How do you know that? How do you know that Kenny won't just throw you aside the moment he gets what he wants from you!"
"What he wants from me?" Craig asks, "Kenny wouldn't—he wouldn't do that!"
"How do you know that?"
"Because he wouldn't!"
Tweek studies him for a few seconds.
"If I had the exact same anatomy as you two, would you view me any differently?" Tweek asks and cups Craig cheek again, "If I was able to give you more, would that change anything?"
Craig turns his head away from Tweek's touch.
"Nothing would change, because… you're not him."
"I see… so even making you feel good like that, wouldn't be enough," Tweek murmurs and slowly stands up, "good to know."
He makes his way over to the room's entrance.
"Where are you going?" Craig asks, sitting up.
"I told you, you needn't worry about it."
It's the last thing he says before the metal door of the room shuts behind him with an audible click.
Craig rushes over to it and tries to pry it open, yelling to be let out, but when it becomes clear that Tweek is gone. He slides down to the floor, feeling hopeless to do anything.
Silence fills the space, giving his mind a chance to process everything. That Tweek, wasn't the Tweek he'd grown to know. Could this all really be because of his malfunctioning? Had it really developed so fast in such a short amount of time? An image from yesterday plays out in his mind, one of a strange looking computer.
"What did he see?" Craig thinks aloud, leaning his head against the door, "…What is he planning?"
The uncertainty of it stirred anxiety in his gut. Something bad was coming, he knew that. Something that would harm those he cared for. And yet, there was nothing he could do but feel helpless about it.
With a weighted sigh, he shuts his eyes.
…
Time passes. How much? Craig isn't sure. But the sound of the door unlocking immediately pulls him back to reality, alerting all his senses at once.
He hides himself next to the door, just out of sight, willing and ready to fight Tweek if need be in order to help his friends. The door opens, the moment blond grazes his vision, he jumps out from his spot.
However, who expects it to be, isn't who he ends up landing on.
"Ouch, jeez, is this how you always greet your guests?"
The voice instantly makes him stop and sit up. Only then does he see who it is in the dimly lit room.
"Kenny?!" Craig exclaims, surprised.
"Hey," he grins.
"How… how did you find this place?"
"I followed Tweek."
"Followed?"
"Yeah, you've been missing for the whole day you know? I decided to go to the clubhouse and see if you were there, but when neither you nor Tweek were there, I felt like something wasn't right. So I went to your place to see if you were home, you weren't so I started walking around town, trying to think of where you guys may be. By chance, I happened to spot Tweek walking in the distance and followed him. I thought about calling out to him, but he was carrying some stuff with him and I kind of got the feeling that I shouldn't. Eventually, I followed him to this place where he dropped the stuff off, and well, I found you," Kenny explains.
Relief washes over Craig's face as he hunches down and hugs Kenny.
"I'm so glad you're okay," he murmurs, burying his face into the crook of his neck.
"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?" Kenny chuckles, gently returning the hug.
The sound of Kenny's laugh and warmth of his embrace calms Craig as he breathes him in, reaffirming that this is real and not a dream. Kenny was okay. And he was so thankful for that.
"We need to get out of here," Craig says, sitting back up.
"Why? What's wrong?" Kenny asks.
"It's Tweek, he's… planning something dangerous…"
"What do you mean?"
"I'll explain on the way. Right now we need to head over to Dr. Mephesto's place and ask him for help."
Craig stands up and helps Kenny to his feet. Wasting no time at all, they take their leave.
When Craig exits the place he'd been held in by a ladder, he's surprised to learn that it's a bomb shelter. Briefly he wonders how Tweek even found this place to begin with, but he doesn't dwell on it for too long, needing to stay focused.
When reaching Dr. Mephesto's place, it gives off a slightly more eerie vibe than the last time. Neither Craig or Kenny can figure out why that is though. They ring the doorbell but there's no answer. They try again, still no answer.
"That's strange. I wonder why there's no response?" Kenny thinks aloud.
"Something doesn't feel right," Craig says and starts to look around, "let's see if we can find another way in."
The two search for a way in, eventually they come across a window that's ajar. Having very limited options, they tear the screen off and push open the window behind it fully. They enter when there's enough space to squeeze in and make their way further inside.
They pass through the small room they enter into, since nothing of interest is in it, and make their way to the main hall. They come across the room they had been in last time where they had the conversation with , but find no trace of him.
"He's got to be around here somewhere," Craig thinks aloud.
Hurriedly, they head back down the hall, checking each and every unlocked room. The eerie vibe from before growing all the more as their search continues to turn up empty-handed.
They seem to get a bit of luck however, when searching through a room on the opposite end of the building and Craig spots a familiar brown hat on the floor. He rounds the metal desk the hat is laying next to, and finds Dr. Mephesto tied up and unconscious on the floor.
"Kenny! Over here!" Craig calls.
Kenny joins him a few seconds later just as Craig gets to work untying the older man.
"Dr. Mephesto, you okay? Hey!" Kenny says, gently trying to shake him awake.
He slaps his cheek with the back of his hand a few times lightly, which seems to stir a reaction out of him.
"Huh—what?" Dr. Mephesto murmurs, waking up. His eyes are glazy at first, but they quickly widen to alertness within a couple seconds, "No—please, don't harm me! I-I didn't mean—"
" it's us! Calm down!" Kenny tells him, grabbing him by the shoulders.
It seems to work, as Dr. Mephesto calms when noticing their faces in recognition.
"You two… what are you both doing here?" he asks.
"We need your help," Craig replies.
"Help?" Dr. Mephesto repeats, "Ah, I'm assuming you mean with your little android friend, right?"
"Yes. How did you know?" Kenny asks.
"Because he already paid me a visit," Dr. Mephesto replies and the two look at one another as he stands up, "he's the one who gave me this wonderful bump on my head."
The two look over the bump on the back of his head that he gestures to.
"So he was here…" Craig murmurs.
"The question is why though?" Kenny asks.
"I'd like to know that too," Dr. Mephesto says, "he gave me quite the mini-heart attack when he just seemed to appear behind me out of nowhere like that. And then started ranting at me, almost as if he somehow remembered who I was."
Kenny looks at Craig then.
"Well, if it's anything like you've told me, then maybe that's not so far off," Kenny says.
"What do you mean?" Dr. Mephesto asks.
"I think that," Craig sighs, "Tweek may have gotten his memories back somehow."
"What? But that's impossible!" Dr. Mephesto explains, "There's no way he should be able to remember anything! His memory was wiped!"
"I know, I thought so too. Until he brought up being thrown away and being used up, which isn't something he should've been able to remember if it was wiped, right?" Craig tells him, "But then I remembered something else."
"Which was what?" Dr. Mephesto asks.
"Before we left yesterday, Tweek wandered off. And when I found him, he was in this room with a strange looking computer. He was just standing there when I came across him, but I don't know if he did something to it, or if it may have had any correlation to it?" Craig explains.
"Strange computer?" Dr. Mephesto repeats.
"Yeah, there was another android model in the room as well," Craig adds.
At that, all the color in Dr. Mephesto's face seems to disappear.
"Oh no," he whispers.
"What is it?" Kenny asks.
"That computer contained all of APM-003's past memories in it, from before each wipe! So that means that if he did get access to it like you said, then—"
"That can't be good," Kenny murmurs.
"We have to go! Now!" Dr. Mephesto exclaims.
"Go? Go where?" Craig asks.
"If APM-003 has gotten access to all his memories, then chances are, we are dealing with a very highly volatile, unstable and probably very pissed off android right now!" Dr. Mephesto informs, as he heads for the door.
"Well why did you keep the memories to begin with?!" Craig shouts, following after him.
"For behavioral research!" Dr. Mephesto replies.
"Where are we going?" Kenny asks, catching up to them.
"If he really does have all his memories back and intact, then I can imagine that he hasn't gone too far from here," Dr. Mephesto explains, "if he's anywhere near being as pissed off as I think he may be, then chances are…" he stops for a few seconds, "oh god no, I pray that isn't the case…" before either Craig or Kenny can say anything, he starts walking again, this time much faster, "come on! We don't have much time I fear."
They follow him in silence for a short while, Craig's concern about the situation growing with each step, until its too strong to keep contained any longer.
"If we find Tweek, what should we do?" he asks.
"We have to stop him," Dr. Mephesto replies.
"Stop him how?"
"By deactivating him, or…"
"Or what?"
"Destroying him."
Hearing this only furthers Craig's concern. He didn't want to do that.
"Is there really no other way we can help him?" Craig asks.
"I'm sorry son, but these are our only options."
"There has to be another way…" Craig murmurs.
Dr. Mephesto falls silent, his gaze scanning the doors they pass by in quick succession. He comes to an abrupt stop when his gaze seems to find what it's looking for, and he hurries into a room. Briskly, he walks over to a button panel on the wall and enters a code. It beeps and the wall next to it opens, revealing a small safe. He enters another code, this time into the safe, and swiftly grabs something from it when it opens.
"Here," he says to Craig, handing him a small device as the other two approach him.
Craig examines it, it's square, metal and small enough to fit into the palm of his hand. Honestly, it kind of reminded him of a taser in its appearance somewhat.
"What's this?" Craig asks.
"It's what we're going to use to help us stop APM-003. You'll have to press it to his neck and press that button there to give him a bit of a shock, which will help to reset him temporarily. At which point you should be able to deactivate him," Dr. Mephesto explains.
"Isn't this just a modified taser?" Kenny asks, pointing at it.
"If you want to look at it that way, then sure. Although this is specifically designed to help reset APM-003 temporarily from his regression," Dr. Mephesto adds.
"Wait, hold on, why do I have to shock him?" Craig asks.
"Because he trusts you," Dr. Mephesto replies.
Suddenly, the weight of the small device in Craig's hand is heavy. A mixture of emotions flood him as he looks it over. He knew what doing this would mean. What doing it to Tweek would mean. Even if Tweek wasn't the same, the thought of betraying and hurting him even more, made Craig's stomach churn and heart race.
"Craig…" Kenny says, placing a hand over the device in Craig's hand, grabbing his attention. "I know this is a lot to ask of you, so if you're not able to do it, then I…"
But Craig shakes his head.
"If Tweek really is planning on harming others, then it has to be me who stops him…" Craig tells him. Despite not wanting to hurt Tweek, Craig knew that if Tweek was indeed set on harming others, especially people that he cared about, then he couldn't just sit ideally by and let him be. He would need to stop him. Regardless if he wanted to or not. His grip around the small device tightens, "I'm the one who found and turned him back on after all. So I should be the one who…"
"I understand," Kenny nods.
"If you two are ready, then I have a feeling I may know what APM-003 came to my lab for," Dr. Mephesto says.
"Which is?" Kenny asks.
"You'll find out soon enough," Dr. Mephesto replies, before gesturing with his head for them to follow.
They exit the room and enter back into the hall, their pace quick as they try to keep up with Dr. Mephesto. Corridor after corridor they go down, until two big white doors greet them. The doors open in sync, with the swipe of a cardkey that Dr. Mephesto uses, and the three enter the room behind it. A room which is filled with many desks and machinery scattered about it. However, it's the giant glass window glowing brightly on the far side of the room that catches their immediate attention.
"Oh no! He's already turned it on!" Dr. Mephesto exclaims, hurrying over to a door next to the windowed wall.
"Turned what on?" Craig asks, confused, trying to see what's going on through the brightly lit window.
"The energy particle beams!"
"What?"
"They're a pair of energy particle creating beams," Dr. Mephesto explains, "typically in small controlled doses they would be fine, but if the beams the two rays create are in prolonged collision with one another, then the consequences of it could be disastrous!"
"How disastrous are we talking here?" Kenny asks.
"Let's just put it this way. South Park may not exist in the next few minutes if we don't do something," Dr. Mephesto tells them, before going back to focusing on opening the door again, "you still have the device?" he asks Craig, who holds it up, "Good, hide it in your back pocket."
"Why?" Craig asks.
"We don't want to alarm him." Dr. Mephesto replies. Craig looks at the small device once more, nervously, before hiding it away in his back pocket. The door opens a couple seconds later, "Alright, I'll be relying on you to deal with APM-003, while I try to see if there's a way to shut down the energy particle beams."
There's a slow deep breath that fills Craig's lungs, and exhales as he walks through the door. He enters into a giant, white, dome-shaped room, where the most prominent things are two giant machine rays pointed at one another, creating an almost blinding white light from the two beams colliding in the center of the room. The machine rays rest inside of a big half-sphere crater in the floor, with a single set of small stairs overlooking them from the edge of it.
However, those details fade into the background the moment Craig finds who they've been looking for. Standing at the top of the stairs, facing away, was the all too familiar form of…
"…Tweek."
Craig's heart races as Tweek slowly turns around to face them.
Tweek watches them. Watches him. As they near. Each step closer, is a heartbeat higher. It reaches its peak when Craig reaches the foot of the stairs, now only a mere few feet away from Tweek. Knowing what it is he had to do.
"You shouldn't be here," Tweek tells him.
"Neither should you," Craig says back.
"It's not safe here."
"Then stop this."
"I can't," Tweek tells him, "and neither can you," he adds louder, looking at Dr. Mephesto, who was now over at the control panel trying to shut it off.
"What do you mean?" Craig asks.
"I modified the rays, overriding the system so that it can't be shut down. So no matter what any of you try to do, it's pointless," Tweek replies, he looks back at Craig, "why did you have to come?"
He seems sad.
"Because I don't want you to do this," Craig replies.
"But I'm doing this for you. To keep you safe."
"I don't want this!" Craig exclaims, "I don't need you to protect me!"
"You don't know that. You don't understand."
"Yes I do!"
"No you don't!" Tweek yells back, "You don't understand what it's like to be tossed to the side when you're no longer of use! To have someone be taken away from you! And be replaced by somebody else! To be forgotten little by little each day, until you're all alone! Why can't you understand that I'm trying to protect you from those awful feelings! That I'm trying to keep you safe!"
It's only then does Craig truly understand. Because he found him. Because he cared for him. Because he saved him. When he had been buried all alone after being tossed away. Craig saved him. Craig had turned into the only real thing that Tweek seemed to care for, and Tweek wanted so desperately to hold onto that. To cling onto that.
"Tweek…" Craig says, sympathetically, as he makes his way towards him, " I never meant to make it feel like you were being replaced, or forgotten about. I never meant to hurt you like that, and…" he now stood in front of Tweek, a small sad smile upon his face, "I'm so sorry."
He wraps his arms around Tweek and hugs him. A pit of guilt forms in Craig's gut while doing so, and only grows all the more when Tweek hugs him back. Clenching his jaw, he quickly moves the small device he'd managed to take out of his pocket before hugging Tweek, and presses it to the back of his neck, pushing the button. A very noticeable buzzing sound is made as it's turned on and Tweek stiffens in his hold.
Craig stops pressing the button after a few seconds, thinking it should be long enough. A whirring sound comes from Tweek's head a couple seconds later, and Craig moves back to get a better look at him. Tweek's eyes are moving rapidly in his head, causing worry to fill Craig, unsure of what will happen next. Tweek comes to an abrupt stop and his head droops. No movement happens, and Craig starts to wonder if he should move on to the next step, until slowly, Tweek's head begins to rise again. Craig freezes as Tweek's eyes open and look at him.
He shouldn't recognize him anymore, right?
"…Craig?" Tweek asks. Craig starts to panic, thinking the device hadn't worked, but Tweek continues, "Where are…" he grabs at his head, as if in pain, then pauses for a few seconds. Something akin to realization seems to cross his features and quickly he looks at Craig, "I did this…" he shakes his head, "I'm sorry."
Craig is a bit confused, having expected Tweek to have been fully reset. But it seemed that wasn't going to be the case.
"Tweek? You remember?" Craig asks.
"Yes… I remember everything I did. I locked you up, I said such hurtful things and… am going to hurt so many people… I'm sorry."
Craig still isn't quite sure on what to make of this, but at the very least was glad that Tweek seemed to be a bit more like himself.
"It's alright, I know you weren't yourself," Craig tells him, "but we need to know how to shut the machine off."
"You can't…" Tweek tells him, "no one can, unless they are able to disrupt the beams connection somehow."
"Disrupt it somehow?" Craig repeats, looking at the beams.
"The intensity of the beams… so many people will be hurt… I'm sorry Craig. There's nothing I can do to stop it. There's…" Tweek trails off, as if in thought, "no… maybe there is something I can do…"
"Tweek…?" Craig asks, looking back at him.
"I need you to do something for me," Tweek says, giving a small smile.
"What is it?" Craig asks, feeling a bit unsure.
"I need you to deactivate me."
Craig's eyes widened.
"Deactivate?"
"Yes. I'm going to disrupt the flow of the beams with my body, and want to make sure there isn't a chance for me to turn back on if I somehow survive, so—"
"Wait, what? You're going to use yourself to stop the beams?!"
"Yes," Tweek replies and Craig's brows furrow together in concern, "I have to do this. This is the only way to stop it."
"There has to be another way," Craig says, shaking his head.
"This is the only way," Tweek tells him.
"This can't be it, you can't just toss yourself in the way! There's got to be something more we can do! Something we can do to help you!" Craig exclaims.
"Craig," Tweek smiles, "you've already done so much for me. More than enough."
"But…"
"I won't stay this way for much longer. I can already feel the pull of my failing system trying to suck me back under. I know, from all these memories, that no matter what you try to do, I will always end up back down this same path, over and over again. It can not be fixed. I can not be fixed… So let me do this. Let me clean up the mess I've created. Please. For you. And for everyone else. Let me finally end this cycle."
Craig's eyes begin to sting.
"Okay," he nods, "what should I do?"
"When the beams reach their intensity peak, I'll need you to deactivate me so I can fall in front of them at that exact moment to stop them. My body should interfere with them enough to cause the explosion to cave in on itself and cause an energy backlog."
"When will I know when the peak happens?"
"Soon. I'll tell you when. But for now…" Tweek trails off, he pulls his shirt and sweater up, revealing the small patch on his chest. He opens it and takes Craig's hand, guiding it to the button on the white panel, and presses his finger there, "Keep your finger here until I say so. Don't move away."
"Tweek…" Craig whispers.
"I'm glad you know, to have met you," Tweek tells him, "To have truly lived, because of you. To have known what happiness, sadness, anger and… love was. To have felt everything. What it all was, is something held so precious to me in this short time of life." he smiles gently, "Thank you for these memories. I'm glad I got to cherish them until the very end," his gaze travels over to an ever watchful Kenny off to the side briefly, then back to Craig. "I want you to continue to be happy when I'm gone. To live your life to its fullest with those that care and love you."
"Tweek," Craig shakes his head, his voice quivering.
"I'll always be there in your memories Craig. Whenever you wish to see me again, I'll always be there, clear as day, like I am now," Tweek smiles. A high pitched noise begins to rise from the beams and Craig already knows what it signals even before Tweek opens his mouth to speak again, "It's time Craig. Move your finger away," but Craig hesitates, not wanting to. Tweek places a hand over his gently, "It will be okay Craig. Let me go."
"…I'm sorry," Craig quietly sobs, then carefully removes his finger from the button.
"Don't be," Tweek tells him, as the slot on his chest opens. The small card chip pops out a second later, as Tweek's eyes begin to close. One final word escapes his lips, just as he begins to fall backwards into the beams, "Good…bye…"
The moment his body makes contact with the beams, the high-pitched sound intensifies and rings out, just mere seconds before an explosion erupts. It's so strong that Craig is blown back by it, falling down the stairs. Kenny catches him just before he hits the floor, protectively covering him with his arms.
And just as fast as the explosion had appeared, it was gone in a blinding instant. Leaving behind nothing, but two damaged machine rays and an empty hole.
It's only then, when Tweek is now gone, does Craig softly return the word, "Goodbye."
Tears stream down his eyes and he buries his face into Kenny's chest. He weeps while Kenny comforts him in a hug, his soft sobs growing louder as Kenny begins to stroke his head. Until his sobs are the only thing filling up the big empty space.
…
Two weeks… Two weeks had passed since the events with Tweek happened. The school year came to its close, but Craig didn't see any of his friends off on that final day. It was alright though, the summer was long, he'd have time to text and video chat them later on. Kenny had found a local job to work over the summer, since next year was going to be their last, and he wanted to start saving up for the future.
Kenny… He'd been particularly diligent with Craig since everything happened. Checking in on him every day either by text, call or visiting to see how he's doing. Craig appreciated it, but Kenny really didn't need to worry so much over him. He knew he'd be okay, it'd just take some time. He'd thought about going to the clubhouse a few times since, just to look around, but felt it was still too soon for him not to be saddened by it.
He knew moping around in his room all day was starting to worry his family somewhat, because even his usually apathetic sister had come by his room a couple of times to see if he was still, 'alive and kicking'.
He needed to head out and stop staying inside. He knew that. But everywhere he looked, would just remind him of a friend that's no longer here. He'd never grieved like this before. Sure, there had been a couple occasions where he'd been sad about losing some guinea pigs he had as pets growing up, but it didn't even compare to the feeling of loss he had now.
But still, he needed to at least move. So he rolls out of bed and makes his way over to his computer, turning it on. Even if he didn't feel fully up to it, he at least wanted to seem like he was doing better today, since Kenny said he'd be stopping by soon, and he didn't want him to worry.
He searches through some music, hoping it may help to take his mind off things for a bit. He finds a playlist he doesn't mind listening to and starts it. Since he was on the computer, he decided to try and clean it up a bit. It'd been a good while now, and he was starting to run low on desk space. He goes through deleting various games, documents and other things he hadn't touched in ages from it.
The process remains uneventful, until he spots a strange titled folder buried inside of several other ones.
_M3m0r1e5_.
"What's this?" Craig murmurs to himself.
He clicks on it, only to find several videos hidden within it. Confused by it, knowing that he hadn't put these here, he cautiously clicks on one of the videos and plays it.
The first few seconds start off black, until sudden color fills the whole screen. At first, Craig isn't sure what it is he's seeing, because what he ends up seeing is his own face staring back at him into the camera. It's not until a few more seconds go by, does he slowly start to realize just what it is that he's watching.
He clicks on several of the other videos, just to make sure, and when he is, his eyes begin to water.
These were memories.
Tweek's memories.
From the time he'd first woken up when Craig had activated him, to just before the big events of the end happened at the lab. They didn't show every second of every day, but did show all the times they spent together and talked. Like a highlight reel of his life. Some of the videos were of just the two of them talking, while others had him and Kenny there.
Tears start to fall down Craig's face as the memories play out before him. But they weren't tears of sadness. They were tears of happiness. Happiness from the experience that those memories gave him, whether good or bad. They were of something that he'd been glad to be a part of. A few of the videos make him laugh when seeing them play out again, like when he and Kenny had crashed with the shopping cart in the mall's parking lot. Seeing it from Tweek's point of view, really made him realize just how ridiculous the two of them had looked.
He continues to watch video after video, the smile on his face ever-growing as he does. At some point he starts to realize that Tweek must have left this behind for him as some sort of memoir or something. Which makes him begin to wonder if he could've known he was slowly losing himself somehow, and wanted to leave this here for him as a way to remember all the good times they had. It's the only theory he can think of, since none of the videos here were after his corruption had taken him completely over.
Craig shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds before slowly letting it out. A heavy weighing seems to leave him as he exhales.
There's a small jingle that catches his attention and he opens his eyes to glance over at his phone.
He reads the message on it, smiles to himself and walks over to his window. Out of it, he spots Kenny waiting for him in front of the house. Kenny seems to spot him back and waves. Craig returns the wave before he heads back over to his computer.
Silently, he looks over the video he had paused on, one of Tweek looking at himself in the mirror. Craig smiles softly and wipes the tears from his eyes.
"Thank you," he whispers.
He closes the video and looks over the folder one last time, before he shuts down his computer and gets dressed.
Once done, he heads downstairs and meets up with Kenny outside.
"Hey, you feeling okay?" Kenny asks, concerned, clearly noticing how red Craig's eyes were from crying.
"Yeah," Craig replies, "I think that I will be now."
He smiles at Kenny, not of sadness, or of pleasantry, but a genuine happy one. Kenny seems to notice the change in Craig, and a slow smile spreads across his face in response.
As the two engage in small talk, they make their way down the street, discussing the things yet to come in their future and looking forward to it, together.
END