Chapter Text
It was a typical night for Tweek when he heard the news. The usual bout came over him as he tried to fall asleep. When the time on his alarm clock read 2 in the morning, he knew that rest was futile. Many people have told him before that if he wanted to sleep, he should relax and count sheep; but counting sheep was pretty hard when your mind couldn’t stay quiet. The volume and urgency of his thoughts were what always kept Tweek up at night, whether they were actively coming up with conspiracy theories or just worrying about an upcoming test, they were too loud and prominent for Tweek to ignore.
So, in his helplessness and fatigue, Tweek reaches for his phone. He scrolls through his usual social media, finding anything to help him relax. He’s just about to scroll through the r/relaxingvideos subreddit when something quite alarming catches his eye.
It’s a video taken from somewhere high up showing hundreds of people running, no, sprinting away from something. Tweek can’t quite make out what it is but it makes his heartbeat quicken, the usual feeling of sheer panic leaking its way into his chest. The headline of the video is in a language that Tweek didn’t know. As he presses the translate button his heart drops to his stomach and he suddenly feels very nauseous.
Poland Under Attack! Dozens killed, Attackers at Large!
Any hope that Tweek had about getting any sleep tonight vanished into thin air. Oh God, oh God! He sits up in his bed and swings his legs over the mattress, feet hitting the carpet. He makes his way to his computer, turning it on and tapping impatiently on the keyboard.
The idea of rest in relaxation had become a distant memory, his now preoccupied mind twisting at the idea of… of whatever was attacking Poland! What could it possibly be, and was this just secured to just that one country? Tweek immediately searched up CNN, looking to see if there had been any new articles of this catastrophic event. Apparently not, because as much as he scrolled through, he couldn’t find anything about this sudden attack.
This made sense, CNN updated daily, not hourly, so there was a high chance that there would be something about it in the morning. Er, well, later morning, perhaps midday at the latest. It seemed that average news didn’t cover this certain event, or at least not yet with its very recent appearance. But then how did that person on Reddit have that video?
Tweek pulled out his phone and went back to the alarming video, this time clicking on the username of the person who had posted it. Everything was in polish, but thanks to the translate button, everything was manageable. The translation wasn’t always perfect but it got the job done. It seemed that the certain person hadn’t posted again after that, the fleeing crowds being the last thing on the page.
He gritted his teeth together, wondering what the fuck could have possibly happened while his contry had been asleep. The beach blond rewatched the video again and again, trying to see if there were any landmarks or objects that could tell him where exactly this attack was going on. Nothing but building with blurred signs, closed shops, and the dancing shadow of what had scared everyone.
Even just listening to the recording and trying to pinpoint one voice to see what everyone was screaming about didn’t work. Plus, everything was in polish and it didn’t even matter if he could single just one sound out! Tweek shook his head physically, starting to chew eagerly on his thumbnail, falling into a sort of trance.
What a shitty time to get sleepy and tired! God, couldn’t he just catch a break!? The beach blond hopped up and ran downstairs, deciding that what he was doing was more important than the minor inconvenience of the family coffee shop, unplugging the machine and taking the whole fucking thing with him back upstairs. He grabbed two containers of coffee grounds from the cupboard, even though that stuff was specifically for customers. Screw it, consider it pay back for drugging him all his childhood with the same freaking coffee he was stealing.
He set the machine up next to his laptop, plugging everything in and pouring a more than healthy dose of coffee grounds into the top, and turning the thing on, waiting a few minutes for the coffee to get made. After what seemed like an eternity and almost falling asleep at his desk twice, the beach blond finally got that magical liquid that made everything a little easier to process.
Tweek took a minute or two, wondering what next steps he needed to take to find out what the actual fuck was going on. He came across the idea of finding other polish media, or polish media users that just happened to post something about this attack. So he did a little digging, going back to that same Reddit user and using that lead to find other polish posts and therefore other polish users.
Sadly, nothing else new popped up. Tweek was blessed with one more photo, still blurred, still taken in a hurry, and nothing since, but anything he could research was useful. The photo seemed to take place in the streets because he could see what he assumed to be snow next to what he assumed to be asphalt. Besides from that he couldn’t tell any more of the landscape besides from maybe a window or the shine of a car door.
Though he couldn’t know where this exact photo was taken or even when, there was one thing he couldn’t get out of his mind. A tall looming shadow, oddly shaped and thin. If it wasn’t a picture maybe it would dance across the screen, but it couldn’t and wouldn’t. The tall stature, the strange proportions, and just the overall vibe that the photo was giving made one thing clear, whatever owned that shadow, caused all the destruction in Poland.
All through the night Tweek used one polish post to hop to another, downloading and printing out photos, taking screenshots of small articles on Twitter and Instagram from people in the attack. Once the wordy things had been printed out, he scribbled down a rough translation in blue ink, making the whole paper a bit messier and also easier to understand. Well, for an English speaker that is.
When the sun began to rise and coat the sky in a lighter blue, Tweek had been up for over four hours after hearing about the attack in Poland. Dark circles had started to form under his blueish green eyes, making him look much more tired than he felt. On the inside, there was nothing but pure panic bubbling up inside of him, threatening to overflow from his head and spill out of his mouth.
It wasn’t until his alarm went off did he realize what time it was, time to unfortunately go to school. Seven and a half hours of research time, useless, unable to be used for anything besides learning stupid vocabulary for something he would immediately forget the next day! Wait, no, he could use this time for something else, he could warn everyone of the imposing threat, something that would eventually pay off in the end! Perfect! All he needed was proof and he could conviv everyone, they could prepare if that thing ever got close to them!
The beach blond twitched and quickly got ready, snatching his backpack and shoving the appropriate papers into the bag. He grabbed his laptop and chargers just in case he would have to use the history to find said pieces of evidence again. He didn’t bother to attempt to wash up, not brush his hair or his teeth, just jumping from an all nighter to school with barely any transition between the two. He looked like he had just gotten out of bed just to fight a cat then didn’t bother to clean up afterwards.
Tweek found himself getting to class rather early so only a few people had arrived at that time of morning. He had to find someone he knew to talk to about all of this, someone he could trust, someone who would take him seriously! There had to be someone who wouldn’t immediately dismiss his claims, even if that person wasn’t necessarily his friend. Then boom, it was almost as if Tweek had hit the jackpot.
Craig, Craig was here! The ravennette had always gotten up early, he was calm and logical, precise, he would definitely listen to Tweek! Once all of the facts were shoved in the other’s face, there was no way that he could dismiss all of these terrifying facts, posts, pictures! If he didn’t believe Tweek right away, Craig was the type to listen and think things out! Sure, he hadn’t talked to his childhood friend in a while, sense the eight grade maybe they had their last real talk, but he couldn’t have changed that much!
The beach blond reached his locker, looking around to see if Craig was anywhere nearby. What? Did you think that he was going to put his backpack in his locker? His evidence tucked away? Never!
Finally, after two minutes of wandering around, Tweek caught what looked to be a familiar blue Chello hat, with that signature yellow poof ball on top. Praise the heavens Craig was so boring he never changed his outfit! The beach blond practically sprinted down the hall to the ravennette, narrowly avoiding his fate of running smack dab into the other.
“Craig!” He shrieked loudly, eyes wide, hair poking in all directions, looking like he just crawled out of a hole. “C-Craig, I-I need to tell you s-s-something!” Tweek gasped, pulling his backpack off and unzipping it, pulling out papers and notes, even a map. Tweek’s stuttering had gone way, way down since primary school, but it still managed to pop up every once in a while when he freaked out.
The ravennette winced at Tweek’s tone, wondering how someone’s voice could go that high and also be that loud. Yes he remembered Tweek, they were technically in the same friend group, but after the fake break up in front of the whole town, things just got awkward and they stopped talking. Still hung out sometimes, but never alone anymore, just with the other guys, usually playing video games.
“What?” Craig groaned to himself, wondering what could cause such alarm.
Tweek took a deep breath, counting to ten in his head before putting his words together. “I h-have reason to b-b-believe that there are m-m-monsters, o-o-o-or maybe an alien invasion or s-something!” He stuttered out, grabbing a few papers, printed out photos, said map, and screenshots of poorly translated tweets. “Craig, l-l-look at this! Last n-night I saw a v-v-video about how Poland is u-under attack! No m-more information after th-th-that, just being attacked!”
“Last night?” Craig questioned, raising a brow. That explained it, he was sleep deprived, no wonder he was acting like someone hit him on the head with a metal bat. “Look, Tweek, be logical about this. If there was an alien invasion or whatever, don’t you think that there would be news articles about it? That the USA wouldn’t deploy military troops, that there wouldn't be conspiracy nuts like you wearing tinfoil hats and cardboard shirts preaching the end of all times?”
The look on Tweek’s face dropped, he looked absolutely defeated. He had proof, real life proof! “B-b-but—!” He gritted his teeth together, literally shoving the papers into Craig’s face, as if it would somehow convince him otherwise. “It j-j-just happened at t-two AM last night! O-of course the word h-h-hasn’t gotten out yet, it would cause utter chaos!” He tried to explain away why this really was a threat.
“Two AM? Jesus Christ! Where did you find this conspiracy?” Craig crossed his arms, looking as sceptical as he’s always been.
“Nngh, I didn’t f-f-find it, I put it together! And it’s not a c-c-conspiracy! On Reddit!”
The ravennette let out a long sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head. Really, he knew Tweek was gullible, but so gullible that he’d immediately believe and then start a fucking conspiracy about one post he saw on Reddit at two in the fucking morning. It was the eighth wonder of the world how he hadn’t completely dropped the blond.
Craig patted Tweek on the shoulder, giving him a pitiful look and nod. “Tweek, is everything going okay at home? Your parents are treating you good? You cut down on the drugs, right?” The beach blond’s eyes went wide at the accusations against him, and just how crazy they were! Did Craig think his parents were abusing him or even that he was doing drugs to find out the truth about an incident in Poland?
“Nngh, if you w-won’t take m-my word for it, I’ll find the video again, granted you c-can’t see wh-wh-what everyone is fleeing from…”
“How convenient.”
“Gah! I’ll show you Craig! B-but when I sh-sh-show it to you, you better apologize for doubting m-me!” The blonde spat, dropping everything and getting his phone out faster than you can say “who turned out the lights?” Tweek opened the Reddit app immediately and searched r/Poland, starting to scroll down through the multiple posts.
Huh, that was weird, the video was nowhere to be seen, like it had just vanished. The further he went down, the more he was starting notice that he was coming across older videos. What happened to that fucking video! Tweek started to twitch, going back to the top to see if he had missed anything, but nothing stood out to him…
At this point Craig had crossed his arms, tapping his foot impatiently, waiting for this video that would prove Tweek right. “Ack, s-someone must have deleted it, like th-th-the government! Yeah, they don’t w-want the truth to get out, th-that must be it! It’s a cover up!” The blond pleaded, looking almost desperate. “I’m not crazy!”
“See Tweek, you say you’re not crazy, but it’s a nice Tuesday morning, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and here you are talking about how aliens are invading because you saw a deleted video on Reddit at two AM. Oh, and it’s Polish. So if you excuse me, I have a feeling you are wasting my time and yours. I have a class to get to and so do you.”
And with that, Craig opened up his locker, getting all of his things for the first class of the day. Tweek fumbled for his backpack, looking for that one photo of the silhouette of what he assumed had probably murdered hundreds. Finally he found it, just in time before Craig pulled away. The beach blond held up the picture, red ink outlining what he thought was the full form of the creature. “L-look!”
Craig took one look at the blurry photo and scoffed. “Tweek that is a blurry picture of what could possibly just be a bunch of windchimes, there isn’t any head to that thing either! Nothing living could have its head separated from its body! It’s just science, you might as well tell me that the moon is a hologram or that the Loch Ness monster is real!” He spat, now clearly annoyed.
Tweek flinched at Craig’s tone of voice, slowly lowering the picture and neatly tucking it back into his backpack. So maybe he was wrong to think that Craig was a good first person to go to when dealing with something possibly supernatural. He huffed and turned away, feelings admittedly a little bit hurt that he had been put down so quickly by a so-called friend. But no matter, he’d go to someone else. And if they didn’t believe him, then another and another and another until someone saw how smart he was being.
The rest of the day he went around to everyone in the friend group, not yet fully convincing anyone that there were monsters among men. Well, not until he got to Kenny McCormick, even though he was basically just a bid for someone, anyone, to believe what he was saying. As it turned out, the ash blond was a diamond in the rough, and listened to what he had to say.
Once he found that the other male would hear him out, he pulled out every piece of paper he had in his backpack and it explained it all. It was a relief to find someone who didn’t think he had lost his marbles, it was so refreshing… he was almost having fun explaining every bit of evidence he had, and under normal circumstances he totally would have! But, you know, possible alien invasion so…
“... and so that’s why I think that it might be spreading from not just Poland but to some parts of Germany a-a-and Lithuania!” Tweek said, pointing to circled parts of the map with pins and notes plastered on it, it was very thorough, but also very messy.
Kenny looked over the map and took it from the other blond’s hands, examining the map with great care, knowing just how important this was to Tweek. To Kenny it didn’t matter if he was drugging out or if this was some strange cry for help, Tweek had to be taken seriously to ever get better. And that was assuming that he was actually in danger, but that was probably unlikely knowing that Tweek could never let himself get hurt. Call it cowardice, call it survival skills, either way it worked for him.
“Hmm, you make a pretty good point.” Kenny said through a muffling parka hood, handing the map back to its original owner. “But do you think it’s aliens? If it were aliens why would we see people getting killed? I mean, if anything why come to a plant with life just to kill what makes it special? I think you have an argument here, but maybe you have to reassess your culprit. Ever heard of the nine tailed fox? If any monster is real and could cause this much panic, maybe that would be it. They are supposed to be tricksters you know.”
Wait, was Kenny actually giving him advice…? Tweek was shocked at the reaction, eyes wide and jaw dropped. Slowly but surely, he began to break out in a smile.
“Oh, the Kitsune…? Y-yeah, but all they do is mess with h-humans, not violently kill h-hundreds of them…” Tweek mumbled, pulling out his phone and looking up the Kitsune to see if the criteria of whatever could be rampaging matches. Just doing a quick google search, he didn’t think so, but it was still a possibility based off of the lack of evidence.
“Maybe… It says here th-that they’re supposed to be really strong in their fox form and create lighting and fire when they rub their tails together, but in the video I saw there wasn’t s-sparks, lighting, or fire, nothing like that. Plus I don’t think a n-nine tailed fox would drive away e-everyone in hordes. There was an eight legged lamb once!”
Kenny laughed at this, “Dude, how do you know that? Where do you go around looking for eight-legged lambs, that’s a little creepy not gonna lie.” He laughed again, not able to help himself.
Kenny had always enjoyed Tweek’s antics, how he could dig into the depths of anything he was given and then created a hypothesis out of thin air. It had disappointed him when he found out that Tweek left his friend group after Kenny came back, when they were in the fourth grade.
“It w-was in a Chernobyl documentary,” the smaller blond stuttered out, but not necessarily out of stress or fear, but rather just out of habit. This was… this was fun. It was like he was having a real conversation with someone else, not preaching to the choir or trying to convince a dog to go vegan.
“Go figure.”
Tweek smiled softly, turning off his phone and pocketing it. He thought that Kenny was a pleasant person to be around, and it turns out that he was right. “How did you know about the Kitsune…? I mean, I d-don’t think it’s super well known in America, much less Colorado.” He said softly, scratching the back of his neck.
The boy in orange just shrugged, trying to remember just how he got into monsters, finally remembering. “Well, once I found a book on Greek mythology in the trash and because it was in good condition, I started reading it. Turns out, I really like mythology so I went to the public library and got more books on myth, and then the supernatural. I’m really into it, but no one ever asks so I never bring it up.” He explained. Tweek smiled at this. Maybe they should be friends.
“K-Kenny, would you like to help me build a bunker in my basement tomorrow?”