Eddie had been through worse, but this was still pretty bad. He had a blistering headache and he couldn't get the witch's stench out of his nostrils. Craig made it worse by checking in on him periodically, Eddie could possibly feel more despised by someone. Stop caring about me, I have done nothing to deserve it.

He had to get out of here, even if it was jus for a walk. He had to check on Bundi, and make sure they were okay. Whatever Apophis had done to them in that cave, it wasn't good.

"Where are you going?" Kai asked, as he picked her up in her tank.

"Sneaking off, doing bad things, what do you think?"

"Don't faint," Kai said.

"I won't."

"I'll go get Craig if you faint," she warned.

"Kosmos, I won't." He rolled his eyes.

The village of Thanatos was just how Eddie remembered it. It was pristine in its dirty, grimy art, a perfect time capsule of thirty, even fifty years ago. There were no shining white arches of abalone and quartz here, just the aftermath of a war overgrown with young civilization. The tents were made of the same rusted metal used to imprison them, patched with the skins of animals hunted by kids becoming adults. The children had strung up wires between homes and hung trinkets, metal curled around shiny rocky and leaves, most of them dried up.

Eddie found himself wandering. This was weird, he hadn't been here long enough to make any close friends, but every once and a while he would see a face that looked ever so familiar. Older, a little wiser (but not too much) but familiar. He reached out and grabbed a seashell hanging by a string. This...was his. He was stunned it was still here. That means...

He turned around and there was a small tent sitting there, looking a little worse for wear, with lots of patches. He knocked on the frame gently, and didn't get an answer. Eddie took that as a cue. He pulled aside the flap and to his surprise the bed was empty and unmade. No one lived here currently. The floor could use a sweep, but there was a mostly clean wooden trunk. Eddie felt a small smile twitch on the edge of his lips as he reached into a pouch on the side an pulled out a small key. The chest creaked open like and man rising from his bed. There were a few books inside, lots of complete and unfished wooden figures and his old carving knife. Including a half-finished sculpture of Kai he was going to make into a necklace.

"I'd nearly forgotten about this," he said happily.

"It wasn't that long ago," Kai chortled. "Make sure you get my good side."

He was just sharpening his knife when the tent door moved again and Eddie looked up and saw Craig. The other boy was surprised, almost as if he weren't expecting to see Eddie here.

"S-sorry!" He stammered, "I saw you walking around and uh..."

It became obvious very quickly that Craig did not have an ending to his sentence.

Eddie sighed, "yeah, what about it?"

He shrugged, "I don't know? You want to... hang out?"

"Hang out." Eddie stared at him.

The whites of his teeth showed behind his awkwardly spread lips, "yeah."

He should say no. Craig was annoying. He cared too much about Eddie despite the fact that they should hate each other. The fact that the still had this strange friendship mystified Eddie to no end.

"Okay." It slipped out. "Fine," he quickly added, with as much spite as he could muster.

Even then, Craig's face lit up, and he sat down as Eddie continued to sharpen his knife, and the small space they held onto was warmer. Perhaps, not as warm as it could be, but there was safety in this air and it tasted like the sour wind blowing through a canopy. Sweetened by the leaves and the hearts who lived there. To Eddie, this was uncomfortable.

"This is my old stuff," he explained.

"It's very nice stuff." Craig was looking Eddie's half-finished carving.

Then a heavy silence fell over the room. Eddie could feel the fear of silence well up in his throat, it was salty just like the waves of the ocean. It was getting dark, he thought frantically, he might have to light a lamp soon. Craig picked up the conversation in.

"Is that your familiar?" He asked. "Kai, right?"

Eddie had forgotten about the carving. He'd forgotten about his entire physical form there for a second. Alas, here was, in his old home with all of his old stuff and what felt like his oldest friend... acquaintance. No, his enemy. Eddie reached over to and old dusty lamp and pinched the wick in between his fingers. The wood in his other hand was highlighted in flickering orange now.

"Yeah. It's strange because it's not really all that familiar," Eddie grunted. "This was only a year ago, but it feels like forever."

"I get that. I think it was just over half a year ago I thought Peri was going to a lot bigger, and furrier, and with like, teeth. Now I feel like I've known him forever."

Instead of looking Craig in the eye Eddie chose to dig the knife in the wood and start carving out Kai's other legs. "Nah, you never could have pulled off a wolf. Have you ever seen yourself?"

Instead of taking offense to that, Craig smiled. He smiled with his teeth, like a wolf would. Eddie wondered if Craig was just a weirdo or if that was just some Pack Culture that rubbed off on him after living around the beasts for fifteen years. Then he frowned because he hated it when he was mean and Craig didn't react.

He scoffed, "I remember when I used to be able to make you cry."

Craig laughed, "used."

  He offered no other dialogue, and before Eddie could zero in on that, he picked up the conversation again.

"Do you like wood carving? I've never seen you do it."

Eddie found this question a little ridiculous. "Probably because we don't know each other."

Craig shrugged, and Eddie found this incredibly frustrating. He recognized the wood under his fingers now. It was Bamboo. It was pale and delicate, and brought so much fourth for such a small object.

  "Once I'm finished carving out the shape, I'll coat it honey and then rub it between my hands, it'll stain dark. Also, it'll smell good. I used to sell them back in the East, it was how I made money.

Then, a strange thing happened. Eddie relaxed, his shoulder fell, no longer stiff. He crossed his legs and kept working. More importantly, he kept talking. He prattled on like he was safe. Maybe he was. Maybe for once he didn't have anything to worry about.

  "—Apophis never liked them. She's not big on arts and crafts, so I stopped. Not that I had much of a choice. We don't have free time in the camps anyway. There's always 'proper' work to be done, always people to fight, places to steal. I had never stolen anything before meeting her, the first time she had me do it I tried to back out and she uh, gave me this."

Eddie rolled up sleeve and on his shoulder was a silvery-healed over mark. It was two circles, very small and easy to overlook had he not pointed it out. Snake bite. "She didn't give me the antidote until after I'd been writhing for a few hours. It wasn't fun."

"—But I mean, it's whatever. That's just part of her schtick. I was still getting fed, I got money, I was protected. Everybody there had it tough, she makes us tough—"

Eddie stopped, all of a sudden, completely frozen.

"Are you crying?" Eddie looked up at him.

Craig shrugged, there was a sheen of light reflecting the water building up on his lower eyelid. He sniffed, and wiped his face. "Yeah? That's sad, it makes me sad. Everybody cries."

"I don't," Eddie scoffed.

"Even when you were born?"

Eddie didn't answer him. His throat closed up, he wasn't going to cry. He was just afraid, and ashamed. His face felt hot from embarrassment, he wanted to punch something. Something that would leave his knuckles bruised. "Well how would I know?" He snapped, "no one remembers that."

"I think I do, sometimes. Just fragments, voices, light."

And still Craig refused to get angry.

The other wiped his face again, his eyes were getting bloodshot. Eddie kind of wanted to strangle him. This was... dumb. It was stupid. What he supposed to do? Comfort him? Make fun of him? He didn't really want Craig to be upset. He'd never been around someone who was crying because of something he did, besides his parents. He wondered if Craig would stop if he just ordered him. It's what Apophis would do.

"Guess I still can make you cry," he laughed.

Craig smiled, to his frustration. "Yeah, alright I'm going to bed. It was nice talking to you."

"It was horrible talking to you."

Craig paused a moment before letting the fabric of the tent fall closed. "Do you... still hate me?"

Eddie scoffed, "of course."

Craig grinned, and then the flap fell closed and silence fell upon Eddie's bubble. Did he think this was a joke? For a moment nothing happened. Just quiet and the suspension of those last few feelings left drifting through the air. Kai flicked her tail knowingly, and Eddie buried his burning face in his hands.