Just Trying To Survive (A BFDI/BFB/TPOT and II au)

Feel Yourself Slip Away

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Running for her life in the middle of a forsaken forest wasn't what Saw had planned to do once she woke up, but life never really went your way, did it? It had been like this since her elimination, so she should've expected something to go against her will sooner rather than later.

Last night wasn't fun. She barely slept at all, kept up by the guilt she felt and the noises which she heard. So automatically this day couldn't have been anything more than a struggle. Yet, the monstrous roar which she heard behind her threw any sense of peace she had left away. 

The leaf chasing her made no noises as it persisted in catching up to her. Despite the fact that their limbs never moved, they were incredibly fast. Saw was quite faster than what most people thought, being nearly able to catch up to Needle once before everything decayed. But this leaf was able to keep speed with her, and worse, it didn't look like it would ever get tired. Saw was already struggling to keep her pace due to the exhaustion and the pain in her legs which wouldn't go away. Despite this, she didn't stop dashing between the trees. The bottom of her feet were almost numb now from running across the unkept ground of the forest. Her chest pounded as it started to hurt to just breathe. Nonetheless she persisted.

Risking a look back at the leaf was the worst idea she had all morning. Their face.. was.. extraterrestrial at best, disturbing at worst. The contrast between their large eyes and their small pupils was unnatural, and their mouth was wide yet sealed shut. Heavy bags hung under their eyes, artificially cutting into their red body. The image burnt itself into her mind. Even though her glance back at the leaf lasted only a mere second, it was enough for her to lose her focus. She quickly lost her footing, and as she tried to regain her balance, she rolled her ankle on a particularly large rock.

Saw crumpled to the ground as her ankle gave out from underneath her. She rolled forward for a bit due to her momentum, before eventually colliding into a tree. It took a second for her to recover her bearings again, and when she did the threat approaching was blocked out by the pain. Her leg was injured in multiple places and her ankle felt broken. She was light-headed and dazed, causing her to not think straight. Yet, once that red leaf came into her view, her mind cleared enough for here to still try to escape.

She desperately crawled away from the leaf, going around the tree which had forcibly broke her fall, trying to ignore the pain radiating constantly from her leg. Saw had to watch as the leaf slowly teleported closer to her. Their eyes never strayed from hers as Saw continued to try and crawl away. Eventually, Saw stopped resisting, and laid on the dirt defeated.

"Please.."

The red leaf came closer. Saw desperately tried to stay alert and away from the leaf.

"St-stop! We can talk about this!"

Eyes cutting deeper.

"No!"

Saw braced and used her arms to shield her head as the leaf teleported only a few inches in front of her. Saw stopped moving and talking, a tear running down her cheek. The forest had gone eerily quite, until..

----

"Knife!?"

Paintbrush wasn't expecting to see Knife on his knees, battling for his survival. Pickle stood behind him for a brief period of time, before lunging at Paintbrush. They were easily able to force him away with the lamp. It felt like he wasn't even trying. With Pickle out of the way, Paintbrush was able to reach Knife. He wasn't in a good condition. It looked like whatever had happened to the others was starting to take effect on him too.

His eyes slowly shifted to look at Paintbrush as his breathing heaved. A smile was trying to force itself on his face, and despite his efforts to resist, it kept pushing through. He felt weak. Decimated. His will to go on was manually being sucked out of his mind. Paintbrush tried to get him to get back up but he just couldn't. It didn't take long for him to starting hearing voices in his head. Voices which weren't his. Paintbrush watched as Knife slowly lost control, being unable to help. His time was over.