Fan's POV:

Taco brought Balloon and I to a small clearing, it was against the bottom of a large cliff.

There was a little shelter built against the wall of the cliff. It had a little door and everything.

Taco ushered us inside and when we entered, it was surprisingly spacious.

At least 5 people could fit inside, maybe even more.

There was a small makeshift bed against the wall to my right, and a firepit built in the center.

Taco walked up to the fireplace and began to build it.

Has she really been living in this place?

I glanced at Balloon, who looked anxious.

He didn't seem to feel very safe around Taco. He was just fine before, but then she showed up and he became really nervous.

He rubbed his injured arm.

It still had a bit of a scar from where it had been cut, but it didnt seem to be healing too badly.

Balloon's leg on the other hand...

I could tell he still had a lot of trouble walking, due to the fact that he would trip a lot and limp every time he walked, ocasionally letting out a small whimper when putting weight on it.

It never had the chance to heal properly.

My theory was that Cobs either left it like that to make him suffer, or to make it harder to escape.

Taco finished building the fire, making sure it wasn't too big or too small.

"Balloon can take the bed, since he seems to be in the worst condition." Taco said before walking out the door, then coming back with some large leaves.

She handed me some, then began to lay the ones she had on the ground, making an area big enough for her to lay on.

I proceded to do the same.

Everyone was pretty silent for the rest of the night, Balloon fell asleep almost immediately, and Taco just faced the wall of the shelter, before she eventually fell asleep as well.

I just stared at the ceiling, thinking about what may happen the next day.

What if I can't find Test Tube? Or anyone for that matter?

Thoughts continuously ran through my mind, some being bad, some being good.

I was anxious, but at the same time, I was overwhelmed with excitement.

We had finally escaped, after over a month of being tortured.

It may not seem very long to some people, but if you are experiencing it firsthand, it feels like years.

I laid in silence.

Eventually my eyes became heavy, and I fell asleep.

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Balloon's POV:

That feild.

That very same feild that I had seen before.

I felt calm at first, but once again, that unbearable feeling of loneliness came over me.

I didn't bother to call for anyone this time, I knew nobody would come.

I then heard Suitcases voice calling for me.

I was hesitant to approach her this time.

As soon as I reached her, she faded away.

Just like last time.

Instead of sinking into the ground, it suddenly fell out from under me.

I began to fall.

I fell fast, as if something were weighing me down.

Normally I would slowly float down, but this time, I was hurdling toward the ground.

I shut my eyes as I fell into an endless pit of darkness, wrapping my arms around myself, preparing for the impact.

It never happened.

I opened my eyes and found myself in that same concrete room.

I examined myself, checking for injuries. Only then did I realize that I actually had both arms.

That wasnt the matter though.

The walls then began to close in.

But this time, I didnt wake up. They continued to close in.

Soon enough, I was trapped directly in the center of the room, frantically searched for an exit.

Nothing.

I felt as the walls slowly got tighter, to the point I couldnt breathe.

I gasped for air as the pressure slowly became unbearable.

I was on the verge of popping.

Dying, right then and there...

I woke up.

I found that my face was buried into the makeshift pillow on the bed I was on.

That explains why I couldn't breathe in the dream.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

Fan and Taco were still asleep.

I sighed and stretched, before climbing out of bed to go and check how early it was.

I opened the door slightly.

Still pitch black.

I decided to go and lay back down.

After a while of tossing and turning, I found that I couldn't sleep.

"Might as well take a small walk to tire me out." I whispered to myself.

I stood up and exited the shelter, gently closing the door behind me.

I began to walk through the forest, not too far from the shelter.

The crickets chirped softly, and a couple fireflies drifted around.

I sat down on a small stump, surrounded by fungi and fireflies, and some wildflowers growing by a small stream nearby.

This was a peaceful place.

It was calm and quiet.

I sat on the stump to admire the scene. I loved the natural beauty.

I closed my eyes and sighed, listening to the crickets singing their quiet lullaby.

The sound was interupted though.

A strange mechanical noise broke through the silence, the crickets stopped chirping and a couple small animals ran by from the direction the sound was coming from.

A red light filled the area suddenly.

The mechanical wirring was right behind me.

My heart dropped.

I whipped around and there stood a large MePhone.

Almost as soon as I turned around, a claw shot out, straight at me.

I jumped to the side in a panic.

The MePhone was large with a red X on it's face.

The MePhone then stopped and looked back after hearing a voice command it to do so.

The MePhone stepped to the side.

I stumbled backwards, accidentally stepping to hard on my injured leg.

I gasped, then whimpered, and grabbed my leg.

I stared in the direction of the MePhone, and noticed that someone had walked up from behind the MePhone and was now standing above me.

I recognized that face.

All too well.

No...

It was, of course, exactly who I thought it was.

Cobs.

His glasses glinted in the red light that the MePhone was emmiting.

"So you thought you could escape huh?" Cobs spoke.

I could hear the anger in his voice.

I scrambled backwards, trying to get my footing so I could run, but he grabbed my arm before I could get away.

"No use in trying to run." He scowled, gripping my arm tighter.

I tried to get away but I didn't have the strength.

"I've got the perfect punishment for you." Cobs smirked.

Suddenly Cob's grip loosened and he fell to the ground. I heard a loud zapping noise.

Someone ran up from behind Cobs and picked me up.

I didn't have the time to look before we both took off running, the person holding tight to my arm.

I was breathing heavy and we eventually both stopped to rest.

I glanced up to see who it was that had saved me.

It was Taco.

"Taco-? How did you-" I spoke in between breaths.

"I woke up and noticed that you weren't in bed, so i came to look for you." Taco said, taking a couple deep breaths.

I stared at her confused.

How had she stopped Cobs anyway?

Taco stared at me for a bit, and must've read my expression because she then held up a tazer and smirked a bit.

"I attacked him with this in case you were wondering." She said casually.

It was honestly unsettling.

I just stared at her in shock for a moment.

I mean, she had just tazed someone.

Though I couldn't complain.

"We should probably head to the city. It's not safe now that knows we're here." Taco said, hiding the tazer away, "Let's go get Fan."

We both ran back to the shelter and slammed the door open, startling Fan awake.

I felt bad because he didn't like loud noises, but we didn't have much time before Cobs could find us again.

"What's going o-" Fan mumbled with a little fear in his voice, before Taco cut him off.

"No time, we have to go now." She said, pulling Fan to his feet.

Fan looked confused but didn't argue.

We all rushed out the door before the shelter suddenly broke into peices, revealing the MePhone with the X on its screen standing behind it.

Fan let out a yelp then stared in shock.

Taco gasped then grabbed Fan's wrist and ran.

Fan grabbed my wrist as he passed and we all ran through the forest, struggling to avoid obstacles in the way.

"Look-! Lights!" Fan exclaimed, breathing heavily and struggling to speak in between breaths.

Fan was right, there were lights ahead.

City lights.

Taco began to pick up speed a bit and I struggled to keep up with my injured leg, but fought through it.

Eventually we exited the forest and entered the city streets.

I looked back and noticed that we weren't being followed anymore.

We ended up in an alleyway amd we all collapsed to the ground, struggling to catch out breath.

Fan hopped up and ran to the entrance of the alleyway, peeking out and looking around.

I stood up and limped over to him.

He had a huge smile on his face and he looked like he was about to cry.

"We're home Balloon." Fan said, suddenly leaning over and hugging me tightly.

I was a little surprised at first, but I hugged him back.

He let go and peeked out once again.

"Let's go find Test Tube." Fan said, wiping tears from his eyes.

He rushed out, almost getting hit by a car in the process due to not paying attention from the excitement, which almost gave me a heart attack.

I sighed with relief once he got out of the way.

Taco and I both madd our way across the road to where Fan was standing.

"Be more careful Fan!" Taco scolded, pointing a finger at him.

"Sorry sorry!" Fan apologized.

We then began making our way to Test Tube's neighborhood.

When we got to Test Tube's house, we found that it was empty.

The door was locked, but the window was opened and one window was broken.

I glanced at Fan, who looked worried.

"Hey, I'm sure she's fine, she wasn't at the lab so she must be ok." I said reassuringly.

Fan sighed.

"Hopefully she's ok." Fan said, shaking a little.

"Cmon let's look for her somewhere else." Taco stated and began to walk towards Mainstreet.

Fan and I followed.

We eventually ended up at a roundabout in the center of the mainstreet.

There were surprisingly few cars, only one occasionally passing by.

There was no sign of Test Tube there.

We began to leave the area when we heard a shocked voice from behind us.

I jumped and turned around.

There stood Nickel.

Fan, Taco, and I all stared like a deer in headlights.

"You- You guys are ok???" Nickel suddenly said with wide eyes. "How did you escape???"

I took a few steps back, hiding behind Fan a bit.

Fan suddenly spoke.

"How d-did you know we were trapped?" He asked with a confused and scared expression on his face.

"Test Tube told me..." Nickel spoke.

Fan's eyes lit up.

"D-do you know where Test Tube is-?" Fan said shakily.

Nickel stared for a moment when his expression changed.

He stood there silently for a bit.

"She's..." Nickel hesitated.

"She's what...?" Fan asked, becoming anxious.

"She's dead..."

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(Sorry for the delay, I've been running out of ideas and I've had pretty bad writers block lately. I will try to update more frequently from now on!)