★osc oneshots★

tpot ★ tree & black hole & fanny ★ trust prevention and creating death

Summary:
After his death in TPOT 7, Tree is recovered in his normal form. He is deeply struck with what just happened and runs away to hide with his emotions in a forest. Though Fanny protests, Black Hole goes to find him.

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Tree's body had never been put to such a test of durability. Painful stretching, ripping apart. Every little particle in him split in half, exploding with affliction, his wooden branches creaked and broke, his leaves were brutally torn off.

But all Tree could think of was Fanny's stare.

She stared at some dead weight, at somebody whose life didn't matter, because causing this much pain could be easily reversed. She knew death could be cheated, and acted like that gave her the permission to ignore any morality.

All Tree could think of was her betrayal and what it meant for their team, and it hurt him more than Black Hole's pull.

He wanted to scream. You pledged to the P.A.C.T.! You were my friend! How could you do this?!

Something snapped in his head, his body finally surrendering to the force it couldn't overcome. Tree's eyes swilted backwards, cutting off his vision. Last strike of pain, and all things faded out.

🌀

"Augh...!" Tree huffed upon slamming headfirst into the ground. Groaning weakly, he rubbed his hurting head, but didn't get up.

"Is that everyone? Brilliant, let's take a butcher's at the challenge I have for you! To the beach we go!"

Two's cheerful voice stood out from the noisy crowd of contestants, and the muddy ground around Tree changed to sand when the host snapped everyone to a different location. But Tree didn't register any of it. White noise fizzled in his mind, blocking out any signals.

Tree could not simply entertain the thought that death prevention as a mission should be abandoned. Something so core and dear to his team, an idea they built their relationship on, a goal worth changing the world for. Whenever Tree prevented death, he had a purpose of achieving something better. He put his heart into it every time. It established some rules in his life, it made him feel safe, and ultimately, it defined him as a person.

So in the light of throwing all that away, all his values crumbled down.

The world and its unpredictability suddenly overwhelmed him. For as long as somebody kept an eye on the mess their community created, a sense of stability seemed to exist. But now Tree saw the ugly truth: nobody cared. About any balance, any rules, about good and evil, about hurting people. Nobody cared, nobody would bother to stop the avalanche of suffering if any object stepped too far.

And nobody cared about him.

Anyone had permission to kill and hurt him at any moment, and nobody would help him. Nobody. Cared.

Tree's breathing got erratic. Uncomfortable presence of so many other beings in this place disrupted his feeling of security, and evoked sudden anxiety. Curling in, Tree tried to shield himself from everyone.

It wasn't until the all too familiar voice rang above him, forcing him out of his frozen state.

"You good Tree?"

His look of terror caused Fanny to take a step back. As for Tree, seeing her was just too much. His emotions hit their peak and overtook any rational plans he might've had; his body flinching and trying to get away from her in hysteria. He managed to stand up clumsily and ran, ran ahead, anywhere far from Fanny, from other contestants, from anyone.