Socks stepped up to the next branch, stretching his arm out toward the shiny red fruit infront of him.
With a last stretch, his fingers closed around the apple.
He pulled it back towards him proudly, smiling despite his aching arm. His moment of peace ended abruptly by a loud crack coming from the branch below him.
He winced as his ankle scraped a branch on the way down, hitting the floor with a loud thud.
He pulled himself to his feet, his foot screaming in protest as he started back toward his hut.
As if falling from a tree hadn't been enough, he managed to trip, for sure twisting his ankle. He moaned, gripping his ankle and rocking in pain. He glanced up to see what he'd tripped on, and the sight couldn't have surprised him more.
He'd tripped over... Tbh?!?
He sat there, staring as his shock turned to curiosity. Why was Tbh here...?
His thoughts were interrupted by a moan from the crab man as he stirred. With a jolt, Socks realized he needed to leave. He and Tbh weren't exactly on good terms, and he was in no state to fight back against anything Tb decided to do.
He scrambled to his feet, his ankle practically killing him for it. He limped as fast as he could away from the half-conscious crab.
The whole way was a blur of pain and panic, something Socks hated with every part of his being, and yet somehow he knew he'd have to face this often.
After what felt like years, he finally arrived back at his pathetic wood shack. He pulled to door open and practically collapsed inside, grabbing his ankle and finally allowing himself to scream at his throbbing bone. It felt like someone had chopped the leg off, lit a fire inside it, then shoved it back together. Not a good feeling.

**********

  The first thing Tbh felt after waking up was thirst.
His tongue felt like it'd just been ripped out and left in the desert for hours, and he could've sworn there were literal cracks in it.
The next thing he noticed was footprints.
He struggled to his feet, a strange tiredness overwhelming him as if it were the middle of the night, even though he was well aware it was day.
He followed the prints, his mind racing as he thought of whose they could be. Not his own, he'd come from the other direction. And they weren't there when he'd been attacked either, so whoever it was had been there after he passed out.
He'd followed them for a few minutes when he heard screaming. Whatever was causing the sound sounded so hurt it kind of hurt Tbh a little. He ran toward the screams, stopping abruptly when he saw a small hut.
With a slightly open door.
A door cracked just enough for Tbh to see inside.
Just enough for him to see Socks.

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Short chap but idc
I made this in like an hour, thank you random motivation I got from swapped-
Also, I've typed Chpater so much that not only does Autocorrect change Chapter to Chpater, it doesn't do the red underline anymore, I've never been so happy

539 words