A branch. Blades of grass twisted into a tangled ball, sticky from dew and pulp. The doll tucked neatly under a blanket at his side.

Knife noticed each of his surroundings individually as his eyes fluttered open and he pushed his sleepy body up into a sitting position. It was still dark, not quite dawn, but something felt off. So much so that he couldn't bring himself to fall back asleep. Like someone was watching hi-

"Good morning, Knife," A voice interrupted his thoughts promptly. Taco stepped out from the bush she was sitting behind, brushing grass off of herself with a smug smile that Knife wished he could slap off of her face.

"What the hell do you want? Mic is gone, you know."

"It really has been too long," Taco diverted the subject quickly, her voice laced with obvious sarcasm.

"Never long enough."

"That's no way to greet your ally," The girl huffed and rolled her eyes. "Always so harsh, you."

Knife clenched his fist into a ball, but it loosened quickly when he noticed Taco pulling something out into view. Two small glints bounced off of metal prongs, and soon Knife realized that it was a taser.

"You're insane."

"On the contrary; I am taking the most thought-out steps I can to win this contest, Knife. And this plan, unfortunately, requires assistance."

Knife shook his head. "I'm never going to help you. Not after everything. Not after what you did to them."

Them. Pickle and Microphone.

Taco winced back at the mention of them, but was quick to counter it with a swing of her arm outward, the one without the weapon, holding her hand out to Knife to help him up. "This will be different. While I can admit, my last two attempts have ended on.. unfortunate.. circumstances, it was at no fault of mine. Your friends go against what I need for them to do, and things fall apart. That's why Microphone is gone. Her elimination was not my doing. It was her own decision, and a regrettable one, I'm sure."

"Why not just ask someone else? I don't want anything to do with you." Knife glared over, ignoring the outstretched hand and remaining sitting. Then he answered his own question, eyes lighting up with a twinge of humor. "You need me."

Taco recoiled, shaking her head quickly. "Absolutely not, the circumstances would be the same regardless of who-"

"No. You can't risk revealing yourself to other people. I'm the only safe option left." Knife let out a genuine laugh, though it was coated in sleep and annoyance. "That's pretty pathetic for someone like you."

"Stop laughing, you imbecile!" Taco fumed.

"Let's say I helped you. What would you have me do? Lie? Manipulate people? Do you seriously think I'd choose you over what I have in this competition? I don't care about you getting your money. You've had one chance. And a second, even if it was shitty. You could've made the right choices to begin with. But you didn't. And I'm not gonna put energy into getting you out of the mess your in. That's on you"

"Very well," Taco spat angrily, clenching her fists, pointing the taser at Knife. "I can get your help with or against your will, and clearly you have a preference for the latter."

Knife admittedly flinched a little, inching away from the weapon. "This isn't going to help anything."

"I'm sure you'd like to think that."

Silence stretched out for a moment, neither of them making any moves, until Knife shook his head. "Whatever."

"Whatever?! That's all you have to say? You are seriously dense. I could kill you!" Taco was clearly losing her patience, raising her voice to a dangerously loud tone. They were at risk of people hearing.

"And then Mephone would bring me back."

Taco furrowed her brows. Then sighed, putting the taser away as if that would help anything. "I'll give you time to think on it."

"I can tell you right now that the answer is no."

"In the meantime," Taco said with an annoyed edge to her voice. "I would like your help with something else."

"No."

"It's simple. You won't have to do much of anything."

Knife crossed his arms.

"All I need you to do is lift some heavy things for me. Admittedly, you're probably the best person for that who's left here. When I was in Test Tube's laboratory with Microphone, we left our belongings there when we had to get out. I would like to get them back, but last time I checked, everything was under a big pile of scrap metal and trash that was too heavy for me to lift."

Knife raised a brow. "That's.. it?"

"Yes, that is everything."

"I'm surprised you even have anything sentimental to you," Knife rolled his eyes.

"Are you going to help me or not?"

She seemed sincere enough, and maybe if Knife just did this she'd leave him alone. She seemed to think she could convince any of the other three to join her side, so after this favor it was likely he was off the hook. "Fine."

Taco didn't smile, but she looked approvingly in Knife's direction before stepping away from the tree he'd been sleeping under. "This way."

They walked through the dark forest for a while, Knife still carrying his doll. They passed by a sleeping Suitcase and being careful to not be too loud.

Once they were close to the laboratory, far enough away from any contestants, Taco tried again to start conversation. "So, Microphone. I never heard what she said prior to her elimination, I was too far away and her gain was turned off. Did she say anything about me?"

Knife shrugged. "Yeah, but not specifically. She was all vague and mysterious and stuff, people were probably pretty confused."

"What did she say?"

"She called you a voice in her head. That made her do bad things to people."

Out of the corner of his eye, Knife noticed Taco's posture change slightly. She seemed almost... insecure? But it didn't last long, like most things with her, and soon they were at the lab. Taco went straight to work opening the new makeshift passage to the laboratory (seeing as the vending machine was gone) and Knife stood back watching with disinterest. Now that the annoying stuff was mainly over with, he kind of just wished he'd stayed back and got a few more hours of sleep. This could've easily waited until morning.

"Got it," Taco called, not looking back before stepping in.

Knife rolled his eyes and followed, leaving the Dora doll on the ground outside for when this was all over.