Chapter 36

Disclaimer: I do not own Toy Story. I would like to thank those that have taken time to read, alert, favourite, or review this story:)

Woody was unable to shut his eyes as he unwillingly entered the trance.

Jessie was completely visible through the dimly lit area that surrounded her; visible past the desperate charade of desperate air bubbles that ripped through the freezing waters.

It took him a few moments to even realize where she was and when he did, he wanted to let his eyes widen to their extent. But they simply wouldn't move. He had felt this sensation before; when he wasn't able to move and when he could only watch helplessly.

But this time, he was watching Jessie struggle against her own inevitable fate as she choked on the cold waters that continuously clogged her throat. SHe was drowning. However, this left him confused. Toys couldn't drown could they?

After a few long moments of watching her absolute struggle, he realized the fatal truth; The literal truth. She was in a human body, and she was drowning.

'Jessie!'

He had the desperate urge to reach out to her, but his hands felt like water themselves; he was unable to move them in the slightest and whenever he tried, he felt like he was floating further back into the nothingness that surrounded him. He was able to sense that there was nothing around him, but he could see the scene clearly enough. Jessie was tearing at her neck viciously, almost as if she was trying to slit her throat with her fingernails in desperate hope to rip the metaphorical vines that only became tight as she struggled. Her face was completely pale and her hands were beyond weak as they tore at the skin, eventually drawing blood.

The light around hr was dim, but the surface of the water was completely visible, the rays of light slipping through the mirage of liquid that surrounded her, making certain areas stand out more than others, especially the human Jessie herself. The Jessie who was so close to escaping the hell hole. So close to life; yet even closer to death itself.

Her struggle remained vigorous, not to mention desperate, as she kicked out at the water. But her movements were restricted and clumsy, only causing the vines to tighten to an even larger extent, making her head feel increasingly heavy as her eyesight bulged.

Woody knew that she couldn't see anything around where she was, if the water didn't make her momentarily blind, then the dim light surely would; she could only see the lifesaving light, that was out of reach and fading into a dimmer light second after second. It was obvious that only death could come after this.

'Jessie!' He mentally exclaimed, wanting to urge her to the surface with all the will power he had. But, no matter what, his inner will had no affect on her at all. 'Jessie please!'

But nothing would work. She continued to struggle against the vines that only tightened around her neck, blocking any strength she had to gasp for air. Not that it would've done much good anyway, she would've only choked even further on the water that surrounded her mercilessly.

He wanted to close his eyes, and he would've done anything for them to close at that moment, since he knew that any hope of saving her had been completely obliterated, as well as her freedom. She tried to reach out to the surface of the water, but she just couldn't. Any movement whatsoever would restrict any passageway within her throat even further, not that it hadn't been restricted already. But it could only make everything all the more painful. However, she was unable to sense the pain as her life slowly faded away. She could only sense that heavy feeling within the back of her head grow lighter as the spots before her bulging eyes grew. Was this what death was like? This was how she felt and this, Woody was able to sense as his heart seemed to snap in half, if he even had a heart in his current state.

She was dying within the depths of helplessness, and there was nothing he could do to help her. No matter what he tried, her struggle for life still raced on. He could shout; but no words would come out. He could scream for her; but no screeching sound would escape. He could reach out for her, in desperate attempt to save her before she slipped away; but no movement would be made. And he could throttle whatever it was that was attacking her; but no use would have come out of his desperate urge. He could attempt anything he wanted; but nothing would be of any use. There was no way he could help Jessie.

By now, she was writhing and tearing at the restraints that kept her in the rightful position as her life drew to a nearer end. She felt like her lungs were about to explode at any moment from the high pressure that ached in her chest. She needed to breathe. But she just couldn't.

Her mouth opened, her eyes full of terror that seemed to raid through her her every nerve, and she took the desperate attempt to breathe a breath of air. But she instead choked on the water, causing the rushing air bubbles to spray in the specific direction; the surface.

To any person above the water, it would certainly seemed as if their was a ruffle under the water as the bubbles ripped at the surface. But they'd never take the second glance. And besides, it was too dark to even consider that there was actually a living source struggling for life in the depths of the cold water. This, and the fact that she was in the middle of no where, the vast ocean reaching out for miles on end; beyond the limits of the average imagination.

But Jessie didn't care about this at the moment, she only cared about her own life; only took a second glance at the fact that she was so close to life, but yet so far away. And it was simply clear that she was about to die as the blood radiated through the liquid around her. She kicked out at the water again in a half-hearted manner, but now the vines seemed to dig into her skin completely. She might as well have a knife to her throat, of which was ready to kill in a single motion, without the slightest hesitation or the second thought. In another desperate urge, she tore at her neck. But this only drew even more blood, causing no damage whatsoever to the pressure of the vines. She could feel them there no doubt. But she just couldn't ouch them as they urged her life to a slow halt.

They were slowly killing her, and she just couldn't do a single thing about it. The more she struggled, the tighter they became and if she just stopped, then there would be no pain in the slightest (even though she was unable to feel it). And she could just simply wait for death to come as she drowned within the depths of the water. Either this, or the Hypothermia would catch up and end her life even sooner.

But, nevertheless, she kept the struggle up. She had something to fight for and, even though she had no idea what the purpose was, it hung before her clearly. So close; but yet so far away, out of reaching distance. But, if she had tried, her fingertips could've brushed against it very faintly as her vicious fight for life became half-hearted, but she was still unable to force her grip on it; it was simple too far away. Everything she kept the struggle up for was simply fading, as well as her life.

Eventually, her eyelids began to droop, and if the salty water hadn't been stinging her eyes vigorously, then the tears may have passed through her eyelids and her head became heavy. The dancing spots grew bigger as her thoughts reeled incomprehensibly through her mind. They could've been thoughts on the ones she loved, ad how she was never going to see them again. Or it could've been the fact that she was dying of which was continuously ringing through her head - Woody was unable to tell. All he knew was that he was unable to watch this any longer.

And for those moments, he had almost completely forgotten that Jessie was now a toy (instead of a human) and couldn't help but let himself believe that what he was seeing was really real. It all seemed too real: The helpless look in her eyes; the way she struggled against the metaphorical vines; and the way she seemed to give up on everything. It was all too much for him to handle; almost as if some invisible force was attacking, the one he cared for the most, intentionally at her weakest moment.

But then one specific name ran through Woody's mind. A name that he never wished to hear.

'Katrielle Hay...'

But at this moment (even though it wouldn't last for long), he had no idea what that name should even mean. He had no idea who the person even was. That brief blank spot in his mind may have been the stress of the moment catching up with him. But he still had no idea why he didn't understand the name. But he knew that it meant something important. He knew that it belonged to someone of major importance; the only one person in the world (who was currently alive) who could prevent everything wrong from happening; but was the one person who could change everything he knew for the worst. And, more importantly, he knew he should know who the person was. He should know what the person was capable of. However, in this current situation, he just didn't. No matter how hard he tried, that spot in his mind still remained blank.

But little did he understand that this would not last for long. He'd eventually realize that this wasn't reality and he'd realize what the name meant; who it belonged to. But, as he watched her weakening struggle, he felt like he wanted to drown himself. He couldn't stand the sight.

Having completely forgotten how he even got here in the first place, he had no recollection of what Pete the Prospector did to him. Wait? Who was the Prospector again? And how did he even have that name within his overused mind? Woody had no idea. But he did know that the current sight of Jessie broke his fragile heart. He couldn't stand the sight of her in the slightest. She seemed so vulnerable to everything that was happening and it killed Woody to see that she actually was. She was so weak against the restraints, and the air bubbles, of which escaped her lips drastically, were now dying down as her life faded into practically nothing.

Oh he wanted to shut his eyes so bad. But he just couldn't as he unwillingly gaped at the still girl who floated so close to the surface, but even closer to absolute peril. The tight metaphorical vines slowly loosened their merciless grip around her fragile neck. It was almost surprising that her neck hadn't snapped in half during her great struggle. But the horrifying fact soon became clear as the escaping air bubbles came to a halt: She was gone; she was dead.

If it had been possible at that moment, then his lips would've quivered as the reeling thoughts crashed down on him with full force. He was unable to stand any of this as it all became clear. He had lost everything that had ever mattered to him over the years; he had lost his best friend. No, she had been more than that. He had lost the person who had the slightest understanding of what he had been through over the years. The years of neglection and pure emptiness that pretty much arrived the day he became an orphan - The day his last surviving parent died. He had lost the only person who had willngly been there for him over the years.

He had lost the person he loved...

And he had allowed her death to proceed. He hadn't done anything in the slightest to prevent her inevitable fate.

But little did he realize that this whole vision only represented what was soon to be Jessie's situation. The one thing that would represent what she was about to go through; how she'd feel. It was the only aspect that would allow Woody to understand how she'd feel: Torn between choices that could literally snap her life in half. Torn between the choices she wouldn't be able to understand. The choices that could even possibly destroy Woody completely.

But he was unable to understand this as he reeled over the fact that he had been unable to prevent her inevitable fate.

'You can't prevent the inevitable, Pride. You know you can't.'

It was this voice that completely snapped Woody out of the trance that had completely engulfed him and he awoke with a shocked start.

The light around him was dim, but whatever light there was simply reflected off the surface of the large display case that surrounded him.

Wait...? A display case? Why was he in a display case.

From what Woody had heard before hand, he had noted that Al planned on taking them to a 'unit' of some sort. But what the unit was was, Woody did not know. But he remembered Al stating that they wanted a certain selection of some sort for display; a collection of toys.

Lowering himself off the supporting stand, he curiously took a glance around out of curiosity and soon realized that he was not the only one in the display case, as well as the fact that his shoulder had been fixed. But this wasn't what mattered now.

"J-Jessie?" He asked in disbelief, his mind soon coming into the realization that the vision hadn't been real. He could clearly see her cat against the corner of the display case with her head buried within her knees, as if she couldn't believe what he had even done. "Jess." He then urged, before clambering his way over to her, only to have Jessie glumly lift her head, a look of pure disbelief and disappointment within her emerald eyes.

The Sheriff had been unable to realize that a whimpering horse, along with a completely outraged Prospector, were eying his every move. Of which only left Pete growing suspicious. He did not want that stupid collectible doll going near her.

But it turned out that Jessie could handle her own.

"You left us." She murmured weakly.

This, of course, left Woody flabbergasted as he faced the troubling situation.

Since he then realized that they were now at the unit, which could only mean that she was messing with the time line again, because the last thing Woody remembered was being on the boat.

But any recollection of what Pete did had been completely obliterated, turned into nothing more than specks of dust that had been caught in a drain pipe.

And Jessie was convinced that he left them, of which would lead to nothing particularly pleasant for the Sheriff.

A/N So now Woody really has met Jessie again. *Jumps up in glee* But nothing ever runs smoothly when Katrielle is in the way...

That's all I'm going to say for the moment:)

Feel free to send a review or a suggestion if you want!

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