I've kept them alive in all of my fanfictions. There was one joking one I was going to do where Ozzy and Strut were hiding from Chomper's parents and Ozzy thought Chomper's parents were going to come at them from one way and he threw Strut down out of his way, crying "I'm first, I'm first, I'm always first!" but Chomper's parents were coimng from the other waya nd so Ozzy got eaten but Strut was safe.
Ozzy never survives my fanfictions in the end (he is killed one way or the other), but Strut always does.