I feel like I just got hit by a bus.

I'm slowly regaining consciousness, but I'm unable to open my eyes yet. All I hear is a variety of voices coming from somewhere a little farther away. I can only make out bits of sentences.

"...Professor what the f..."

"...Time broke down the door..."

"...What were you thinking..."

"...Experiment brought something up..."

"...Emergency..."

"...Strange illness..."

"...Danger..."

All I hear after that is a lot of yelling, coming from a bunch of different people. It doesn't sound like anger-filled yelling, but rather... worry. Like something bad is happening. What's going on?

I'm able to open my eyes, however my vision is still blurry. I look around, and I'm still in the strange room, but I'm not strapped to the table anymore. There's still a series of medical cables hooked up to beeping machines, the ends of the cords sticking into my skin. My vision clears a little, and I can see Time sitting in a chair next to the machines, looking worried with his arm in a sling. The door to the room we're in is behind him, and it's been broken off its hinges, now just leaned against the wall.

I attempt to sit up, but fail, and Time notices I'm awake. He gets up from the chair and rushes over next to me.

"Sabre?" He asks. "You there?"

"Kinda..." I say tiredly. "What... what happened?"

"The Professor apparently found something wrong with you, and tried to find out what it was without telling M." Time answers. "M eventually came and got me, and Light was with me at the time as he wanted to check on the village, sooo... he and the Leaders heard about what the Professor was doing. They're talking with... well, more like scolding the Professor right now in the other room."

"...I meant what happened to your arm, but that's... something, I guess." I say.

"Oh, uh, my arm..." Time says, quickly glancing at the broken door. "Ehm, it's fine, don't worry about it."

"Okay then..."

We just sit in silence for a while. Soon, Time helps me sit up and walks over to the... doorframe.

"I should probably let everyone else know you're awake." He says. "They've been yelling the whole time we've been talking."

"Hope they don't start arguing..." I say.

Time leaves the room, and a few seconds later I hear quick footsteps coming from somewhere else inside the lab. The Yellow Leader is first to enter, naturally, as he almost slips while running in but quickly regains his balance and composure. He's followed by the Orange and Green Leaders, then Light, then M and the Violet Leader. The Blue and Indigo Leaders are last, as they both try to enter at the same time and run into each other, then Indigo lets Blue go first. Time comes in behind them, dragging in Professor Red by the sleeve. The gather near where I am, all exchanging looks of worry.

"Alright, Professor." Time says, letting go of Professor Red's sleeve. "Explain in better detail of what's happening instead of blurting it out, since we're all here now." 

"Okay, okay." The Professor says, taking a deep breath. "When taking a scan of Sabre, the Assistant and I noticed something was in his body that shouldn't be there, and I looked into it further. Upon further analysis, I found that it was a virus of some kind."

"A virus?" The Green Leader asks, worried.

"Yes, and one that very much isn't natural." The Professor continues. "It seems that this one was altered in a way to where it will only affect Sabre, which means this is a personal attack... Someone did this to him deliberately, and it's only taking effect now."

"Son of a..." I hear the Orange Leader mumble.

"Seems like I've still got some enemies, then." I say.

"Apparently." Light adds.

"That's not the worrying part." The Professor says.

"Well, what is? It's clearly gotten you panicked, and that doesn't happen easily." M says.

"Yeah, why did you have to rush to figure out what was wrong?" The Yellow Leader asks.

"Well, when I saw the virus on the scan, it had already gotten pretty destructive..." the Professor pauses for a moment. "Don't freak out too badly, alright?"

"Why would we freak out...?" I ask. The Professor sighs and takes a sorrowful expression.

"This virus seems that it is designed to slowly destroy whoever is infected... I don't know how exactly, but it's going to slowly kill Sabre. It will take a long while, yes, but if we don't find a cure it will take his life."

The room seems to freeze for a moment, then everyone starts yelling while I sit in shock. I've never heard Time use expletives before. As everyone is panicking, the Professor's words sink into my mind.

Designed to destroy me? Slowly kill me?

...I'm going to die?

My thoughts are interrupted by a few of the Leaders turning to look at me, then turning back to the conversation... well, more like yelling match. No one's yelling at each other, but knowing these guys the panic will get the better of them soon. Why were they looking at me?

It looks like Time has calmed down a little, and he returns to the conversation.

"Okay, maybe instead of panicking we should make a plan." Time says, his voice slightly raised over the loud voices surrounding him.

Time raising his voice worked, and everyone stopped yelling and collected themselves.

"You're right, we should think this through." The Violet Leader says.

Time walks back over to me and puts his hand on my shoulder, as the Leaders begin making a plan while we listen.

"Could we see if some of the healing potions we have work?" The Green Leader asks.

"No, I already tested that while analyzing the virus." The Professor answers. "It looks like any normal cures we have at our disposal right now won't work, it's pretty resilient."

"So, we need to research it further then and see how it affects Sabre as it progresses." M says.

"Looks like it." The Professor says.

"I could try to see if we can figure out who did this to Sabre, since you said it's an attack against him." Light says.

"Perhaps the culprit has an idea of a cure." The Indigo Leader adds, catching on to Light's idea.

"Perhaps, that would help." The Professor says, writing something down.

As everyone else continues making a plan on how to help me, I feel an air of hopelessness around me. Usually I'm the one thinking of plans on how to save people, always solving the new problems that appear, but I can't do anything this time because I'm the one that needs to be saved. I turn to look at Time, and while I can't see his face because of the mask, I can tell he's as disturbed as I am.

"So..." He says. "This is happening now."

"Yeah..." I say. "Well, this is gonna suck."

"Yep..."

We just sit in silence while the Leaders, Professor Red, and Light continue talking. Neither of us want to bring it up, but we know this virus could be the death of me if we don't figure something out.

...I don't want to die. Not just because I'll be sent to the World Below if I do, but because this is the first time in many worlds I've been able to just live a life, undisturbed by the evils within it. I've never told anyone here about my world-traveling, of course, but if my life is at risk... well, they should know if they need to. I have a lot of secrets they should know before I... ugh, I don't even want to say it anymore.

It looks like everyone's come up with a plan, as they turn to me and Time after agreeing on something.

"Sabre, you think you can hold up for a while?" Light asks me.

"Pretty sure. I mean, I don't feel any different right now." I answer.

"Okay, good, then it hasn't gotten to you too much yet." The Professor says, quickly writing something down in what looks like a logbook.

"Then we go ahead with the plan, while we still have time before it worsens." The Blue Leader says.

Everyone teleports back to their respective kingdoms or worlds, while M rushes out of the room and the Professor goes back into the computer room.

"So, what'd you come up with?" Time asks.

"M and I will keep an eye on the virus and watch how it progresses, and look through our records to see if this has happened before, while the Green Leader and his people will try and make stronger versions of known cures." Professor Red says, switching his attention from computer to computer. "Light and the Colorless Guard will investigate who could've done this, with the help of various guards from other Kingdoms. The Blue and and Indigo Leaders will keep an eye out for suspicious activity from their worlds, and everyone else will keep watch in the Overworld. While all that's happening, I'm also going to try and develop a cure myself in case Light can't find the culprit, or the culprit doesn't have any cure for this."

"I could also try and slow down the virus' time state if I need to." Time adds, while the Professor continues messing with things in the computer room.

"Good. Perfect. That'll help." He says.

"Wait, 'research as the virus progresses'?" I say. "Doesn't that mean-"

Just then the Assistant enters the room, carrying a box of vials.

"You will have to remain in the lab as the Professor conducts his research." The Assistant says, handing the box to Professor Red. "Letting you go back to the village poses too many risks."

"Are you freakin kidding me?!" I say, taken aback. "I can't even go home?!"

"What." Time says, also shocked.

"I'm sorry Sabre, but no." The Professor continues. "The virus could get stronger from being exposed to things outdoors, and then it would only kill you faster."

"So you're telling me, I'm stuck inside until I'm either cured or dead?" I ask.

"...Let's not focus too much on that." The Professor says, clearly avoiding the question. "Right now, we need to focus on how this virus works, so I'll need you to comply with what I'm doing."

I'm trying not to cry right now. I need to stay strong, even facing death, but it's pretty hard. First everyone is unsure if I'm going to live or not, and now I can't even leave the lab. As the Professor comes back into the room I'm in, the Assistant following him, he turns to Time.

"Time, unfortunately I'm going to have to ask you to leave the room for now." He says.

"I understand, Professor." Time says, letting go of my shoulder and walking to the doorframe.

"By the way, you're replacing my door." Professor Red says, giving Time a glare.

"Wait, you broke the door?" I say, slightly smiling. "Is that why-"

"EHH BYE I'LL BE BACK LATER." Time quickly says, leaving the room.

Gotta admit, it makes me laugh a little. I soon stop as I see the Professor with a syringe in his hand.

"Alright Sabre, you're gonna hate this, but I need some blood tests." He says.

"I already hate this." I say, bracing myself for the incoming needle.

"That's fair. I expected as much." The Professor says, as he places the syringe into one of the veins in my arm.

It only takes a second, and the Professor is walking back to the computer room. I'm starting to think he's going to be normal about this, when I hear him say;

"I would normally do some experiments with this, but contaminated materials always ruin tests."

Oh boy, this is gonna be the ride of a lifetime. One long, crazy, unpredictable ride being run by a mad scientist.

What could possibly go wrong?