I was dead asleep, until I felt myself being poked in the arm.

Jolting awake, I'm kept still by the Assistant, who is injecting another test cure into my veins. Finishing, he looks up at me while slowly taking the syringe out.

"Good morning, moron. Keep still." He says.

"Waking me up first would've been appreciated..." I grumble.

"I was not ordered to, therefore I didn't."

He leaves the room, and I groggily sit up and look at the clock on the opposite wall. Hold on, 11AM? Even when I'm being an insomniac some nights, I never wake up that late. That's strange... I get out of bed and stretch, still a little half-asleep. I walk over to the window to check outside again, even though nothing has changed. Don't know why I was hoping something did, but I look at the flower Time brought me to take my mind off my predicament. It's really nice he did that for me.

Suddenly I feel a little dizzy, and lean against the window's frame to balance myself. I hold my head in my hands as I wait for it to pass, and eventually, I'm able to stand again. O-kay, another weird thing, not good. I then hear a rapid knock at the door.

"Yo." I say, turning to face the person entering.

"Oh my goodness, finally, you're awake." Professor Red says, rolling his eyes. "You were out cold earlier, I was able to test cures on you twice before the Assistant came in."

"Wait, what?" I ask. The Professor then grabs my arm and leads me out of the room.

"ANYWAY. I need to look at how the virus has progressed, if it has at all, and I needed you to be conscious for that." He says. "So, let's go."

Alright, at least I can be out of my temporary room for a while. The Professor takes me back to the analysis room, and the Assistant is preparing the IVs again.

"Oh great, this again." I groan.

"Oh shush, it's not that bad." The Professor says. "Now sit back on the table."

I don't really have a choice, as the Assistant pulls me onto the table himself, attaching the IVs in the same places they were yesterday. Well, that, and I'll die if I don't do this. And I dunno about having to spend eternity in the same place as Void.

As the machines activate, the Professor is already typing on the computers in the other room while the Assistant is monitoring screens next to him, having joined him in the room. After a while, the Professor seems to get some results.

"Hm. As I suspected..." He says.

"What?" I ask.

"The virus is already spreading." He answers, not looking up from the screen. "Looks like the cures didn't do anything to stop it or at least slow it down."

I sigh. "All those needles for nothing..."

M walks in the room, holding a few books. Entering the room the Professor is in, the scientist looks at him.

"Ah, M. Hello." He greets him. "Any luck?"

"Couldn't find anything describing this virus specifically, but I did find some things that share some similarities with it." M says, running his hand through his hair. "Maybe that could help?"

"It could... thanks." The Professor says, taking the books.

"Did the cures do anything, by the way?" M asks the Professor, looking at me.

"Nothing, apparently." I say.

"Either the cures weren't strong enough, or the virus just absorbed them." Professor Red adds.

M sighs, and starts to talk more to the Professor, but I stopped listening. Stronger versions of the strongest cures in the Green Kingdom, yet nothing happened. Can't something just go right with this? What's making it worse is the sense of impending doom upon me, as I know that this virus is going to make me suffer before either it kills me, or the Professor pulls off a miracle and gets a cure that works somehow. I can't do anything to help, because I know as soon as I try people will freak out for my health, and if this keeps up I won't even be able to try. I'm so used to being the one that helps people, that I feel useless when I'm the one that needs help. This is why I mostly keep my problems hidden from my friends.

"Hey, I'll be right back." I hear the Professor say. "I need to bring some vials to the next room, Sabre, don't move."

"I'm literally attached to a bunch of machines, I don't think I can." I answer.

"True, true."

I watch the Professor leave the room, the Assistant following him, and M and I sit in awkward silence for a while.

"So, uh..." M says, trying to make it less awkward. "How's it hanging?"

"Fearing for my safety in more ways than one." I answer.

"Yeah, that's fair, Knowing the Professor."

Great, I've just made it more awkward.

"Remember when he chased me around the lab after he pulled out that sawblade?" I ask, trying to fix my mistake.

"Oh yeah, how could I forget?" M laughs. "It was hilarious when you trapped him in one of his testing rooms, the pure irony."

"That was funny, he was yelling at me for a solid ten minutes before I came and got you."

We both laugh, but mine is cut short when I feel a sharp pain in my heart. As it gets worse, I hear the heart monitor beeping faster, and M rushes over to me.

"Sabre?" He asks, grasping my shoulder. "Sabre, are you alright?"

I can't answer, as all I can focus on right now is the sting in my chest. Before I realize, I start twitching, and then violently coughing. I bring my hands up to my mouth, trying to stifle it, M increasingly getting more worried next to me. He places his hand on my back, trying to keep me from falling on my side from coughing so much.

"Sabre?!" M says, his voice raised.

The coughing fit starts to slow, and I pull my hands away from my mouth, only to be met with horror as I see they're covered in bright crimson blood. M and I both freeze for a moment, then I start coughing again and he rushes to the door.

"PROFESSOR!" I hear him scream. "PROFESSOR, GET BACK IN HERE! NOW!"

I hear rushed footsteps as I try to cover my mouth again, but more of my blood spills out as I cough, splattering on the ground as I double over from pain. The Professor runs in.

"What is it, what's- OH SHOOT!" He screams.

Dropping what he's holding, the Professor runs over to me and lifts me upright.

"ASSISTANT, GET YOUR METAL BUTT OVER HERE! QUICK!" Professor Red screams.

Professor Red quickly takes out a syringe and sticks my arm with it, injecting whatever was in it into me. Soon, I stop coughing, now wheezing from the lack of air during the episode. My ears ring as I hear the familiar robotic voice I know saying something to the Red Steves beside me, but I can't tell what. Everything is fading to black, either from what the Professor just stuck me with or something else involving the virus.

The last thing I remember before passing out was M holding me up while the Professor tried to keep me awake, both yelling.

—————————————————————————————————————

I start to open my eyes, and recognize that I'm back in the temporary room. I wince, as I still feel the sharp pain in my heart, so I don't even try to get up. I'm able to recognize two voices outside the room, and listen in.

"He had a close call, looks like he's starting to get symptoms from the virus."

"That was just a symptom?! He was just coughing up blood, Professor!"

"I know, I know. That's why I worry for what the next stages of the infection will bring. We're lucky he only passed out after I gave him the painkiller."

"What could have possibly been worse than that?!"

"Well, for one thing, he could've given himself brain damage from lack of air."

"...That was a rhetorical question, Professor. You are not helping with this."

"*sigh*...Sorry M, I know. I'm just trying to list some positives, but I guess there just aren't that many."

"He's going to be okay, right?"

"Yes, he will. One of the other symptoms is fatigue, so he just needs to rest a while."

"Well, that would explain him sleeping in earlier."

"Come on, let's go look in the library and see if we can find more similar symptoms now that we know what some are. Maybe this virus is a strain of something already known to us..."

That's all I'm able to hear before a wave of tiredness crashes over me. I know fighting it is no use, so I let the drowsiness take over my mind as I start to fall back asleep.

Before I did though, I could have sworn I saw something red and pink-ish outside my window, watching me... I don't have time to think about it as my eyes close once more, fatigue getting the better of me.