A/N: AHH OMG! ONE ENTIRE FOOT OF SNOW! My school is INSANE for not closing! The bus broke down a considerable distance from home, so my brother and I went through the freezing blizzard (it had snowed all day!) home!

So, um…-cough-

If you got some serious snow like I did, please do enjoy. :-)

The Third Disease

"God, Willy, hurry up! We're almost home!"

Willy picked up a foot from the snow with disgust and looked up. "But it's ICKY!"

Holli pouted. "Just hurry up!"

Pebbles unlocked the door with relish and rubbed her hands together. "We'll make more hot chocolate when we get inside!"

As they got inside and took off their shoes, Cricket came running down the stairs.

She put her hands behind her back, tilted her head to one side, and grinned cheesily.

"Hi, how are you?" she squeaked in a girly voice.

"Freezing," Willy said, pulling some snow out of his hair.

"Oh, that's great, because Victor just threw up three times while you were gone!"

Pebbles' jaw dropped. "IN MY ROOM?"

Cricket became serious and shook her head. "Nah, in the bathroom, gentleman that he is. But he's really feeling bad."

Before Pebbles could say another word, Cricket hurried upstairs and into Pebbles' bedroom.

After a moment, they could hear Victor shout something in gibberish. His voice was rough, a combination of a girl's voice and a boy's voice.

Holli burst out laughing. "Excuse me for my sense of humor, but, you gotta admit, it was REMOTELY funny…"

Pebbles shrugged, but she didn't smile. "I guess it was."

The group headed into the kitchen.

"I wonder which villain we'll get this time," Pebbles said, getting herself a donut.

Holli smirked. "Maybe HE'LL come!"

Pebbles stared at her blankly. After a moment, she made a face.

"Aw, HELL no!"

"Its probably going to happen!"

"If he does come here, I'm going to put him into the blender, make him into a smoothie, and sell him at 2 bucks a glass."

Willy scratched his head. "I don't get it."

Pebbles sipped her water and headed to the stairs. "You don't have to. It doesn't concern you."

She swept upstairs, her feet barely touching the stairs.

When she got up, she couldn't believe it…

Victor looked…different.

He was now entirely human. He was 6 feet tall, and his limbs had shortened. His eyes were no longer large and cartoony, but they were human size with shadows. The once unique hairstyle had become tousled dark brown hair, his nose was slightly protruding, and his mouth was, well…normal.

The only differences were that his hands were cat claws; something that could only be captured in drawings. His feet looked like something Pebbles would draw, and he had a large, red, bushy tail. Bunny ears came out of his head.

So he was not scarred, or pale, or gory…he was a mutant.

Erik looked up from the thermometer. "We can't see his temperature."

Amanda said nothing, but continued to survey Victor intently.

Pebbles walked over and knelt by Victor's side. Something was terribly, terribly wrong. Why were evil things coming to her world? Why were the main characters getting sick, rather than her original characters? Most importantly, what was the strange note doing there? There were so many questions that needed to be answered, and it didn't look like she'd find the answers to them.

Everything was bleak, grey…gifts really were curses.

"Here, we found this note," Pebbles said finally, handing it to Erik.

He scanned it quickly, his brows furrowed. "The letters look like they stand for something, but what?"

Cricket leaned over and looked. "Erik's right. It probably stands for something."

Willy and Holli walked into the room and joined the group in trying to decipher the code, trying their hardest to ignore Victor's random shouts, but it was increasingly hard.


"…so they must stand for characters, am I right?"

"You probably are, Miss Pebbles."

Erik smiled at her.

But then claws grasped his throat, and squeezed.

Erik gagged, clawing at the inhuman hands. Victor brought his face next to Erik's.

He gasped. "The dead one is coming for you…"

Holli put her hands over her mouth to muffle her shocked gasp. Her eyes were widened, and tears of fear were forming at the corner.

Victor took a rattling breath. "…the ruler…the chosen one…the imposter…"

The entire group was oblivious to the fact that Victor's body was slowly evaporating into thin air, starting at his feet. They were all focused at Erik's face, which was turning blue.

"You will see…"

Just then, Victor disappeared with a small pop. Erik took deep breaths, rubbing his throat as his face regained its natural color.

There was a snap at the door. Everyone whirled around to see who it was.

Victor was normal, stop motion animation style again, a smile on his lips.

Before he could say anything, Holli ran over and hugged him, crying.

Startled, Victor slowly put his arms around her...


A/N:
-eats chocolate cake-

…what?

Anyway, this is the last of the fated diseases…prepare for chaos! –trumpets sound-

Just so you know, the whole thing about Victor looking human thing was used to describe the fact that he didn't look stop motion animation style anymore, but rather like a normal human being.