Welcome to chapter 21! The last one kinda left on a downer, huh? Well, I can't promise much from here, but don't worry they won't be with CONSTANT suffering. Just.. A little bit in amounts y'know? x)

Anyways, enjoy the chapter!

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The town didn't feel that safe anymore. Its environments felt unsettling, intense, even terrifying. However there was no avoiding going back to it for the two.

Gumball/Darwin had been warily following Rob through Elmore, occasionally coughing into their sweater sleeve, which by now had been stained with bits of red. They snuck past many buildings and cars, until none were in sight. Dust and dirt covered the ground now, as a rusted gate came into view.

Rather confused, the two paused, to which the cyclops had noticed. "..Where are you taking us?.."

Rob sighed, as he led them into a rather large tear in the old fence. "My place. The um.. Dump."

"..If you live here.. Then where's-"

"The place I sleep? There's an old shed that isn't in use."

The three arrived to the aforementioned building, its gray paint peeling off in areas. Rob moved old junk away from the door, opening it for G/D who cautiously entered. "I'm sorry that it's not much, but it's.. A place to rest at least. Nobody bothers ever coming here besides people dumping off their garbage in the front."

He closed the door with a swift click, turning his attention over to the two. "Do you need anything? Well.. Temporary things? I have a mini fridge in here that still works."

"Um.. Yeah.. A snack or two would be nice.." Darwin replied, as they sat themselves onto a cozy looking old, purple recliner. Glancing at their sleeve, they felt an utter uneasiness. The wound wasn't healed. What would they do now?

"Here." Rob plucked a package of chocolate cookies from the fridge, handing them over, to which G/D gratefully took. He noticed how uncomfortable they were sitting there, fidgeting with their hands as they ate. "..Are you okay?.."

"Y-Yeah no worries! Uh.. Ok maybe not.. I-It's just.. Um.. Paranoia I guess?" The two gazed down at the floor. Images of fire haunted them. "..We shouldn't stay here long.."

"Hey, it's alright, like I said they won't find you here." The cyclops said, trying to reassure their worries. "It's not safe to just go back out there with nowhere to go."

"..You're right.. Sorry.."

"So, um.." Rob sat down on a upside down crate, resting his hands at his knees. "What exactly happened to you two?.. I haven't really... Did any villain planning in a while, so.. coming back to this is pretty off-putting."

"We know, kinda used to it." Gumball said. "Well.. I guess if you want the whole gist of it all, creepy mad scientist dude killed us and turned us into this thing, Elmore doesn't like it, so some X guy showed up and murdered most of the experimented kids, and.. Now has our little sister and friends and wants to kill us."

"That's.. A lot to take in." Rob blinked a few times, shifting on the crate. It creaked under him. "So was that why you were in the woods? To out-run them?"

"Kind of.. We got shot however long ago it was and this nice mom and kid took us in for a bit to heal up, but..." The two froze, hands digging into the chair's material. Its padding eventually torn with the impending heavy grip, taking the cyclops by surprise for a moment. So much fire. "...T-They didn't make it..."

They soon coughed harshly into their sleeve once more, bits of blood missing and landing onto the old chair instead. "S-Sorry.. The coughing's been happening since we were at that family's house..."

"No, it's okay, the chair's not very good anyways." Rob understood their meaning of their whole explanation well. If anything, it gave the answer to why they were so terrified when he found them. He had assumed it was just the angry group, but unfortunately it seemed way more than he thought. The cyclops stood up, coming over as he noticed the bandages on them, as well as observing the blood. "Have you been really injured lately?"

"Oh no, those bandages have been there," Darwin replied. "The creepy guy didn't do a good job patching some of the stitching up, we can't really help the bleeding there."

"Okay, well what about that?" He pointed towards the visible substance, his concern growing. "You shouldn't be coughing up blood from bandaged wounds like that."

"Right, that.. Uh.. We kinda got stabbed with a pitchfork yesterday? Honestly don't know if it's been yesterday or not."

"STABBED?! Has it even been at all thoroughly checked?!" Rob stood up, shock filling his expression, as well as heavy worry. "I'm not a doctor, but there could be damaged organs in there that you two haven't looked at yet! For all we know you're DYING as we speak!"

Gumball/Darwin only looked at him with fright, scrunched up into the chair after hearing such sentence.

He exhaled, rubbing the back of his blocky head with regret. "Sorry I yelled. It's just.. Very serious. It needs to be dealt with shortly, otherwise well.. You won't be able to save your sister or your friends."

"..It's... It's okay.." The two uttered, gaze back onto the floor. "...We didn't know.. It's.. Honestly pretty helpful you told us this now than later.. But.."

"We can't really check it out, per say.." Gumball continued, rather hesitant. "..Like we said, most of Elmore hates us. Who knows if doctors are willing to do anything besides murdering us right then and there?"

"You have a point." Rob thought to himself for a moment, as did G/D. "Well, in that case, you would probably need something to.. Kind of fix it. And no, just bandaging it up won't solve the problem. I think you'll need something... I guess that fits your undeadly description right now?"

"..Undeadly..." Darwin suddenly lit up, startling his other half. "Ooh I know! Carrie! She could help us out with unnatural stuff!"

"Alright, that sounds like a good plan." The cyclops made his way to the door, as did G/D. "..You might have to lead the way. I don't exactly know where that ghost lives."

"No problem, I've been there countless times. Gumball kinda too, for better or for worse." Darwin said, as the two took lead out of the dump.

The air had gradually become colder, old trees swaying as the wind blew heavily, darkness around it. It was Carrie's house all right.

Gumball/Darwin walked down the familiar stone path, their nemesis friend following behind with utmost alertness, as were they. The two looked up, seeing the mansion coming into view, just as haunting and old as ever. It groaned and creaked with the weather.

"Here we are," They briefly stopped, observing the building. "She should be home.."

"I'm starting to see why she doesn't seem to get much friends coming over." Rob remarked, as he stepped over what remained of a skeleton hand. He decided not to question where it came from.

G/D sprinted up the steps, glancing around the area warily, in case anyone else unwelcome was there. Thankfully, none in sight.

Rob began to lift up the rather big, heavy doorknocker, slightly struggling. Though before he could finish, the two took it out of his hands easily, and gave a good knock. "I feel I should question why you're suddenly so.."

"Strong? Just good ol' Frankenstein stuff, no worries." Gumball replied, as they let go of it, the doorknocker going back into place with a slight thud. "Carrieee! Come on open up!"

"Dude, be a little polite." Darwin scolded him.

"Yeah?" The familiar ghost phased through the door, typical resting face. Her expression changed a bit. "Oh hey guys, what's up? Uh.. Besides the madhouse going on in Elmore."

"They need help," Rob cut in, before the two could speak. "Apparently they got stabbed with something a while ago and it's not fully healed, and they need to get back in town in time to get Anais and whoever's in danger."

"Uh.. Yeah. Do you have something that can like.. Weed it off a little?" Gumball added.

"First off, that's a lot. Second, I think I do yeah. Come on in." Carrie opened the old door, which groaned under its movement.

The four ascended up the flight of stairs to the dimly lit hallway, eventually landing into a dark room, full of musty books. Cobwebs covered parts of the area, as the wind howled outside the old window.

"Alright, so what we're looking for is a temporary heal.." She floated over to a section of a shelf, taking out materials quickly to search. After a few moments, she found one of interest, flipped to the desired page. "Ah, here it is. Potion for limited heal. Lucky for you, I think there's some around here somewhere on that shelf."

G/D watched as Carrie browsed through the bottles, the substances all with glowing, almost glittery colors to them. However, it seemed she was also looking for something else too, muttering under her breath. They decided not to acknowledge it. She knew what she was doing. Probably.

"One potion," The ghost came over, handing the two a small vile with a golden yellow liquid. "It should stop the coughing business and such for a short while. About maybe two hours or so, it should give you enough time to let you do what you need."

"Thanks Carrie." Both said, as they opened the potion and gulped it down, slightly soured by the taste. "You're a life saver. Well, literally."

"No problem, but I'm not done yet."

Gumball/Darwin raised an eyebrow. "Wait what?"

"Did you guys really expect to walk into town and just easily get them out of trouble with no harm done? They'll kill you first chance you're spotted." Carrie turned to pick up another bottle, revealing a green colored substance, which sloshed slightly as it moved. She tossed it to them, to which they thankfully caught easily. "This is a potion of illusion. It'll disguise your appearance to be something else for a while, which in your case, will be really helpful."

"How long will it last exactly?.." Gumball asked, showing a hint of concern.

"Most likely around the same time as the healing one, but I can't guarantee it. For all we know it could last a half hour. I'm sure you won't need it longer than that though." She replied.

"Okay, here goes.." The two uttered, eyes closed, while slowly taking off the cork. As they doused down the liquid, they couldn't help but fear for the results, unsure what was happening. Would they look vastly different? How would it effect their voices? Taking a deep breath, as Carrie brought over a mirror, they finally opened their eyes. They didn't feel any different, but they knew there was change.

Indeed there was.

For a moment, they felt at loss for words. They only stared at the reflection, the stranger staring right back. This normal stranger, unaffected by any horrors or tragedy. One who could live among those easily without problem, unfearing of death.

Their body shape had pretty much remained the same, with the minor change of Darwin's fin replaced with a second paw. Orange patches decorated their dull blue, completely covered, scruffy looking fur, seen on the tips of their largely fluffy pointed ears, hands, and right eye. Their whiskers had gone to the other side of the head as well, and their tail was more fluffy than usual, its stitchings gone from view. Three freckles decorated across each cheek, and they sported a cream colored muzzle with a red nose. The two's clothes were changed for obvious reasons as well, with it being a black t-shirt over a white puffy long sleeved shirt, dark grey jeans with its button not viewable, instead showing short lighter gray cuffs on the bottom, and a pair of short red and white sneakers, a black star in each circle of the shoe.

G/D's attention however, landed directly on their eyes. No longer pupilless. Black eyes looked back at them, just as if nothing ever happened to them. Normal. Before they could stop themselves, they could feel tears streaming down their face.

"Woah." Rob gave a look of surprise, the form feeling more alien to him than how the two were without it.

Carrie hugged G/D, feeling sympathetic, as they hugged back. "..It's probably a very huge thing to take in, I get it.."

"..W-" The two's eyes widened. "W-We can talk like before again?.."

"In the disguise yes, it's tied with it." She replied, letting them go a few seconds later. "..Okay, how do you feel? Is there anything wrong with it?"

"No, no it's really.. Really good it's just.. Really really weird.." Gumball/Darwin glanced back into the mirror, slowly reaching to touch their face. The fur felt like it wasn't theirs. It wasn't regardless, but seeing it there was.. Bizarre to say the least.

"Alright, I'd say you're fairly ready for the rest." Carrie led the three out back to the front of the home, her expression shifting to be of concern. "Good luck out there. Come back in one piece, okay?"

"Can't make any promises but we'll see what we can do." Gumball said. Thankfully their voices sounded pretty much as if it were last year again, and knowing him he could make a decent act with it.

"Thanks again for the help Carrie!" Darwin kissed her on the cheek, making sure to remain aware of the other half's presence having to be with it as well.

"No problem, see you guys." She waved, watching them head out down the cemetery path.

"I think my work here is pretty much done," Rob said, beginning to change direction. "You guys good from here?"

"Yup." The two gave a thumbs up, taking their leave as well. "See you whenever you try to destroy us again sometime after all this?"

The cyclops nodded with a slight smile. "Until we meet again. Take care."

With that, he left, leaving Gumball/Darwin to head out alone. The two exhaled, picking up their pace. Many thoughts still raced through their mind, but they knew to push it aside for now.

It was time to face the danger.