Hello folks, it's time for chapter 3! Things start to get real interesting of course. :) Enjoy!

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The morning seemed to go by painfully slowly, as Gumball sat on the couch, crossing his arms in annoyance. He was wearing Anais' oversized Daisy the Donkey onesie, much to his embarrassment, in order to protect himself from the sunlight. He wasn't stupid, he knew it would look suspicious if the house's windows were all closed and blocked out, so it was this or dragging his bed sheet over his head all day.

Unfortunately the onesie, although requiring less effort, had one major flaw…his face was still completely exposed. It had only been an hour or two and he'd already accidentally burnt his cheeks and nose too many times to count. Would he really have to live like this the rest of his life? Paranoid to even turn his head in fear of being hit with an agonizing sting of pain?! How was he meant to survive like this!?

It didn't help that no one in his family believed him. Sure, they believed that there was indeed something wrong with him, but despite the clear physical evidence, a vampire bite was just too much for any of them to accept, leaving him to deal with this situation completely on his own..

Pair that with Anais completely mocking him and laughing her way onto the bus once she saw him in the onesie earlier and he was left in an awful mood. All because of that stupid vampire ruining his entire life!

From the corner of his eye, Gumball could see Darwin sit down beside him, giving a look of worry. The feline didn't react much, his gaze returning to the television screen in front of him. "Darwin? What are you doing here? I thought you guys went to school already."

"Anais did,but I thought it would be better for me to stay and keep you company."

"What about Mom? No way she's okay with you completely skipping school like this, dude."

"She…doesn't know." The goldfish sheepishly admitted, rubbing the back of his head.

"What?" Gumball turned to look at his brother with a raised brow. "Then how did you-"

"I asked Mr. Dad after she left for work."

Gumball remained quiet for a moment, staring at his brother in utter disbelief as he comprehended what he'd done.

"Dude…". Finally he spoke up again, his voice a mix of fear and sympathy. "...you only have hours left to live now, you know that? Once Mom gets home and realizes what you did, that's it. You're dead."

"I know." Darwin replied entirely unphased. "But it was worth it."

"What? Why?" The kitten raised his brow again. "I would've been totally fine by myself for a few hours."

"C'mon, we both know that's not true."" His brother's tone suddenly shifted, his concern obvious.

"What do you mean?" Gumball asked with a sudden nervousness. Where was he going with this…?

The goldfish frowned, as he hesitated to continue. "..I know you're telling the truth. About the whole vampire bite thing."

"Oh, really? How could you tell?" There was a hint of sarcasm in the feline's voice. "The obviously real and very painful bite on my neck, or the fact I have to wear this stupid onesie to stop myself from essentially burning alive?"

Darwin didn't seem to catch on, simply shrugging... "We're best friends, dude. I know when you're being honest." Gumball didn't answer, turning his focus back to the screen. It was nice knowing that at least someone believed him but it didn't distract too much from the pain he was feeling. Even if Darwin did believe him, it wasn't as if there was anything he could do to actually help him.

"Hey," Darwin put a fin on his shoulder, getting the cat to finally look at him. "I'm sure it's not all bad.. I mean yeah, I guess you gotta be really careful now, but you can still kinda go outside, right? Plus you can go out as much as you want during the night! And you probably have a bunch of cool powers like turning into a bat or something!"

"Wait, what?" Gumball perked his head up. "Oh yeah, I forgot that's a thing with vampires in stories! Do you really think I have powers though?"

The goldfish smiled, seeing the other begin to smile back. At least he wasn't too down in the dumps. "Well, there's only one way to find out…give it a go!"

For a few minutes, they attempted to see if Darwin's bat transformation idea would work. Gumball concentrated as best as he could, even jumping off a stool and flapping his arms a few times to see if it would instinctively kick in, but.. Nothing. Not one single change.

"Dagnabbit.." The feline pulled himself back up after the tenth time falling off the stool, his sour mood returning. "What's the point of being a vampire if I can't even turn into a bat!? That's so lame!"

"I guess it's 'cause you're a cat already." Darwin replied, patting him on the back with sympathy. "Probably would've looked really weird anyways."

"Yeah, you're right.." Gumball let out a sigh, as he sat back down on the sofa. "Do you wanna just watch TV or something? I don't really feel like thinking about all this stupid vampire stuff at the moment.."

"If you want to, yeah. Let me just go and get some snacks."

"Sure thing, And um, hey…thanks for staying with me dude. I appreciate it."

"Awww, you're welcome Gumb-AAAAALL" Darwin suddenly screamed as, distracted by his chat with Gumball, he'd slipped on a magazine someone had left on the floor..

"DARWIN!"

Seeing his brother hurtling toward the coffee table everything seemed to slow down around Gumball as, without even thinking, he lurched forward at an incredible speed and caught the fish just before his head was about to crash into the hard wooden table below him.

"It's okay, I got you!" As everything returned to normal the feline let out a sigh of relief, easing the now shaking fish back onto the sofa.

"Dude…w-what …what was that!?" Darwin turned to his brother in shock. "I was…you…you caught me before I even had a chance to register what was happening! You were like a blur!"

"I don't…I-I-I don't know!" Gumball too began shaking, looking down at his paws in a mix of fear and confusion."I just…I saw you falling and next thing I knew you were in my arms!"

"Dude…" Darwin gasped, eyes widening. "It must have been some special vampire instinct thing or something!"

"You mean…?" The feline copied his reaction, as the realization began to set in. "...oh my god…"

Looking up at his brother, he couldn't help the small smile creeping onto his face. "..you were right…I do have powers!"

It was after school, Anais making her way to the town's local library after stopping at the convenience store to grab a few things. She bought a packet of instant noodles and a box of pain medication, for Gumball to hopefully help him feel a little better, as well as a bar of his favorite chocolate. She considered it as a little apology for laughing at and teasing him earlier in the morning, when he was clearly not in the mood for her usual playful banter.

She couldn't deny how curious, no, worried she was about her older brother at the moment.. Seeing him so freaked out earlier this morning…Could he be telling the truth? Was he really… turning into a vampire? Or was he just getting confused from some flu-induced fever dream?

Arriving at the Library, she pushed open the doors to the building, giving a small greeting to the librarian as she began walking around, searching for all she could on the topic. It didn't matter if it was some fictional teen drama or some guy's ramblings about it, she was going to look into it.

Several hours went by, as she read over everything from potential symptoms, to signs of the creatures and their history, at least as far back as she could find. At one point, feeling a slight dread by it all, she even read the passages detailing how to weaken and kill them. The bunny had no idea if she truly needed that info or not, but.. It was better safe than sorry.

As she took in countless novels, old articles, and strange books, Anais began to feel more conflicted than ever. Everything Gumball had described seemed to line up with what she was reading, but…could he be right? Could vampires really exist? Could he really be becoming one?

…no. They couldn't. There was no way, right? Surely Gumball had just…read some of these stories and gotten things confused, that's all. That was a much more reasonable explanation than the alternative, anyway…

Looking up the library's clock the bunny was shocked by how late it was. Maybe she had spent a little too long reading into this stupid little fantasy of her brother's. Best to just get home before her mother got worried…

Grabbing a few more books to borrow, Anais headed over to the librarian's desk to get them signed out, before putting them in her backpack and beginning to make her way back home. As she walked, thoughts of doubt began to swirl in her mind, nagging and tearing away at her.

What if Gumball really was telling the truth? What if he really was becoming a vampire? Would he hurt them? Try to feed on them? Would he act any different? Would he turn into some emotionless bloodsucking beast!?

She shook her head. 'No stop! I can't think like this! I have no reason to believe any of what he's said is true right now! He's probably just delusional from whatever illness he has!'

She hesitated. 'Still better check on him when I get back home…just in case…'

As the sun went down and Nicole and Anais returned home from their daily activities, everything finally seemed to have returned to normal in the Watterson household. Well, as normal as they could be considering the circumstances.

With the evening now started, Gumball, after probably the longest day of his entire life, was finally able to shed his onesie and freely navigate the house without the paranoia of a stray beam of sunlight catching him off guard. Never in his entire life had the feline been so happy to see the moon shine amongst the starry night sky.

Unfortunately he hadn't had a chance to experiment any further with his abilities as, though he and Darwin were eager to do so, their father had woken up and the two agreed that it was best to keep this from the rest of the family for the time being. Gumball wanted to get a better understanding and control over his capabilities before revealing them to anyone else.

Unbeknownst to him, however, the rest of the family had already begun to pick up on the further peculiar symptoms and occurrences the young kitten was beginning to exhibit.. For starters, he'd started to complain about his teeth hurting, and Richard had noticed how they were visibly much longer and sharper than they'd ever been before. Even his claws were growing unusually long, the feline having to clip them months earlier than he usually did.

He'd also been drinking a concerning amount of water, almost going for a glass every half an hour. Anais, who was sitting at the kitchen table reading one of her new books, eventually took notice. Putting it down, she crossed her arms and gave him a concerned stare through the dividing window. "Gumball, that's your tenth glass of water today. What's going on with you?"

"I don't know. I'm just super thirsty for some reason. No matter how much I drink I'm still not satisfied.. It's like the Sahara Desert in my mouth."

"Probably just your body using up a lot of fluids to fight whatever this illness is. Just get a flask and keep it filled up with water. It'll save you having to keep going back and forth to the sink."

"Hmm, good idea. Though I already told you, it's not an illness."

"It's that or your vampire theory. And I don't know about you, but an illness from being out in the cold and rain sounds much more reasonable than you becoming some vampire."

"I know what I saw, Anais. Even if you don't believe me, I know what happened to me."

"Does it really matter? Either way you need to keep hydrated. And a flask of water is the best way to do that. I think there's one in the cupboard under the sink."

Searching through said cupboard, Gumball soon found the flask in question. "Oh, right. Thanks."

"You're welcome…" Anais smiled, picking her book back up and going back to her reading. God, the things her brother came up with…

Nicole had had a weird experience with her son after work. Wanting to try and brush away her worries, she'd decided to turn the TV on and watch something. She'd focus her attention to the news broadcast for a while, something about a bike in a tree. As she watched, Gumball soon entered the room, beginning to hold his ears, looking in absolute pain.

"Mom, can you turn that down?.. It's really loud.."

She raised an eyebrow, looking at the settings, only to find it was at a completely normal volume. Reluctantly, she did so, though her concern by now was growing immensely.

There was no doubt that everyone had a feeling something was wrong. Even Penny, as she had texted her boyfriend that day when she had the chance, asking if he was alright after hearing he was sick. He had texted back, reassuring her he was fine, but even he knew that was a lie.

What was he going to do about this? Pretend to be sick forever? Would he even be able to show his face in town again? There was a lot on his plate at the moment.

He was very much still caught up in his thoughts when helping his mom prepare dinner. As he sliced the vegetables he was tasked with, he couldn't help but dwell on everything, unsure if he was even alright. There was a fear that still resided on the back of his head, looming ever so closer whenever more of his symptoms appeared. It was only a matter of time before eventually the rest of the family would find out, but.. Was he even ready for that?

Gumball blinked, realizing he didn't hear the crunch of the food anymore. Looking down at his work, the knife had sliced along his hand, blood dripping from it. The cat lifted it up, thankfully none having gotten onto the ingredients.

How had he not felt that? The feline raised his eyebrows, eyes widening at the cut. He should be in agony right now!

"Oh my gosh, sweetheart, are you alright?!" Nicole snapped him out of his thoughts as she ran over, studying his wound. "Hold on, I'll go get the first aid kit!"

As she raced out of the room and up to the bathroom, Gumball stood there a moment, glancing back down at his injury. He gasped as suddenly he saw the wound rapidly and painlessly heal before his eyes. The cut shrunk and closed up entirely, shortly followed by his fur regrowing and covering the spot back up completely.

He rubbed the spot with his other paw and felt nothing but the regular soft feeling of his fur. No scar, no scabs, nothing... It was almost as if the cut had never happened in the first place..

Yet another thing to add to the current plate of weirdness that was his life now...

Nicole came rushing back, raising an eyebrow as she noticed Gumball holding out and studying the now entirely uninjured paw. "What the?.."

"It's okay mom, I wasn't hurt." Gumball said, trying to quickly cover up this strange occurrence. He spotted tomatoes on his cutting board, eternally grateful for his newfound excuse. "See? It was just tomato juice I spilt over my hand, so I washed it off in the sink."

"B-But there was blood.. There was a cut! I saw it!"

The younger cat frowned, leading her away from the kitchen and into the living room. "You seem a little stressed Mom. Maybe you're just tired and seeing things."

"But, I…"

"Tell you what, how about I do the rest of the cooking, okay? You can rest."

"I.. Um… Okay.. You might be right.." Nicole let out a sigh, as she sat herself down at the couch, letting Gumball return to the meal. "Today's been really weird.."