Hello, guys! Welcome to chapter eight. Sorry it took so long again, life got in the way. Again.

This is the last chapter of this story. Thank you for reading it, for leaving reviews, and most else.

To I AM THE BEST BOB, you got that from google translate, didn't you? It means "Mistake of life".

Anyway, here's chapter eight. Enjoy!

Gumball Watterson woke up.

The first thing he saw was a blue ceiling.

Soon enough, he figured out he was lying in a bed.

Trying to lift his head up, it wasn't long until he realized he was wearing an oxygen mask.

Seeing this, he took a big breath in and out of relief.

He was alive.

Looking around, he saw it was still night.

So, he looked through the window, staring through it for a long while.

The city of Elmore looked more beautiful than ever before.

The way the streetlights were shining, as well as the rain, made the little blue cat feel calm.

It felt like nothing could go wrong anymore.

But then, he remembered something.

He had not yet told his mother that he had found the letter.

Looking back at the rain, he felt sad again.

None of this could now be undone.

"Gumball...?" was suddenly heard from somewhere.

Gumball got chills for a moment, then looked around.

"I'm here," was whispered.

Gumball then turned his head to look near the door of the room he was in.

"Who's that?" he whispered, a little worried.

"It's me," the voice whispered back, calmly.

Then, the figure slowly approached the blue cat. Gumball was a little frightened right now. Until he saw clearly who it was.

"Penny..."

It was his beautiful shape-shifter girlfriend. But instead of her usual yellow glow, she glowed blue, to match her boyfriend's fur color.

"I was so worried, Gumball," Penny told him. "I thought... I thought you wouldn't make it," she said, starting to cry. "Your parents came here for you, you don't understand how worried they are..."

She kept explaining it all. But Gumball knew it all already. He had seen the state that his parents, as well as everybody else that had come here, were in when he was a ghost.

So, he just listened to her speak. She had a beautiful voice. She also looked gorgeous in her blue glow.

At one moment, while she was talking, Gumball said:

"Penny."

Penny stopped talking.

"Yes?" she replied.

"I love you," was all Gumball said. Penny smiled.

"I love you too, Gumball," Penny said back, kissing him in the forehead. Then, she took his left hand. "Are you feeling okay?" she asked him.

"Yes," Gumball simply answered.

Penny smiled, hugging him.

The hug lasted for a good minute.

"You should probably get some sleep," Penny said afterwards. Gumball nodded.

Penny just kissed him in the forehead one more time.

"See you in the morning," she said, letting go of his hand, exiting the room.

As Gumball watched his girlfriend leave, he soon fell asleep, feeling completely peaceful.

"Wakey, wakey..."

Gumball heard the sound of somebody peacefully waking him up. He was still half-asleep. Then, he felt a kiss on his left cheek.

He woke up.

"Good morning, sweetie..." his mother whispered to him, her eyes fully tearful, but still smiling.

"Hi, mom..." Gumball said back. His mother was patting him on the head.

"How did you sleep?" Nicole asked him, as though this had been just another night for either one of them.

"Good, thanks," Gumball replied.

Nicole hugged him tight. Then, she cried. Not tears of joy, though. Tears of pain. From all that had happened the previous night.

"I heard something about the social service coming to take you away," Nicole said painfully. "Is that true?"

Gumball didn't know how to answer this question. He didn't want to hurt his mother by telling her what had really happened. But he would have to do it later, for an entirely different reason. Even he himself wasn't sure how or why this all happened.

"I..." he began, trying to conceive a reasonable sentence, "I was..."

But he didn't know how.

Just then, somebody else knocked on the door.

Both blue cats turned around to see who it was.

It was two pink bunnies who were also part of Gumball's family.

"Dad?"

"Hi, son-"

"GUMBALL!" yelled the smaller bunny, running towards Gumball and jumping right into his hug, crying.

"Hi, Anais."

"I thought I would never see you again," Anais wept.

"No, no, no..." Gumball comforted his little sister. "I'm here..."

As a matter of fact, the blue cat was more concerned about his little sister's safety than his own, so he had to ask:

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Anais replied through tears.

"Good," Gumball sighed in relief. "That's all I wanted to know."

Next moment, several people came in, talking to each other.

"But I'm telling you, they don't have those kinds of doors-"

"That doesn't change anything-"

"How not? You can climb several fe- Gumball!"

Tobias, Alan and Carmen all rushed inside to see their classmate.

"Dude!" Tobias exclaimed. "You made it! Do you realize how cool you've just become? This is brilliant!"

"Huh?" Gumball reacted, thinking for a moment about how this really was kind of neat.

"Gumball," Alan spoke next, "I brought you something. To make you feel better inside, if I can't outside."

What Alan had brought was a set of comic books. Gumball did, in fact, feel a little better after seeing those.

"I know you immerse yourself into it," the balloon added.

"Thanks, Alan, but actually..." Gumball began, switching his look to all the people in the room for a second, then back at Alan, "I need to ask Carmen something."

Alan's eyes widened in confusion.

"Okay..." he said slowly, letting his cactus girlfriend approach the blue cat.

Knowing exactly what Gumball was going to ask her, given what had happened a few days earlier, Carmen didn't have to say anything. She just looked at him.

"Did you do as I asked you?" was all Gumball asked her.

After a second of silence:

"Yes," she answered.

"And what did they say?" Gumball asked.

"They said they love me too," Carmen simply answered.

Gumball sighed.

"Thank you," he finished.

"You're welcome, I guess," Carmen replied.

A little more time passed in silence. Gumball's mother was fondling him by the head, which made Gumball feel easier. His family was crying tears of joy.

Then:

"Mr. Watterson?"

Somebody else entered the room.

"Ah, there you are..."

"Oh, hi, principal Brown..." Gumball said in slight confusion. But as the furry slug approached the blue cat, Gumball became more and more nervous, wondering what either one of them would say.

"Mr. Watterson," began principal Brown sadly, " I don't know how to tell you thi-"

But to break this moment, somebody's cellphone rang.

It was Nicole's cellphone.

She quickly answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mrs. Mom," was heard from the other side.

"Oh my gosh, Darwin!" Nicole exclaimed in relief. Everyone else in the room, since they had heard what had happened to the goldfish, looked at each other, mostly in confirmation and relief. "Where are you?!"

"I'm home," Darwin answered, relatively calmly. "Where is everybody?"

"We're at the hospital," Nicole replied quickly. "Darwin, honey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," the goldfish said, not yet knowing that his family knew what had happened to him. That is, until Nicole said:

"Principal Brown told us what happened to you."

That's when Darwin stopped. So, they knew.

He didn't know how to respond to this.

"Well," he said, to say at least something, "I got back home."

Nicole sighed in relief. All of her kids were now safe.

"So..." Darwin said, "...I'm going to the hospital, apparently... See you there..."

"Yes, honey," Nicole whispered. "Bye."

And then she hung up.

Most people there then looked back at principal Brown, him being the one that this phone call had interrupted.

He paused for a moment, since he no longer needed to say part of what he had wanted to.

Fortunately, there was the other part.

"Mr. Watterson," he spoke back to Gumball, "what I wanted to say was; Ms. Simian has been arrested for what she tried to do to you and your siblings. That is all."

Gumball gasped. He wasn't really fond of Ms. Simian, but he certainly didn't want something like this to happen to her.

"Oh..." was all he said.

"The doctors say you'll be able to walk in two weeks," principal Brown added.

"Actually," Gumball suddenly said, "can I talk to my mom, please?"

"Sure, go ahead," the furry slug replied in confusion, not even moving.

Gumball noticed that everyone else was still there, not quite having gotten the point.

"I mean, just the two of us," Gumball added.

Everyone else got it now.

"Ohhh..." and went out the room, going back to their discussions.

"But don't you think it would be different if they used a ladder-"

"Nooo, that's not how it goes-"

"I think you would be overdone if you tried that-"

And Gumball and Nicole were finally left alone in the hospital room.

"Mom..." the little blue cat spoke to his mother. "I want to ask you something. And I want you to answer honestly."

"Okay..."

"And I don't mean, soften the answer just because I'm your son, or anything like that."

He then paused for a moment. Nicole did too, thinking about it.

"I want an honest answer," Gumball said once more.

Nicole took a deep breath in and out, not quite sure she was ready for this. But it would've probably happened sooner or later.

"Alright," Nicole said. From this one word, Gumball knew his mother really would answer honestly, but he didn't show it.

A few more seconds passed in silence, until Gumball swallowed his saliva, took a deep breath in and out...

And asked her.

"Are you disappointed in me?"

Nicole just looked at her son, and then closed her eyes in shame.

Gumball could tell what her answer was, but he needed to hear it.

Nicole sighed.

"Yes," she answered. "A lot."

There was a much longer period of silence after Nicole said that. Gumball's eyes teared up again.

"I wish I could say different, honey," Nicole added.

Gumball just sighed. His mother slowly patted him by the head.

"Why did you want to know that anyway?" she asked him, trying to comfort him.

That was when Gumball realized he would have to tell her that he knew. And he had no idea how she would take it.

So he breathed in and out once more, finally saying:

"I know you're better off without me."

Nicole's eyes widened in shock. She never thought she would hear her son say something like that.

"What?" she exclaimed in confusion. Then, trying to make it right: "Look, honey, just because I'm disappointed in you doesn't mean I don't love you," she said, with a smile on her face, still patting her son by the head.

Gumball waited for a few more seconds to pass.

"I know you love me," he responded, "but don't act like this is the life you wanted."

Nicole was now left in utter confusion.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, not knowing at all what her son wanted to say.

That was the moment.

That was the moment Gumball had to tell her.

So he took a deep breath in and out.

Waited for a few more seconds of silence.

And said it.

"I found the letter."

But Nicole still didn't understand. She had written numerous letters during her lifetime, so she couldn't possibly know which one her son was referring to.

"What letter?" she asked him.

Gumball swallowed his saliva, and said:

"Dear caretakers."

At first, no reaction.

But half a second later, Nicole remembered which letter began with those two words.

And she felt horrible.

Her son had found out that she wanted to abandon him.

And she was just looking at him telling her that, at this very moment.

Everything was coming clear to her now. Why he had been indisposed for the last few days. Why he hadn't caused any real problem around the house in that time. Why he didn't disobey any of her orders.

It was because he was heartbroken.

Way beyond repair.

And no amount of hugs, times said sorry, or excuses, could ever make up for it.

"You..." Nicole tried to say something. "...You... you found that letter?" she finished, also tearing up.

"Yes," Gumball answered.

"No..." Nicole instantly collapsed on her knees, with tears in her eyes, trying to comfort her son as much as she could. "No, no, no, no... Gumball, sweetie... I..." she tried to say something.

But just by looking at her heartbroken eldest son, she knew that nothing she said would make him feel any better at all.

She just cried.

"Look, mom," Gumball then began, "I-"

But then, his mother hugged him as tight as possible.

"Don't say a word, please," she reassured him.

With this hug, Nicole tried to say all the excuses, how sorry she was that she did that.

The hug lasted for a long, long time.

Both blue cats cried.

A lot.

With nothing to comfort either one of them.

"I'm sorry..." Nicole whispered. "I'm so sorry, sweetie..." Weeping a little more, she added: "You know I would do anything for you."

Gumball also wept now.

"Yes..." he whispered back, "...yes, I do..."

They looked at each other again, full of tears in their eyes.

"I'm sorry too, mom," Gumball added.

"Don't be," Nicole comforted her son, patting him by the head a little more.

Gumball sighed.

A few seconds passed in silence.

"Can I tell you a little secret?" Nicole told her son, with a smile on her face.

"Yes?" Gumball replied.

Then, Nicole leaned closer to her son, kissed him in the forehead, and told him:

"You're my favorite child."

From this, Gumball felt a lot better.

He even smiled.

He was so happy to hear that, that the tears he had been crying out turned into tears of joy.

Nicole continued:

"The day you were born was the best day of my life."

Gumball actually felt joyous to hear all this. He actually felt happy to know this was how he made his mother happy.

"I can't even begin to tell you how it was like to hold a tiny you in my hands," Nicole continued happily. "You were the cutest little baby. Sometimes I wish it could've stayed like that forever."

"Yeah..." Gumball said with a smile, trying to remember his earliest moments for a second.

Another moment of silence. Nicole kept on remembering all those moments she had with baby Gumball.

"You see..." she continued, sighing, "I... genuinely believed that every moment I spent with you would be like the first time I held you in my arms." Then, she paused. "I thought I would never have any hard times with you."

Gumball just listened to her. He once again felt bad, knowing that what his mother wanted to do was his fault.

"Sadly..." Nicole simply spoke, "...that wasn't the case." She sighed again, adding: "That wasn't the case at all."

Neither she or Gumball had to say anything from this moment on. Both knew what had happened after Nicole had figured that all those years ago.

The little blue cat felt empathy towards his mother, though.

Still, remaining silent would not have been enough.

Gumball just looked at his mother, who was still crying, stroking his head.

"You should have done it," he said.

This left Nicole shocked.

"Please, don't say that, honey," she said, still in tears. "I know I can't change that, but-"

"You don't understand, mom," Gumball went on, "...You don't have to do this anymore."

"Do what, sweetie?" Nicole asked, a little confused.

Gumball swallowed his saliva, and then explained:

"You don't have to pretend that this is what you wanted anymore. You don't have to come home angry every day and yell at me. I understand why you do it now." He stopped for a moment, to catch his breath, then continued: "You made this decision, knowing full well you would suffer from it, and here you are. Suffering. Working your life off just so I can have something to eat, and you get nothing in return. I know you're not happy."

Nicole tried to counter this, but her son was right.

Due to this one single decision, her life had gone way out of any direction she had ever intended. She may have cared for her son in great amounts, but this whole situation where she had to do endless, mindless work, over and over again, so that not only she, but her whole family, could even live, did not make her any happy at all.

Both she and Gumball were fully aware of it now.

"Mom..." Gumball said.

"Yes, sweetie?" his mother responded, still comforting him.

Gumball waited for a few seconds, sighing. Then:

"I'm sorry I didn't turn out the way you wanted."

Nicole just looked at her son, feeling like she completely missed her life path.

Like she had made every single mistake she could have ever made.

She felt defeated.

She sighed.

Then, she leaned towards her son again, and kissed him in the forehead.

"It's okay," she said calmly. "I'm sorry too."

In a conclusion of all this, the two blue cats hugged each other.

"I love you, mom," Gumball told his mother.

"I love you too, sweetie," Nicole said back, kissing her son in the forehead once again.

Two weeks later, Gumball fully recovered from the car hit, and was able to walk again.

When he first got on the school bus, his classmates nearly hailed him.

The moment Penny saw him on the bus, she ran right in his hug, not letting go for almost the entire ride.

Gumball had told his classmates about all that had happened that night, but was careful enough to leave out the part with the letter. Everyone was heavily surprised by how he managed to survive this.

Even he was.

Since Ms. Simian was no longer the teacher of Gumball's class, Mr. Small took the job. Naturally, he was also ecstatic to know what had happened during those few days. He deemed the blue cat highly spiritually strong for going through a night like that and still living.

Gumball thanked him for that.

However, something rather unusual happened that day when he got back home from school.

His mother, who was already home from work, immediately greeted him:

"Oh, hi, sweetie," she said. "Hey, can I speak to you alone?"

Gumball got a little confused.

"Okay..." he said, both of them going upstairs and in his bedroom, while Darwin and Anais went to the kitchen to eat dinner.

The moment Nicole closed the bedroom door, Gumball spoke:

"Look, I know tha-"

But Nicole immediately hugged him.

Really, really tight.

Gumball was surprised by such an action.

So he hugged her back.

It lasted long.

Very, very long.

Nicole finally cried her heart out.

"I love you, Gumball," Nicole said. "I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry I yelled at you for taking care of your sister. I'm sorry I chased you when you just wanted candy. I'm sorry I got angry at you for not taking the trash out. I'm sorry I told you off at the mall. I'm sorry for everything..." she still cried, and Gumball just carefully listened. "I love you so much, sweetheart."

"I love you too, mom," Gumball said back, also starting to cry.

Both of them sighed peacefully, now that everything was alright.

Nicole kissed her son in the forehead one last time, before both of them went back downstairs for dinner.

Gumball was relieved to know he could return to his normal life again.

He was happy again.

THE END

There it is. The end of the story. I hope you enjoyed it. If you feel something is off, please let me know. Thank you for all the reviews again, and leave some more. See you!