The beautiful orange sky illuminated the ocean beyond his car. Tiny flecks of white, reflected from the setting sun, had danced in the waves, crashing into the cliff above. A road was strung along this cliff, masterfully woven between the palm trees to its left and the pacific ocean to its right. Gumball had been driving on this road for half an hour, but payed attention to none of the scenery. There was only one thing on his mind right now.

He emptily stared at the wide blue ocean, lost in his memories, before turning back to the street. It was completely desolate, save for him. And that isolation stung him and hurt him. This caused a domino effect in his mind. Before he knew it, a new wave of pain and sorrow shocked him, engulfed him, and trapped him. Gumball burst, unable to bear this horrible weight, and collapsed onto his steering wheel. His body racked in an uncontrollable storm of grief, himself sobbing helplessly. He felt so alone.

"Penny?" He warmly entered her hospital room, giving her a calm smile. "Been pretty roughed up, huh?"

"You don't say?" She let out a small laugh, her long brown hair waving as she giggled. "Sorry if I'm not as humorous as normal. I'm gonna be in here for a while and laughing just hurts my stomach." Gumball glanced down at her, the long shard of steel still buried within her. Its presence reminded him of what happened to her, and it deeply hurt him to see Penny in that state.

"Family not here?" He pondered while taking his white hoodie off, revealing a black t-shirt underneath. He looked at her curiously before she replied, "Sadly. My dad has a work thing right now, couldn't take mom and Polly to visit me today. But they'll be here tomorrow." She sighed and let her head fall back onto her white pillow.

He moved next to her and took a seat on the hospital stool, holding her hand. "You have to be okay, Penny. I don't know..." his voice faded into a whisper as he embraced her, gripping onto her and hugging her as if he'd lose her any second. His tears streamed down his face, dropping onto her hospital sheets as he kissed her forehead.

"I'll try," she lightly whispered. She weakly moved her left hand through his blue hair, smiling hopefully for his sake. He didn't know about the prognosis of her injury, and she felt it was better he didn't find out. After all, she wanted her final day with him to be joyous and loving.

"God, Penny, you don't know what you do to me." He pulled over at the side of the road, unable to drive while in his current state. There, he screwed his eyes shut and cried out to the world. Wouldn't somebody save him from this? He never knew true, unbearable loss before her death. Now he understood. It was cold and empty and lonely and dark.

"I can't do this without you. I don't want to." His shouts grew quieter as his tears rolled down his cheeks, splashing the asphalt below like dozens of tiny raindrops. A familiar silence set in, that brief period of solace before another painful thought stabs at his heart and wracks Gumball all over again. And again. And again...

"Gumball," Penny started in a hushed voice, "I've got something for you."

"Huh?" He rose from his thinking at her voice. They had been relaxing in comfortable stillness for a while, simply enjoying and feeling eachothers presence. "What is it?"

She motioned him to come closer and tugged at his right hand. Penny then reached into her bag, quaintly laying on top of the hospital bed stand. Her fingers fished for a small slip of film, and delicately pulled it out of the bag. She slipped it into his palm, Gumball's heart rising as he stared at the contents of the photo. It was an old picture of them from Sophomore Year of Highschool, after his sixteenth birthday. Gumball took Penny out to the beach, where she rested her body against his own and admitted words of love to him. Along with some "gestures" of romance to him.

He had wondered where that picture went! He was distraught for thinking he lost it, and here it was in her possession the entire time. He almost laughed at himself.

"No way! Penny, you're the best!" He almost went to crush her with a hug and kiss her passionately at that moment, but he remembered the reason she was there. He instead squeezed her hand and wrapped his arms around her neck, sinking into her without hitting her injured spots.

"Gumball! Gumball, stop! You're crushing me! Ow, ow, ow..." She lightheartedly giggled and felt a jolt of pain before putting her hand on Gumballs chest, playfully pushing him away. She looked at him in that moment with all the deep, real, companionship and love she had for him. He met her eyes and felt every ounce of love back.

Her voice was noticeably weaker today. It had always been since the crash, but it was peculiar that day Penny gave him the photo. He got a pang of worry for her. "Penny, have you been doing fine?" The late afternoon sun glared through the hospital room's window and shone on them. Penny's eyes flickered with an emotion Gumball couldn't pinpoint before she spoke again.

"Yeah, I think. The doctors said I'd probably get better." Her tone was off. Gumball still didn't know what to think about it, or even what to say back. He only told her what he was sure of. "Penny, I love you."

She faintly smiled and whispered, just audible enough for him to register, "I love you, too."

He exited the hospital room with his things, glad that he made the trip to see his beautiful girlfriend. Maybe tomorrow he'd bring her some chocolate, or flowers. She deserved something for all the pain she went through in the last few weeks. But something still felt wrong to him. What was Penny's issue? He could only think and wonder about it before the realization hit him like a truck. He stopped dead in his tracks. Penny was lying. She had guilt in her eyes!

He raced back to her room and found the door locked. Now, fully panicking, he looked through the window in the hospital door and found several doctors shouting over Penny. Only she wasn't moving. Gumball staggered back, crashing into the chair behind him as a dull ring spread through his ears. It was as if the world went silent.

What the fuck? He tried to think of the possibilities. Had she gotten worse? Was she going into surgery? He couldn't even process it. The only thing he could think about was Penny. The thoughts flashed and raced in his mind as he sat on the navy blue hospital chair, his body shaking with fear. And after what seemed like hours, a doctor walked out of the room. He shook his head before walking down the hall, until Gumball stopped him.

"Doctor, please." He violently clung to the arm of this doctor, who was visibly confused. "It's my girlfriend. She was in that room. Room 107? Please, please tell me. Is she alright? Please, just please..."

He sunk into the doctor, tears starting to form in his eyes. The doctor didn't step back, he only patted the teen's back as he understood. As a medical professional, he became an expert in comforting others.

"It's okay son. Just breathe." His stern and deep voice had a twang of empathy in it. The man, Dr. Lukos, had known the boy's emotions before. Gumball raggedly breathed as he looked at the doctor, stiff with sorrow. Gumball was really just trying to collect himself. He pleaded with his eyes for an answer, any answer except the one he dreaded most. Dr. Lukos felt like a monster for having to break the news to Gumball.

"I'm sorry. She passed away."

She passed away. She passed away. She passed away.

Gumball sat on the hood of his car, pulled over on the side of the road by the cliff overlooking the pacific ocean. The evening sunlight colored the rocky coast orange, casting a reminiscent feel in the area. The air itself choked Gumball so hard that he could hardly breathe. The past week had been so raw, robbing Gumball of the joy and happiness within him. His tears came lightly, him sitting in an empty silence after composing himself from his latest breakdown. He didn't get it. Why did the world have to take her? She was so young, and beautiful, and full of love. There was no answer to be found, only the miserable grip of grief on Gumball's mind.

He pulled a photo out of his wallet. Gumball didn't want to look at it, but he couldn't resist. He trained his eyes on the photo, that captured memory. Within five seconds of staring at Penny through the film, Gumball shattered into sobs again. His fist almost crumpled the film as he brought it close to his shut eyes, and he finally let himself go.

"GOD! YOU ROBBED ME OF HER. YOU TOOK HER AWAY. I DON'T KNOW HOW TO LIVE WITHOUT YOU! PLEASE! COME BACK! Come back," He screamed in anguish at the sky before falling on his knees before the steep coastal cliff. His thumb tightly held onto the edge of the photo, swaying in his hand as the wind lightly blew. "Come back..." He slowly pulled the photo back into his line of sight. Penny was so immaculate that day. As he felt a small touch of love in his heart, Gumball finally understood.

"Penny.." He choked, "I miss you. I'll always miss you, so much." He didn't know who he was talking to. He didn't know why he was talking. He didn't really care either way. "Please, please let me be okay." He took in a deep breath, and let his sorrow go. He focused on remembering all the joyous times with her. All those times she had consoled him in times of need. The smooth touch of her skin. The feeling of her body on his. Her soft spoken words of magic. The love between them forged through a bond and connection that stood strongly throughout the years. The love he knew would never really leave him. The way she changed him forever, how she shook his world, gave him his first kiss, his first everything. Those memories were so lulling and comforting. They gave him solace in the storm.

A piece of her would always belong to him. And a piece of his heart would always rest with hers. Through the grief and anguish he had went through, and the sadness that he was sure would follow this moment, he knew his wounds would heal with time. He would be okay.

He smiled sadly as he got back into his car. The sound of crashing waves gave him a peace of mind. With the ocean, and the cliff, and the deep evening sky, he thought his surroundings were truly beautiful. They reminded him of Penny, in a way. As their picture laid in his wallet once again, Gumball started the car's engine once again, and drove the car off into the sunset. Moving forwards, by the cliffside.

AN: Thanks for reading this! I love TAWOG and wanted to make a good oneshot for it. I know it isn't that deep or anything as this is my first actual oneshot/fanfic on here, and my writing can certainly improve. Some more "show and not tell" would do this fanfic some good. Any criticism is greatly appreciated so I can write better in the future :)