AN: I don't own CCS.
Clustered Colors, a one shot.
"Hey, hey!" the green gumball cried, "Someone's here!" The other gumballs in the machine perked up as soon as they heard footsteps shuffling closer and closer to them.
A gumball from somewhere in the heart of the machine muttered, "Go away, go away, please go away."
In a rinky dink candy store stood an old round headed gumball machine positioned in a dark corner. People who walked into the store had their eyes immediately fixated on the candy near the front: the mint pillows, the Pixie dust, the chocolate bars. Hardly anyone paid any attention to the gumball machine.
"She turned the corner!" the gumball sighed in relief and smiled a diameter.
The gumballs in the gumball machine are just as old as the machine itself. For years the gumballs inside waited in terror as one by one, friends and foes alike were rolled out of the machine by chance and popped into someone's mouth. The horrors they experience is like none other. They make friends in the machine just to see them one day, by chance, get tossed into someone's mouth and chewed to death. It is morbid but it is life for these gumballs. After so long, only a handful remains. All of them have an equal chance of being bought for 25 cents. All of them sat clustered above the trapdoor.
"It's ok!" a pink strawberry flavored gumball smiled and looked at everyone with bright eyes, "Who knows? Maybe the owner of the store thinks we're too old to be sold now and maybe he'll just toss us away! I mean, we probably taste horrible by now."
Tomoyo, a purple grape flavored gumball looked at her friend and slowly said, "Sakura, that's a very slim chance. They didn't toss us away all this time. It's been ten years already."
"Oh, lighten up dear!" Eriol, a red cherry flavored gumball nudged Tomoyo gently, "In times like these, have hope. If we start getting all gloomy and stuff, we'll probably rot away!" Tomoyo stayed silent, purple with depression. The pink and green gumballs traded a look of concern.
Quietly, Sakura whispered to the green apple flavored gumball, "Syaoran, is there anything we can do for her? Tomoyo's been pretty down ever since… you know… she got picked." Syaoran's face tensed. His heart lurched at the thought of Mei Ling, his cousin who stayed optimistic all these years and believed that one day they would be let out of the machine by the owner. But she was too optimistic. Last week, before the eyes of the four in the machine, the fifth survivor got put into a little girl's mouth and that was the end for her. They couldn't even hear her screams through the machine. They could only see her face twisting in agony.
Syaoran sighed as memories of Mei Ling started flowing back into his mind. He shoved them out and looked at Sakura, "I don't know… I'd love to do something for Tomoyo. It's just that we're sort of restricted by our spherical bodies." Sakura frowned and looked down pensively. The sugar in her head churned as she searched for some way to cheer Tomoyo up.
Just when Syaoran was about to persuade her to give up, a light bulb lit above Sakura's head.
"I got it."
"Tomoyo, Tomoyo! Wake up!"
Tomoyo's eyelids fluttered open. "Huh?" Her vision began to adjust and she saw three orbs around her. All of them looked like they were about to bounce in excitement. Confused, she asked with shock, "What's going on?" She scanned the faces of Sakura, Syaoran, and Eriol one by one and saw nothing that gave her the slightest hint as to why she got woken up.
Sakura spoke up, "We noticed you've been pretty down recently and we would just really like for you to return to the way you were."
"I know how much it hurts to lose Mei Ling," Syaoran looked at Tomoyo understandingly, "She was as close to me as she was to you. We all loved her. But I think Mei Ling would rather you be happy than glum like a plum."
Eriol looked at Tomoyo sympathetically and saw that she was on the verge of tears. For days the topic of Mei Ling was like taboo. Hearing it brought back unwanted memories. "That's why we decided to surprise you with this!" He gestured up and Tomoyo gasped. From the glass of the gumball machine, she looked through the store's windows and saw a huge full moon. The moonlight reflected off the machine and illuminated the rest of the candy store with a soft silver light. The stars twinkled in the distance, complimenting the white orb in the night sky. Tomoyo couldn't cry, but if she could, she would have two big drops of tears running down her side.
"You know I need my full 8 hours of sleep from 9 to 5." her voice shuddered as she spoke, "And this is what you woke me up for?"
The other three were taken back. They thought she'd be delighted! Usually a full moon would pass and she would completely miss out because she's fast asleep. They stayed up late to wait for the moon to rise until she could see it from her position in the machine and now she's mad? They stayed silent, disappointment clearly emanating from their bodies.
Tomoyo inhaled deeply and continued, "… and I'm so glad you did." She looked at the other three balls lovingly. "Thank you for doing this. It means the world to me. Not, waking me up but you know, showing me this. I'm so happy that we made it this far together and I'm so happy I got the chance to meet you guys." She dropped her voice, "This prison of a gumball machine didn't do any good other than bringing us together. I hate it, but I owe it that much."
Eriol chuckled, "Well, let's just enjoy this moment. It's too beautiful a night sky to waste on meaningless thoughts." And so the four sat cluttered together above the trapdoor that may one day lead to their deaths, enjoying the scenery through the gumball screen and through the window panes of the candy store.
The next day, early in the morning, the four were woken up by the store door's bells. The owner had returned for the start of a new day. The four were still groggy from sleep when suddenly, they heard keys jingling above them. All four held their breath in excitement. The lid of the gumball machine popped open and fresh air poured into the machine. The gumballs' hearts were pounding wildly. A hairy hand reached in and two fingers plucked one of them up.
The gumball shouted, "Today's the day! We're free, guys! Free! I'll see you on the other side!" The other three looked up impatiently. Their eyes shone pure happiness and relief that lady luck had chosen to spare them. The hand that held one of their mates disappeared from the inside of the machine disappeared for a while. Then came back a second, and a third time.
The last gumball waited impatiently to be reunited with its friends. Finally, it was its turn. It felt the fingers close around its body. The gumball quivered with excitement as it rose higher and higher. The hand popped out of the machine and the gumball sucked in its first breath of freedom. It looked around excitedly from her height, "Sakura, Syaoran, Eriol! Where are you?" It couldn't wait to live the rest of her life with her friends together, just anywhere but the machine again.
Then it saw the owner's face. He was chewing.