HELLO AGAIN PARTY PEOPLE
I don't own the Amazing World of Gumball.
Anais struggles to walk up a staircase leading to the hall of doors closest to her. The stairs start to tilt sideways the further she goes up- and then upside down, forcing her to start climbing instead of walking. There wasn't even a railing to hold on to. The moment she gets to the top, the stairs crumble into dust. The little bunny gazes down at the mess in shock and disbelief.
"Glad it didn't do that while I was using it," she mutters nervously, looking around at the doors of many different sizes, shapes and colors in the hall.
"Carrie said we were looking for a book..." Anais reminds herself as calmly as she can muster, "It could be in any one of these. Let's find it."
The little ghost continues her walk, inadvertently tripping on a doorknob in the middle of the floor.
"Ow! How did I miss that...?" She opens the door on the floor, peeking inside cautiously.
A giant jack-in-the-box puppet pops out, causing Anais to reel backward, screaming.
A whole minute passes before Anais realizes the puppet isn't alive and not doing anything at all. Embarrassed at herself, she takes a deep breath and continues on. She reaches a very little door, just her size, with a suspicious button shaped key hanging on the handle. Curious, she unlocks the door and finds an intriguing portal to... another dimension?
The little girl climbs through just to check it out, and it leads her... home?
Confused, she goes to the living room to find her mother and brothers sitting on the sofa, staring at static on the television.
Anais observes this for a moment in concern, clearing her throat.
"Um... Mom?"
The three turn around to stare at Anais, all wide smiles, but with one major difference.
Buttons for eyes.
"Oh, wow," Anais smiles, stepping back and smiling back at the doll versions of her family nervously, "I just realized I had somewhere else to be..." She bolts straight back to the little door and crawls back to the other side as fast as she can, locking the door shut once more back in the castle hall, breathing hard.
"I've seen... that movie. No. No."
She manages to recover after sitting for a while. The next door was bright pink and covered in red hearts. Thinking it was cute, she opens it and steps inside, finding herself in a field holding a giant golden pocket watch.
"...What?"
A strange looking girl wearing a blue pinafore calls to her from a distance, but the bunny had no time for this. While trying to find the exit, she stumbles into another pit. Where she ended up made less sense than the castle. A bunch of giant playing cards march in a line and stop to look at her.
"She's late!"
"The queen will cut off her head!"
The only option in her mind was to run away now. Anais frantically searches for an exit again, trips and falls again into a hollow tree stump, and falls from the castle ceiling back into the hallway, looking up to see a small round pink door with a big red heart on it. Worst exit ever.
As much as she'd like to stop now, Anais had no choice but to keep going. The Book of Resurrection could save her brother, could save all of them from this crazy, horrifying place, and finding it was top priority to her. She still had the pocket watch from before.
"Approximately 10 minutes left..."
She turns a corner only to find herself in a darker part of the hall, with three different doors in front of her, one bright red, one pale grey, and one a soft pastel pink. Next to them on the side was a shadowy, pitch-black room without a door.
Out of this room comes several servants of death, glaring at Anais with their empty eyes.
"Anais Watterson, we have finally found you. You have found yourself at the entrances of Hell," the emotionless voice directs her attention to the red door, "Limbo," the grey door, "and Heaven," the pink door, "or whatever you prefer to call them, what you believe is what you shall see there. And this dark room is where we take souls to be evaluated upon arrival. You and your eldest brother have wandered into territory in which you should never have gone, but thankfully you are both safe within these walls and can be sentenced to your places.
"Quite daring of you two to face and pass all three labyrinths, but alas, your journey was for naught. We do not allow anyone to use or steal the many magical objects here. They are not to be used in the way you wish to use them."
"Objects? All I've found were creepy pop culture references," Anais protests, but the shadow ignores her.
"Four years old, died of yet another suicide... Hmm, all of the Watterson children died in such a way, all so young... What a shame it is."
Anais takes the servant's moment to ponder this as a chance for her to run away, bolting down the halls, stumbling down the stairs that had somehow rebuilt themselves, and shouting for Carrie's help. One half of the servants chase her, while the others go another way to pursue Gumball.
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Darwin and Emmie search about for the latter's deceased family, talking all of the while about their lives.
Emmie was a little girl who lived in a town outside of Elmore who had died of a terminal illness affecting her bones. She was confused as to why Darwin starting crying about that, and shortly after taking a little break, she was even more confused about his story about his "death".
"Magic potions exist?" she asks, looking surprised.
"Yeah. Elmore's a pretty weird town, but I love it just the way it is, because it's easy to fit in," Darwin answers in a matter-of-factly tone.
"Do you miss it?" Emmie inquires, looking down, "I miss my mommy and daddy and my big sister Marisol, and all of my friends... I didn't want to go..."
Darwin stops again, sitting on a nearby park bench just to discuss that question.
"...Yes, I do. I never met my birth parents, but I was adopted into an amazing family. I had amazing friends, and my girlfriend..." Guilty feelings come roaring back, "...was an incredible person. She was born a ghost, so I used one of the potions she made and became a ghost too, to be able to kiss her just once, and then I was separated from her by being dragged down here. I didn't want to go here either, but I'm doing it for her. Even if I'm lost and alone here, I have to pull through for her." He looks down to see Emmie looking puzzled.
"That's unfair to both of you for just wanting a kiss... You're not alone. I'm here too... I was scared... I thought going here was unfair, too," she murmurs, "I wanted to become as big as Marisol one day, or even you, mister guardian angel, but now I can't..."
The fish struggles to think of some sort of consolation for the little child, and gently hugs her close.
"I know it's unfair. It's hard to get used to. I was afraid, too, and you're much too little to be here. But you know, this is a new beginning for you. You get to meet all of the relatives that passed before you, and make new friends that you'll get to know far longer than your old ones. Friends like me," he beams at her, "because this is your new home, your new beginning, and someday the rest of your family will be ready to come here too, and you'll all be a big happy family, right here, together forever. It may not be the same for me, but this opens many doors of opportunity for you, Emmie."
The little girl stays quiet, sniffling softly.
"Are you going to cry?" Darwin asks in concern. Emmie tries to hide her face in response, muttering that she's fine.
"I don't think so," the fish retorts calmly, "but there's no need to be embarrassed about crying. I've done it several times right in front of you," he adds nervously, "Sometimes we can only ease the pain we feel inside by shedding tears. I understand that very well. You need to cry and let those feelings out, otherwise they'll stay and fester and make you feel worse. Especially because this, giving up everything you've ever known, is very hard on everyone."
He honestly can't believe the words coming out of his mouth right now.
"Sadness is toxic, but crying can make it go away. Go ahead and let it out. I'll be right here to comfort you, okay?"
Emmie nods, curling up and weeping softly in his arms.
Darwin closes his eyes, trying not to cry with her for the third time. Letting her cry is the right thing to do. When you need to, it can be healing and soothing to the soul.
The child eventually falls into a peaceful sleep. Darwin takes a deep breath, smiling down at her.
It really helps, doesn't it?
Just imagine Anais going to Wonderland and having the worst time because it's so illogical...
wow Darwin got all insightful in that last bit *clap clap clap* 10/10 best big brother
if my first fanfic didn't imply, we really need an episode with just Darwin and Anais please