The second-to-last chapter! Yikes! But I guess all good things come to an end someday...

The Wattersons hosted a party at their house. Since they now knew they were in a show, they left it to the animators to fit everybody in there. They didn't worry about cleaning up afterwards either.

Gumball went to the refrigerator, poured himself a cup of soda, and sat down on the couch, mulling over the events of the past few days.

It all started with a nightmare. A nightmare that was warning him about future events. As much as he tried to hide it, everyone found out anyway. Another nightmare. About an upcoming war. Face-to-face encounter with the enemy. Enlisting help. Battling. Getting corrupted. Getting rescued from the darkness. Finding out the truth about the world they lived in. Defeating the villains. And now, things were back to normal?

Not quite. The war had changed everybody in some way. Him most definitely.

"Mind if I sit here?" a voice asked, breaking him out of his trance. He looked up to see it was Rob. He shook his head, giving him permission to do so.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, while everybody else was hanging out, chomping on food, watching TV, and celebrating their victory.

Finally, Gumball spoke up. "So, I'm not one to break a deal. You can go back to being my nemesis. You don't have to be here right now."

"I don't really want to go back now, since I've actually liked being on your side." Rob said, making Gumball turn to look at him with one of his eyebrows raised.

"Why not? You stopped being my nemesis once, and it didn't end well! Although I am to blame for that."

Rob sat up. "I should explain why I switched to Banana Joe. You might get confused, since what I'm about to say, you don't remember any of it."

Gumball leaned in. "I'm listening."

Rob reached into his pocket and got out the remote. "One time, I tried to destroy you with this. Let's just say I ended up killing your siblings."

Gumball gasped, but gestured at him to go on. "You were of course torn about it, and your adrenaline from your anger caused you to gain the upper hand and throw me into the Void." Rob decided to omit the part about Gumball seeming to already know what was going to happen, since he now couldn't get an explanation about that.

Gumball perked up, that was the name of the place Zach and the others had gone too, the one that seemed so familiar.

"You changed your mind though, and went in after me. I got hold of the remote and was about to literally turn you off. But I had a moment of realization and rescued both of us. We became friends, but I had to rewind everything back to normal, so that is why you can't recall that day. Ever since then, I found myself unable to do any harm to you."

Rob finished his story with contempt. That sense of deja vu Gumball had felt earlier was stronger. That must've been why he felt he had been to the limbo place before! But it still felt like there was more than that.

"Wow. Thanks for telling me, Rob. If I had known, I would've just left you alone instead of trying to get you back." he said regretfully, taking a sip of his beverage.

"It's not your fault." Rob assured. "I should also tell you that wasn't the only time you went into the Void."

Gumball's eyes bulged, could that be the missing piece of the puzzle? "Tell me." he begged.

Rob chuckled. "Okay. You, Darwin, and Mr. Small went in there to rescue Molly."

"Sorry to interrupt, but why was she in there? Just curious." Gumball cut in.

"You know how she seemed so dull and boring? That's why." Rob answered.

Gumball nodded, that made sense.

"You guys ran past me trying to find her. I called for you, but you didn't hear me. So I clung to the back of a van you guys were using to escape the Void. You got out without a scratch, but I can't say the same for myself." Rob glanced at his static.

"You mean, you weren't originally this way?" Gumball asked.

Rob shook his head. "No. I mean, the hole was closing in when I got out. That, and the Void was trying to pull me back in. When one is stuck in there, everybody else forgets about them. After you were out, your memories were erased."

Gumball stayed silent, looking at his reflection in his soda cup. Rob asked, "Anything wrong?" with a hint of concern in his voice.

Gumball looked up. "I'm just sorry we didn't save you. I'm pretty sure if we had seen you, we would've rescued you."

"Hey, it's alright. Again, it's not your fault." Rob put a hand on the cat's shoulder.

The two didn't say anything for a few moments. "So, what are we going to do now since we are in a show?" Gumball asked.

"I knew all along." Rob blurted out before he could stop himself.

Gumball was surprised. "Really?"

At his nod, Gumball exclaimed, "No wonder you weren't crying! But how did you know?"

"In the Void, I got confused when I saw what looked like an early design of your house. Even more so when a CGI Darwin and a drawing of you were floating around. When I got out, I wondered why I was even sent there in the first place. Shortly after I became your nemesis, I remembered that I didn't really interact with people that much, and my shift from CGI to 2-D animation. I figured it out from there."

Gumball downed his drink. "A lot of things are now making sense. Like why you couldn't remember anything when Darwin and I found you."

"When Darwin suggested I become a bad guy, my memories came back."

Gumball stood up from the couch to get a refill on soda. When he came back, he said, "Now back to my question: What are we going to do now?"

Rob shrugged. "I asked myself the same thing when I found out. I decided to just live with it."

Gumball nodded. "I guess since we can't really do anything about it, we'll have to do the same."

"Good idea."

Gumball took a sip of his soda. "Since we're kind of friends now, how are we going to keep you from getting sent back to the Void? Since you told me that you were placed in there because the world considered you a mistake with no purpose."

"I've been thinking about it. I could be like an anti-hero, the character who does questionable actions, but still remain friends with you." Rob offered.

"That's not a bad idea. Since everything we say is planned, I think the writers will allow it." Gumball held his hand out.

Rob smiled, and accepted it. He then looked down at the remote. "What are we going to be doing with this? I can't crush it, since the pieces could fall into the wrong hands."

"I guess we'll have to keep it safe. My parents and sister still don't know about the basement, so I can hide it in there. I'll tell Darwin as well." Gumball suggested.

"I like it. Here." Rob handed the remote over to Gumball. He went down to the basement and hid it in a drawer. He then came back to the living room., where Darwin slapped an arm around his back.

"Hey Gumball, want to play some video games? I bet I can beat you!"

Gumball grinned. "Oh, you're on!"

He quickly sneaked back to the couch. "Excuse me Rob, but I'm going to hang out with Darwin now." Rob simply nodded.

The two brothers then played the rest of the afternoon off, worry-free for the first time in a while.

Imagine that Rob told Gumball about the Void in an unseen scene.

So, Gumball now knows about the events of "The Rerun" and "The Void", thus giving him a better understanding of his former nemesis.

Next chapter is the epilogue. Enjoy the rest of your day!