AN: Really sorry for the lateness. I lost a lot of my notes I kept with me to describe the backstory of this story and its lore so now I'm trying to reconstruct them. For now, to show this story isn't dead, I'm putting this chapter for the aftermath of everyone learning of Gumball's so called demise. I'll try to make another chapter by the end of the month or start of the next.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Amazing World of Gumball, nor do I own Alaska who is the character of Amethyst Wereraven. This story is adopted from her own "Dragon Rider" story.

If Patrick Fitzgerald was anything in this world it was that he was a loving father and husband. He knew he was tough, strict, and maybe a bit harsh on rules and traditions, but he did it out of love. His daughter Penny was everything to him. A father was never born until the child was and holding her into his arms the day she was born made him the happiest man on earth. He swore, as she giggled at him, that he would do everything to protect her from a cold and cruel world. Patrick would like to think he did his best so far. His daughter was smart, popular, and stood for what she believed was right. Even if it was against her father's wishes.

Which is why it always bothered him when she started courting with that Gumball kid. Oh, he knew him. Everyone in Elmore knew about the crazy little cat who was as dumb as a rock and always getting involved in crazy life-threatening scenarios. He made it very clear he didn't like him, didn't trust him, and wanted Penny to stay away from him as far as possible.

And then they became a couple which resulted in Penny coming out of her shell and revealing her fairy form. His father had always warned him about coming out of the shell. The dangers. The fears. The consequences. He wanted to wring that little cat's neck for getting his daughter to come out, but he proved his love for Penny by calming her down and getting her to accept who she was.

He had always held in hope that the two would break up, or Penny would see him for what Patrick saw him, but over time he saw them grow closer and more in love. It was like seeing him and his wife, and that's what made Patrick realize there was no changing Penny's mind. She loved that cat and he was going to have to accept it one way or another. After all, she was happy, and that's what mattered.

Now Patrick, having heard the news, felt something he rarely ever felt in his life: regret.

When he heard that his daughter had been in the incident with the monster, he prayed to every deity in the world that she was alive and well. His prayers had been answered when they found her, hurt, but alive. That's when he heard Nicole Watterson wail with Richard Watterson rushing towards the rubble screaming his son's name. Patrick had noticed that there was only that fish they adopted, but not the cat.

There was no Gumball.

That's when the news broke out that he had been killed.

Saving his daughter and his friends.

His daughter didn't react at first, but then she melted. Literately. Her emotions overwhelmed her and she turned into a puddle of tears as she bawled out her boyfriends name. Crying for him to return and be alive. To pop out and be okay like always.

But hours later he still was declared dead.

Patrick had offered his sympathies to the Watterson's who were in too much horror and sorrow to reply. He finally got permission to take Penny home, her fairy magic would heal pretty much any wound, and immediately she flew to her room to cry. It had been three hours and she was still crying.

Patrick had broken his promise not to drink on weekdays, but the situation called for it. He took out the scotch and sat alone with his thoughts while his wife was busy trying to comfort Polly who was also distraught of the news. She really liked Gumball and wanted him to be a brother-in-law when he and her big sister got married. Hearing something like that would have given Patrick a heart attack… but now all he could do was wish it had happened.

Here I am mourning a kid I never liked, and yet… was he really that bad? Or am I just sadder for Penny then I am for him? Patrick thought with bitter regret. He never hated Gumball so much that he wished him dead. He wasn't a monster. He accepted the kid had a good heart and loved his daughter, but his negative qualities were always an eyesore. Yet he died saving her… my little girl… God I feel like the worst…

"Mind if I have some?"

He turned around and saw Judith holding a glass with a few tears dripping down her eyes. He poured her some before the two raised their glass. "To Gumball Watterson."

"To the boy I would have been proud to call son-in-law," Judith sighed as she drank the glass in one gulp. "Gods, Patrick… we almost lost her…"

"I know."

"I don't know who that knight and dragon were... but they saved our girl..."

"I wish they saved Gumball," Patrick whispered, shaking his head. Monsters and dragons. Something right out of a fantasy book...

"The Wattersons… I don't know how they're feeling…"

"We should do something nice… I don't know what… but…" Patrick sighed and leaned back on his chair. "Was I a bad person, Judith? I didn't like Gumball, I never really approved of him and Penny… now with him gone…"

"You feel guilty for never accepting him?" Judith finished for him which made him nod. "Truth be told, I didn't accept him at first either, but seeing our daughters grow to love him changed my mind. He is… was a good kid. Even if he found trouble in his steps."

"How's Penny?" Patrick asked.

"Still in tears," Judith replied, wiping her eye sockets. "Just hearing her, Patrick. I swear my own heart is about to break."

Patrick got up and held his wife who began to lightly sob on her chest while he shed a few tears himself. He wished, right then and there, that Gumball Watterson would walk up to this house and ask Penny out. If only to bring the smiles back to this family.

While many were talking about the monster and the mysterious knight and dragon that stopped it, all around Elmore were others learning of the passing of Gumball Waterson. Many had heard of the name one way or another, either through personal experience or by rumor. Those who knew him well enough or had known him for years had reacted with shock and confusion. Many started trying to get in contact with Gumball and Darwin to see what was really going on. Hours later with no response, those who knew him began to believe the cat was gone forever.

Banana Joe had found himself unable to think of anything funny to say. Maybe because there was nothing funny about this. He always liked Gumball and thought he was funny. He even wished sometimes he went on the adventures that Gumball and Darwin always went on. He vowed to be there for Darwin and his fellow classmates in the days to come even if he had to work hard to make them laugh again.

Tobias Wilson didn't believe it. No, it was not true. Gumball was not dead. He had survived before and he was going to survive again. The one guy who Tobias saw as his personal rival, and even friend if he was being honest, had dealt with situations that even nearly ended the world. And this was how he died? Some random monster? Even when his family tried to get him to see the truth Tobias shouted at them, through all the tears, that it wasn't true. It wasn't true. It just couldn't be.

He wasn't the only one in denial. Rocky Robinson didn't want to think the little dude he saw as a good friend was gone. He even went to his parents to convince him. His father and mother were both annoyed at first at the idea that Gumball was dead. Convinced that he was pretending to be dead for attention. However, Rocky swore he saw a tear come out of his father's eye and knew he was just trying to be in denial like him.

Tina Rex roared in fury when she heard the news. She ravaged and stomped across the junkyard so much that the debris crashed into nearby buildings. Nobody made a move to get her to stop out of fear. When her energy left her, Tina did the one thing that she never did in public but couldn't help now. She cried. She liked Gumball. Really liked him. She never admitted it, and knew she had no chance with his heart on Penny. But Tina could wish couldn't she? She swore if she ever saw that monster or anything like it again she would kill it. She would kill them all!

Another person not taking it well was his stalker/fan, Sarah. Who had locked herself up in her room and just stared at a picture of Gumball, holding it and crying. She wished this was just a tragedy fanfiction she could just delete and rewrite into a romance where he came back to life and married Sarah. But as always, real life was never a story.

Bobert knew of the concept of death. It was when a living organism was no more. None functional. For a robot, that would be like being permanently shut off or damaged beyond repair. Bobert had been trying for years to understand emotions, but the emotion of loss was lost to him until now. Gumball had given him experiences with various emotions and how to feel like a real person. To hear him gone was... a feeling Bobert didn't know but could only assume was loss as he kept constantly trying to figure out calculations and scientific methods to bring the dead back to life and what to do with him gone. For once, science and logic failed him.

Carrie didn't believe Gumball was dead. And she knew he wasn't dead. Mainly, because she would have felt it. A ghost knew when a life as lost. It was something they were able to sense. Gumball's soul had not left this world nor was it a ghost. He was out there, and Carrie was going to find him.

Masami had heard the news that the monster was destroyed by a dragon and a knight she was all but relieved her father was avenged. That quickly changed when she learned that Gumball had been lost. Gumball had not been her friend. In fact, most of the time he was civil to him because of her friendship with Penny. Now, all she could do was wish that he was there with her father at peace and that the monster was in hell. She tried to call Penny, but there was no answer.

Many of her friends from Leslie to Teri had tried calling Penny, but were also unable to reach her. Each of them wept both for her and for Gumball who they had known for years and now it felt like school, and life in general, was never going to be the same without him.

Speaking of school, those who knew Gumball from school were also in shock. Principle Brown never told Gumball this, but he always thought of him as one of his favorite students. Something about what he did always made the school seem so alive. He did his best to calm his emotions and prepare a school assembly to honor its lost student. Mr. Small did his best to meditate to calm himself and reconnect with Gumball's spirit with some lessons he learned from a guru online, but his tears kept getting in the way. Only Miss Simian seem to just look at the news, thought it boring, and changed the channel to watch sports.

More and more of those who knew of Gumball all wept for his passing, but none so more then the one who loved him most besides his family.

Penny just cried all night. Her thoughts turning to the memories she had shared with him. Her heart weeping for him to return. Her body wanting to feel his touch. She wanted him back. She needed him back. "Gumball…" was all she whispered repeatedly with each attempt getting smaller and smaller in tone until it was barely a hushed sound.

Until she finally fell asleep to dream of him.