It was the following day and Gumball had woken up really early, being unable to sleep well and made the journey back to Mrs Jötunheim as quickly as he could, desperate to get her to undo the spell she'd cast. He'd do anything to get her to do so, anything to get his family back.
He finally arrived at the cave.
"Mrs Jötunheim? M-Mrs. Jötunheim!? Are you there!?"
He didn't get any response. He was tempted to just walk in again but he didn't want to risk making everything worse.
"Mrs Jötunheim!? PLEASE!" He yelled again, sounding more desperate.
"Alright, gimme a second, it's like 4 in the morning, give me a chance to wake up! He heard her call back.
She walked out and raised her eyebrow. "Do I know you?"
His eyes widened in horror and he gasped, beginning to panic. No...no... please god no! S-surely the spell hadn't affected her too, right!? She was the one who cast it, it couldn't have affected her! I-If it did she'd never be unable to undo it! His family would never remember him!
She saw the alarm and worry on his face and burst out laughing. "Ahahahaha, ahahahahaha! The...the look on your face! Oh my god...it was priceless! Ahahahahaha!"
Gumball frowned as she continued to laugh, annoyed she'd mess with him like that, especially about something so important.
She sighed and wiped her eyes and grinned.
"Well, here you are, just like I expected! Have a good sleep last night?"
"Mrs Jötunheim, please, you have to undo the spell!"
"and why would I do that?"
"Please, I've learnt my lesson! You were right, I did take my family for granted, I didn't truly appreciate everything they did for me, I treated them so poorly, I understand that now!"
"How do I know you aren't just saying that hmm?"
He began to tear up. "Please, I mean it! I'm sorry!"
She thought for a moment.
"Nah, I'm not buying it. Maybe another few days oughta do it."
She turned and began to walk back inside.
He began to sob as he desperately pleaded. "NO, P-PLEASE, I'M BEGGING YOU!!! I'M SO S-S-SORRY FOR EVERYTHING I SAID TO YOU BEFORE, REALLY, I AM! I DIDN'T MEAN ANY OF IT, HONESTLY! I K-KNOW HOW HARD IT IS FOR YOU, I KNOW YOU'RE T-TRYING YOUR BEST AND YOU'RE A GR-GREAT MOM FOR HECTOR!"
She turned back around and saw he was literally on his knees begging and pleading for her to undo her spell.
"P-P-PLEASE, YOU H-HAVE TO MAKE THEM R-REMEMBER ME, YOU HA-HAVE TO GIVE THEM BACK, P-PLEASE, I'M B-BEGGING YOU, PL-EEEE-EEEEE-EEEEE-EEEEAAASE!!!! I'LL DO ANYTHING, ANYTHING! PLEASE JUST MAKE THEM REMEMBER, PL-E-E-EASE!!!!!!!!!!"
She thought about it and seeing how desperately he was begging decided he'd already suffered enough and took pity on him.
She looked at him with sympathy and sighed, speaking to him softly.
"Oh...alright then, I suppose you've already been through enough."
She took out her wand and undid the spell.
His face lit up and he ran over to her and hugged her tightly as he sobbed."Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"You're welcome. Now scram!" She chuckled and nodded away from the cave.
He began to walk away but stopped and clutched his stomach moaning in pain as it growled again.
She realised he hadn't eaten anything substantial since they'd talked yesterday. She couldn't let him go home like that, especially not after the night he'd had.
"Actually, if you want, you can come inside and I'll cook you something to eat before you go. You must be starving."
He turned back around. "Really!?! Oh yes, yes, yes please, that'd be amazing!"
She chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Come on then."
They went inside, his growling stomach echoing inside the cave.
A while later he arrived home.
He looked through the window and smiled. There they were, his family, all sitting at the table and having breakfast, having just woken up themselves. He'd never been so happy to see them in his entire life.
He opened the door and slowly walked in.
"M-Mom? Dad? Darwin? Ani?" He said quietly, his voice breaking as he teared up.
Nicole turned around as the others greeted him. "Hmm? Oh my god, honey, there you are! I was starting to get really worried! Where were on earth were y-OH!"
She was surprised by Gumball suddenly running up and hugging her very tightly, almost suffocating her, and beginning to purr loudly as tears streamed down his face.
"Sweetheart..? Are you okay?" Nicole asked concerned.
He said nothing, just continuing to hug her for a little longer before he let go and ran over to Darwin hugging him for just as long, then Anais, then Richard who were all equally surprised and appreciative.
"Honey, what's wrong? You're acting awfully... affectionate." She paused then smiled and added. "Not that I mind..."
He looked up at all of them as tears streamed down his face.
"I'm so, so sorry for the all times I've shouted at you guys, all the times I made you upset or angry or annoyed or stressed, all the times I didn't listen to you, ignored you, disregarded you and your advice, all the times I pushed and dragged you around, all the times I laughed at you or made fun of you or mocked you, all the times I was such a complete and utter disrespectful jerk to you."
They all looked at him genuinely surprised to see him apologising in such a manner
"I love you all so, so, so much and I'm so sorry for never telling you how much I appreciate you all and what you do for me. I really, truly, genuinely appreciate every single one of you, and I'm so, so sorry for never thanking you or showing any gratitude for what you do for me. I've been so ungrateful, I treated you all so badly. I took advantage of you, just used you to fix my problems for me, tested your patience over and over, every single day!"
"I took all of you for granted, not realising how much I appreciated everything you do and how I'd been acting towards you all. I really, truly am sorry and I really do appreciate every little thing you do for me and I mean that really I do, from the bottom of my heart and I really, really hope that even though I don't deserve it, you can find it in your heart to forgive me."
The four of them turned to look at each as they thought about what he'd said.
"I promise from now on I'm gonna try to be a better person. I'm gonna try to be more helpful and respectful to you all, listen to you all, treat you all how you deserve to be treated, make sure you know how much I genuinely appreciate every one of you, how truly grateful I am to have you all."
Gumball finished and the whole room was left in silence as they contemplated what he said.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, Nicole finally spoke up.
"Uhh, wow, I don't know what to say...uh, thank you! That was a very, very thoughtful and heartfelt apology, and I can tell you genuinely meant every word, and I really appreciate it."
"S-so, you forgive me?"He asked her, his eyes still dripping tears.
"Oh Gummypuss, of course I do."
Richard nodded. "Thanks son, me too. That really meant a lot. Nice to know you appreciate your old man!" He chuckled.
Darwin smiled. "Hearing you say all that and so genuinely from the heart too, it really means a lot. Of course I forgive you, buddy."
Anais smiled. "Wow, thanks Gumball, that was really touching, and very unexpected from you. I really appreciate it." She thought for a moment. "As for forgiving you...well, how about you watch some Daisy the Donkey with me and we'll see?"
He jokingly crossed his arms and gave her a look of annoyance before they both broke into a grin and started laughing. "Awwww, of course I forgive you!"
She ran over and hugged him.
The others smiled and all joined in for a group hug and Gumball's grin grew wide. They released him and he looked up at his mother before closing his eyes and beginning to affectionately nuzzle her as he purred which make her chuckle.
She crouched down and placed her paws on his shoulders.
"I'm very, very proud of you Gumball. It takes a big man to admit his mistakes and an even bigger one to apologise for and fix them. I know how difficult and frightening it must have been for you to stand their in in front of us all and admit to all of that, and apologise for it at the same time and I'm so proud of you for doing so, especially on your own." She hugged him again.
"Thanks, Mom." He hugged her back.
"So what brought all of this on anyway?" She asked intrigued.
"Let's just say, someone taught me a very valuable lesson." He looked up at her.
"And what would that be?"
"To appreciate what you have, the people you have around you and what they do for you and to not take it for granted."
"Awww, that's very mature of you Gumball.
He smiled. "Thanks."
She ruffled the fur on his head then stood up again.
"So, uh...what's for dinner?" He asked as he was still hungry even after the meal Mrs Jötunheim had cooked for him.
"Lasagna."
"Ooooh, can I help you make it!?" He asked excitedly.
"Awww, of course, you can!" She said, delighted he was offering to help.
"Great, let me just go and have a shower and get changed real quick!"
"No need to rush, I'm not gonna start it for another hour or so yet!" She chuckled and called out to him as he ran towards the stairs.
"Alright!" Gumball smiled and ran upstairs.
She chuckled, happy to see him so excited again, especially over something like helping her cook.
After his shower he spent the rest of the day happily hanging out with each of his family members, offering to do anything they wanted, delighted to just be in their presence again and appreciating them all more than he ever had.
He helped his Mom cook dinner, do the washing up, clean his bedroom, and a bunch of other chores.
With his father he played Dungeons and Dragons, watched TV with him and played a bunch of games outside, including Mr President where he let him and Darwin be the President.
He spent time with Anais watching Daisy the Donkey with her, helping her as an assistant with one of her science projects and he even had a tea party with her and her dolls.
Darwin played video games with him, Gumball letting him be player one, watched videos with him on Elmore Stream-It and had a long chat with him, laughing and cringing at old memories.
Finally the whole family watched a movie together after dinner, Gumball helping to prepare the snacks and drinks.
By the end of the day Gumball was absolutely exhausted, having gotten very little sleep the night before, and Anais found him fast asleep on the sofasmiling and purring away loudly, not even trying to hide it like he usually did.
She smiled at the sight of him then looked down at Daisy and grinned, having an idea to embarrass him when he woke up.
She carefully placed Daisy infront of his chest and watched as he sleepily wrapped his arms around her and snuggled up to her.
She barely held back her laughter, trying not to wake him up.
"What are you laughing at?" Nicole asked, smiling as she walked by and saw her daughter in quiet tears of laughter.
Anais shushed her by placing a finger over her lips, then beckoned her over.
She raised her eyebrow intrigued and came over. Her eyes immediately lit up when she saw Gumball.
She grinned and quickly covered her mouth with her paws to try and keep her composure, though she was still clearly shaking with laughter.
"Oh my...oh my G-god, haha...hahahaha!" In tears herself, she took out her phone and took a picture.
She paused for a moment to regather herself and just watch her son, delighted to see him so genuinely happy and content.
She went and got a blanket, placing it over him and tucking him in, before crouching down and beginning to stroke him softly behind the ear, listening to him purr.
"Oh, my little Gummypuss, I'm so proud of you. You've matured so much and become such a bright, funny, adorable, charming young man. It's no wonder Penny loves you so much." She said softly. "Sleep well, I love you."
She kissed him on the forehead and his smile grew as he dreamt of happy memories of all his family members.
"Alright, come on you, let him sleep, he must be exhausted after everything he's done today."
"Awww, okay..." She took one more look at the sight of her usually prideful brother snuggled up to her bright pink, stuffed donkey doll and giggled before running upstairs to tell Darwin about it.
As his Mom walked away she stopped and looked back, smiling as she heard him mumble "I love you too Mom..."