I groaned as my alarm clock started blaring in my ears, waking up all of those in my room. I cracked an eye open and looked at the device that was screaming on the nightstand. The once slumbering Wasabi Whip shot it a death glare and cracked his vine against it. It was sent flying and crashed into the wall, making me, Katania and Gladius all jump up in shock. We all looked at the silenced and destroyed device, and then glanced at the fuming plant.

I let out a tired sigh and opened my arms. Gladius flew out of the way so Maple could hop into my arms and snuggle into my chest, his eyes reflecting an oncoming sadness. I sighed and hugged him close as Katania sat down next to me and Gladius hovered in front of us.

"This is it…" Kat said quietly. "It's… It's over."

Gladius let out what sounded like a hum and snarl mixed together. "I wish Rainbow would reconsider, but it seems like this is how things are now."

"Did you meet with her last night?" I asked quietly.

The sword nodded. "I did, and I made my last bits of anger known right to her face. But… she barely reacted. She did wince at my volume, but after my tirade she just shooed me out of her and Virus' room. Something about a surprise that she didn't want me spoiling."

"Maybe she did change her mind…?" Katania said in an unsure tone.

I looked down. "I doubt it. If she did, she would've done something by now. She would've said something, she wouldn't be so set on sending my family AWAY!" I ended in a scream, startling the others. I sat there, shaking in fury as anger raged behind my eyes. "She doesn't care. She doesn't care. She doesn't care-"

"Caleb!" Gladius cried. I snapped out of my spiralling thoughts and looked up at him with wide eyes. "She does care deeply about you. This is just a… It's a very difficult time for her right now. But she does love you, I know that with the utmost confidence."

I remained silent, simply staring at the sword. Then, a tear trickled down my cheek. "But I can't see them go, Gladius. If Rainbow really did care, she wouldn't send everyone away…" I curled into myself a bit, stifling a single weak and broken sob. "It's not fair. They deserve to be here as long as they want, whenever they want. They helped me through all of this. How can she look at them and say they have to go…"

Katania leaned against me and gave me a firm side hug. "You aren't alone, Caleb. You got me and Gladius, no matter what, and we will fight this for you. With you. Doesn't matter. We are all here, and that's not about to change."

I nodded miserably and lifted my head slightly. I sniffled and wiped my eyes, cracking a weak smile. "I'm fifthteen and here I am relying on a talking sword, my best friend and a sentient plant to calm down."

"That's okay, Caleb", Gladius reassured in a gentle tone. "We're family, and this is what family does."

I nodded again, regaining some control over the turmoil of emotions going on inside my head. I took a deep breath, then shot Katania a grateful look. "Thanks, you guys. Today… Today will be so freaking hard. Expect me to utterly shatter at some point, okay?"

Katania smiled at my attempted joke. "Noted." She looked at the door. "Let's go and get something to eat. We all have one last breakfast together, so let's make it a special one."

"Yeah, let's go." I stood up, stretching to try and help relax my tense muscles. It didn't do much, but it was something. Maple scurried onto my shoulder, and once again all four of us left our room with the air tense and sombre. The hallway wasn't much better, as the others were all making their way out of their rooms and towards the dining hall.

They were all dressed and ready, but their faces reflected the misery and sadness of this whole ordeal perfectly. The more stoic members of our group had shadows over their eyes, while the more emotional had clear evidence they've been crying.

We all walked as a single group, absolutely silent as the sunlight breaking through the wall length window bathed us in the early morning light. The castle as a whole seemed to be trapped under a blanket of rising sadness, with the closing of a book being witnessed in real time.

That didn't help the pain that was slowly growing in my heart.

By the time we made it to the dining room, the table was loaded with all manner of breakfast items, from pancakes to eggs to chicken to potatoes. It looked heavenly, and perked all of us up just the slightest bit. Already at the table too was Lightness and Darkness, who all faced us with a smile.

"Hey you guys", Lightness greeted calmly. "You better eat quick, you don't want the food getting cold."

That did it, and everyone sans me rushed towards the table and took a seat. I walked at a bit more of a normal pace, eventually sitting down between the embodiments of good and evil.

"Where's Rainbow?" Gladius asked in frustration, hovering over the table.

Darkness gained a look of confusion and shrugged. "We honestly don't know. She told us a few hours ago that she and Virus were doing some last minute touch-ups to the gateway, but then that was it."

The sword snarled and I looked down miserably, while the others all winced. I remained silent for a bit longer before I slammed a closed fist on the table, making everyone jump. With a groan, I planted my face into my arms in a poor attempt to hide from everyone else.

The silence remained there for a while before Lightness cleared his throat. "You guys dig in. Rainbow wanted you all to leave in two hours, from what she told us. So enjoy this while you can."

I peeked up just barely to see everyone dejectedly nod, which made me bury my face in my arms again. I barely moved, not ever showing a shred of needing food. As the breakfast progressed and quiet conversations ran across, I felt a firm yet gentle hand rest on my back. I could tell it was Darkness, as the fingers had a subtle point at the ends of them. I just didn't have an ounce of energy to do anything. Not eat, not speak, not even move.

Occasionally, my eyelids would twitch and I'd shutter, my body clearly trying to release all the tears I was keeping in. But I wouldn't let it. Why I was trying so hard, was a mystery. Might be because I didn't want anyone to pity me. Maybe it was a form of protest against Rainbow, because of how she was ripping me apart.

Or maybe it was because this all just felt like a bad dream, and I was hoping to wake up and start smiling again.

~X~

After breakfast concluded, Lightness and Darkness joined all of us on the walk back to our hallway. As everyone else kept their heads up, I trailed at the back of the pack, my bones feeling like stone. Maple was on my shoulder, glancing at me in concern, to the others ahead, then back to me. I was forcing myself to move forward even though I barely could. I didn't want this to happen, but I couldn't stop it. I was in denial. I was spiralling, and trying oh-so hard to not let it show.

Katania and Gladius trailed back when they finally noticed my state, both of them sharing concerned motions and looks.

"I know it's hard, Caleb", Kat whispered. "But think about the others. They don't want you feeling like this when they leave. You need to let it out so they can remember you having a genuine smile as the last thing, and not a strained, forced one."

"It's just so hard", I whispered out in a cracking voice. "It feels like the more the day trucks on, the more I crumble. The more I feel like I'm going to fall apart at the slightest breeze."

Katania frowned, so instead of saying anything she took my hand and pulled me along till we were at the front of the group. I closed my eyes and leaned against her as we walked. She tightened the grip on my hand, and led me around the corner down our hallway.

Only for her to freeze.

"What's going on?" I asked, shaking my head and blinking my eyes. Looking down the hall, I saw as staff pushed trolleys of the packed suitcases out of the rooms and towards the balcony. The sight made my heart sting, and it was made even worse when I watched cleaning staff with vacuums and cleaner head into the rooms.

"This… This is really it, huh?" Ralph said as the others stood behind me, watching this all unfold silently.

"What?" Darkness said in shock. "She said when she was ready for you guys to go she'd have staff do this…"

"RAINBOW!" Lightness roared. He leapt over us and dashed towards the balcony, his evil twin close behind. "IF YOU'RE DOING WHAT I THINK YOU'RE DOING YOU ARE DEAD!"

All of us watched them go, expressions blank. You'd think since we just had two all-powerful gods leap over us and race down the corridor, we'd be surprised. But at this point, we were all numb to this. Nothing was surprising us anymore.

"So… what do we do now?" Rory asked.

"You follow me." We all looked up to see General Skye standing before us with an unreadable expression. "There's been a slight change of plans, and Rainbow wants you all at the balcony."

I let out a whimper, making most of the others look at me in sad concern.

"Mom, please, give us a bit longer", Katania pleaded. "Lightness said we had at least an hour and a half left before everyone had to go."

Skye's usually stern expression faltered, and she looked down at her daughter with heartbreak in her eyes. "I know sweetheart. I don't know what has gotten into Rainbow right now, but she must have her reasons." She looked over the whole group with a far more gentle and caring expression. "Follow me."

Without much else to do, we all begrudgingly followed the general down the hall and outside onto the balcony. I glanced to the left, and saw the finished gateway standing strong. To the right of it was the mountain of luggage, and to the left was a very angry Lightness and Darkness arguing with Rainbow and Virus. The goddess of colour looked miserable, clearly not a fan of being ripped into for the hundredth time this week.

Virus wasn't in the argument fully, seemingly more interested with the box he was holding in his hands. Occasionally, he'd look down and shuffle through it.

Skye led us up towards the gateway, letting the others all walk onto a marked area while she kept me, Katania and Gladius back. Maple looked terribly confused, but when Jeremy appeared and picked him up, I legit felt my heart shatter. The Wasabi Whip was placed on Zomboss' head, making the zombie look up in despair.

I was so close to completely exploding.

Rainbow pushed her brothers out of the way so she could stand tall with her arms crossed before us. She scanned over all of us, only for her stoic, emotionless face to flicker when she gazed at me.

"So, I hope you all had a wonderful time here", she began. "I'm sorry if it had to turn out like this. After that disaster of a Council meeting, I just can't let you guys stay here for much longer." She gestured at the pile of luggage. "You'll be able to bring all of your stuff. It'll remain like this till you find a place to settle."

"Yeah, sure, whatever", Majima spat. "Just so you know, this is your last chance to not pull this shit. If you do, we will all fucking hate you forever."

Rainbow winced. "I'm aware of that."

"Oh, you are?" Maria snarled. "Then you know about the consequences of going through with it. And I know there's a certain someone who's never going to get over this."

At that, everyone looked at me, and through it all I was shaking in agony. I was trying so hard to not cry, to collapse on my knees and wail. I glanced at Rainbow, and she chose not to look me in the eye. But when Virus elbowed her and gave her a pointed look, she finally glanced at me. The regret and guilt in her eyes was clear as day.

"I…" I just barely squeaked out. I steadied myself and took a deep breath. "I just… I want to say a few things. Is that… okay?" I glanced up at Rainbow.

She nodded, expression unreadable.

I took a second deep breath, and walked in front of the others. "Guys… I just… It's hard for me to really think of anything to say. All my life, I've been belittled, bullied and abused by my parents, and when Fredrick went missing, I had no one. Then I showed up in this fantastic place where it felt like… home. It was the home I was missing dearly.

"And I found the start of a family. I met Rainbow, Virus, Lightness and Darkness, who welcomed me with open arms and gave me a place to sleep. I met an amazing girl who was my first friend in years, and I saved a sword trapped in a stone who became my biggest leech." I shot Gladius a smirk, and everyone quietly laughed before I continued. "Even with that disaster of a welcome party, I knew I had to get back.

"And thus me and Gladius were trapped in the multiverse, jumping from world to world all in a desperate attempt to get home. All the while, you guys were there and tagged along. Ralph and Vanellope in Litwack's Arcade, Jenny in Tremorton, Steve in his sandbox home, Majima in Kamurocho, Hilda, Twig and Alfur in Trolberg, Star and Marco in Echo Creek, Maple in Neighborville, Zomboss in Zombopolis, Maria and Manolo in San Angel…

"Izzy at the movie lot, Ruby and Iris in Gloomsville, the Powerpuffs in Townsville, Barranco in his world, Dave in Gru's lab, Merida at Dun Broch, Amy, Rory and The Doctor in London, Corey and Laney in Peaceville, and McGee and Gretchen in Camp Lakebottom. And then there's Galacta, Flowey, Dry Bowser and Scrap Baby. Those of you who were pulled along by accident still mean so much to me.

"We've all been through so much, from fighting hordes of zombies and towering kaijus, to exploring deep dense forests and arid deserts. We've done things anyone in my world could only dream of doing, and here I am living that dream, experiencing it first hand with the people I watched and loved. It's wild to me.

"But… But now all of that is over. Me and Gladius made it back home, and now we have to say goodbye. It doesn't feel right, and you all know that too. Because, after everything we've been through, all the ups and downs… How can we say goodbye? How can we accept the fact we might ever see each other again…?"

I was beginning to shake more as I walked closer to the group. "I can't say goodbye, not after I lost Fredrick. I can't lose you guys, I just can't. I can't." I gripped my hair violently. "Ican'tIcan'tIcan'tIcan'tIcan't…"

I froze, and looked up at my friends. Every last one of them had left some sort of mark on me. All of them changed me, were there for me, helped me. We laughed together, cried together, screamed together, fought together. We were all here now because I had them.

And they were leaving.

Forever.

"I can't have my heart break again!" I crumbled to my knees and began to ball my eyes out, all the pent up sadness finally being unleashed. Ralph quickly swooped in and held me in his arms as I cried and cried and cried.

I Buried my face into his chest and sobbed endlessly, barely able to feel the warmth surrounding me in an attempt to keep me calm. It just made me cry more, and I held onto Ralph's overalls like a lifeline.

"I can't lose you guys!!!" I wailed. "I can't lose my family again!!!"

"You won't."

I fell silent, and leaned back slowly. Everyone had wrapped me in a group hug, and we all looked at Rainbow. She had a remorseful look on her face, and it was clear my speech had got to her.

"Ever since you came back, Caleb", she continued. "I've been dragged into a corner by Gladius, Virus, Lightness, Darkness, even Skye and Jeremy about the whole thing of sending your friends away. And after that Council meeting, it made me realise this place needed a change, and fast. So… Me and Virus prepared a special surprise for all of you."

She nodded at her husband, and the purple blob gently set the box down in front of us. I peeked in, eyes still foggy from the crying, and saw cell phones. Mainly, a bunch of replicas of my phone.

"One for each of you", Rainbow explained. "They're tied to you, so you won't have to worry about losing them at all."

"But… why?" I whispered out. "Why my phone?"

Virus tossed me my phone, the one I gave up a few days ago. "It was my idea, but after the meeting Rainbow became fully invested."

Everyone began to fish a phone out for themselves. "Okay, but what do they do?" Iris asked, pressing the power button.

"They'll let you guys stay in touch", Rainbow said. "no phone plan, you guys can call each other whenever you want. Even in your own worlds you'll be able to. There's also a chat room for texting."

I turned my phone on and quickly sent a text in the cresting app. As soon as I hit send, everyone's phones were set off, and we all shared a wide eyed look.

"But, that's not all…" Rainbow continued with the faintest smirk. "The third app you see, one of you press it."

It ended up being Barranco, and his eyes bugged out. "Wait, why are our names all here?"

"Pick one."

He hesitated, but then selected one of the names.

And the gateway suddenly awoke and opened a portal.

"Who's name did you pick?" Izzy asked the Rabbid as we all looked at the portal in shock.

"I picked… Corey and Laney's…"

Silently, we all looked back up at Rainbow as realisation flashed over oour faces.

"M-Mom…" I said in disbelief. 'What is-"

"From this moment on!" Rainbow announced loudly. "You all are hereby Caleb's knights. You have full access to the entire castle and can visit whenever you please. The hallway you all stayed at will be yours, and those bedrooms too. This will be your home away from home, and I want you all to promise me to keep Caleb safe."

All my friends nodded, still in shock about what was happening.

The goddess smiled. "Then welcome home."

We all snapped out of our states of shock, and looked at each other. No one blinked. No one moved. No one said a word.

Then I started laughing. Laughing while crying tears of joy and relief. The others all began to follow along shortly after, and before I could ever register, I was swooped up into a second group hug. Even Katania was roped up into it, and for once I felt as happy as could be.

"Okay, okay, break it up guys", Virus said with a chuckle. "You guys still have to get home. You can't stay here forever."

"Right, right, yeah…" I took a deep breath and wiggled out of the hug. I flashed all my friends a smile as the portal sparked back to life.

"We'll catch ya' later, kid", Ralph said as everyone got cleaned up. "Make sure you get us a little something when we come over next time."

I nodded rapidly, and one by one, my friends all stepped into the portal. They carried their luggage with them, all wearing beaming smiles and joyous tears running down their cheeks. Even Galacta seemed to be crying.

I waved them all off with Kat, only to stop when Rainbow halted Zomboss.

"Not you." Before the zombie could react, the goddess grabbed Maple and threw him right back at me. I stumbled back as the Wasabi Whip latched onto my face before he quickly crawled onto my shoulder. "You get to stay Maple, so be on your best behaviour."

Maple nodded nervously as the zombie scientist cackled and walked into the portal. The TARDIS trio boarded the blue box and it flew into the swirl of colours, and I returned to waving until everyone was gone.

I let out a content sigh as the gateway shut off, and Katania gently bumped my side with a smirk. "I gotta say, things went a lot better than we expected, huh?"

I nodded in response as Maple nuzzled against my cheek. "Yeah, it really did…"

Gladius was silent for a moment, giving Rainbow a very subtle nod. "After all of that, we should get some rest. And maybe get you some food." She gave me a look.

I shook my head. "Not now, Gladdy. Right now, we need to head to Kat's place and get all that stuff from the hardware store. It's time to redecorate the hallway!"

"Heck yeah!" Kat cheered. "C'mon dad, we're gonna need some help!"

"Coming!" I ran back inside, laughing as Kat and Gladius kept pace with me, my heart soaring to heights it never had before.

~X~X~X~

Rainbow watched Caleb lead the others back inside with a content smile on her face. She was proud, although still a bit scared.

"You kept us in the dark on purpose", Darkness growled.

"I had to, or you two would have spilled the beans about it."

"It would've made it so Caleb didn't lose his mind like that", Lightness said. "That was a good thing you did, but a bit more transparency next time would be nice."

The twins headed back inside, General Skye following after them, leaving the rainbow goddess and glitching blob on their own.

"Honey, did I do the right thing?" Rainbow asked Virus.

Virus nodded. "You did, 100%. You kept a family together, and opened up our world just the tiniest bit." Virus kissed her cheek. "You did good."

Rainbow blushed and smiled. "Yeah… It;s going to be an adjustment, but for him, I'd rip this multiverse apart.

"Caleb is my dream come true…"

~X~

We made it. The end of the story and boy am I not okay. I am crying writing this final author's note, because it's over. I seriously can't thank you all enough for being with me till the end of this. It's wild to me that just two years ago, this fic was just a few prewritten chapters with some vague plans for the future.

And now this story is past 480k words, at 95 chapters, with a bunch of art made for it that just drives me insane. I become rabid at the mention of this story because all of the effort I put into this thing has finally payed off. I can't thank everyone who helped me enough, from my discord friends, my tumblr friends, to all the fans that decided to take time out of their day to read this cringefest of a story.

Thank you, dearly.

But this story isn't completely over yet! We still have four epilogues to release, so keep an eye out for that.

Anyway, as always, thank you. I love you all, and hopefully the future shines bright.

Up next: A few weeks after the 'goodbye' turned 'see ya' later', the gang comes back together to celebrate an important day.

~Caleb~