Starting New: A World Apart

Chapter 24: Blooming Thoughts

Nicole awoke to the now bright overhead light as it shined down on her. The scent of burnt flesh and dried blood loomed in the air, much to her disliking. As she yawned and wiped her eyes, she checked her body carefully under her towel. To her dismay, her clothes were ruined. On the plus side, it looked like her wounds had completely healed. Although she still had grime, bits of dirt and debris still clinging to her fur, she wasn't worried. This should easily come off with another shower.

As she turned and looked down beside her, she saw Gumball still asleep. His clothes seemed almost completely unfazed; with the exception of a few grass stains and a hole or two. She knew they both needed to be cleaned up properly. As she stretched, she tried to piece together what happened.

'My mind is half in shambles. *ugh* anyways, let's see; there was an explosion. I remember that. But what caused it again? It wasn't Gumball, I remember that much. Was it another gas leak? No, that's not it. A freak fire? Certainly not. Come on brain, THINK!'

Nicole glanced around before she squeezed the bridge of her nose.

*sigh* 'It's hard to tell what time of day it is in here with no windows...'

Nicole suddenly felt something.

'Wait. Time...but what does that mea-'

"The Watch!" She blurted out loud to herself.

She now remembered everything. The fracture, the poking and prodding of the core. The explosion... It all came back to her in waves.

"Hm?" A sleepy voice called out.

Nicole turned to face Gumball. She saw him now slowly stirring in place, looking towards her with half closed eyes. She must have woken him up accidentally.

"Oh, sorry Gummypuss. I just remembered what happened."

Gumball seemed to try to process that sentence in his tired, scrambled mind before it jolted him awake. Quickly, he got up and observed her body.

"Nicole! A-are you okay? You were burned pretty badly..."

She slowly reached out an arm and caressed his cheek in reassurance.

"I-I'm fine now. But Gumball...the watch..."

"I know..." he said, lowering his head.

"I'm so sorry that happened Gummypuss. I-I didn't know. If only I had, we could have prevented all this. I could have-"

"Stop." He spoke, raising a finger to her lips.

"It's not your fault. It's alright. It was a accident. If anything, it's my fault for removing that broken metal piece and exposing the core."

"Sweetie, don't blame this on yourself..." she said, stroking his cheek now.

Gumball felt tears fall down his face now. The watch...was gone. Their only piece of tech that had a chance of possibly getting them out of here...lost. They were now back at square one. They were now alone again. So very alone...

"Why?...why did this have to happen?" He wept, causing Nicole to pull him in the tub with her and embrace him with her body. She didn't care if she was fully cleaned up or not, Gumball needed this. She rocked him forward and back, shushing him as she did so. He rested his head back into her, hating himself over crying again.

"I'm sorry..." he said, only this time, Nicole silenced him with her finger.

"Shhh, it's alright. Like I said, it's not your fault. It was the watch's fault, not yours. Stop being so hard on yourself, okay?"