Dreams Come True

(Epilogue 1) Time Traces Their Hearts

"'Scuse me, Caleb!" Star shouted happily as she dashed past me. I laughed as I ducked to the side, letting the Mewman Princess chase after Iris and Izzy, who had snagged her wand. It was all in good fun, however. I smiled as they disappeared around the corner, the distant sound of glass breaking hitting my ears. I winced then rolled my eyes as I walked down the hallway towards the Rec Room.

Each bedroom door had a new little mural painted around it to signify who's room it was. The TARDIS for The Doctor, a brick house for Ralph, a Scottish castle for Merida, etc. It gave the hallway so much more life, helped by the signs of the room's owners on them, and the almost impossible amount of pictures and drawings filling the empty gaps between the doors.

I headed into the Rec Room, and was instantly besieged by an overly excited McGee and Corey.

"Dude, where the heck were you?" The guitarist said in, honestly, disappointment.

"I was having lunch with my parents guys", I said with a smile and eye roll. "And you guys had the early morning celebration privileges. Don't act like you're surprised I walked off."

"We've got a whole day of things planned!" McGee said. "So we aren't letting you out of our sight."

I snorted. "Alright, take me away to the birthday fun."

"Wait, Caleb!" Marco ran into the room, sweating and eye frantic. "Where's Star?"

"Down the hall, around the corner, there was a crash", I said flatly.

"Ack, you gotta be- Thank you." Diaz ran off, making me snort. Before I even let the thought move on, he called back a loud but cheerful "Happy Birthday, dude!"

I beamed because, yeah, it was my birthday. Well... let me backup a bit.

It's been a good few weeks (I think four?) since the conclusion of my crazy journey across the multiverse that had me innevertaly create the craziest found family I ever could have imagined. Katania, Gladius and Maple always being around made the four of us a hurricane that, I swear, was giving Rainbow and Virus grey hairs. If that was even possible.

But ever since that day, things have gotten so much better. First was the redecorating. Me, Kat, Maple, Gladius, Jeremy and a bunch of the castle staff worked tirelessly to get our hallway completely redecorated top to bottom. Sure, there were the small murals around the doors, but the whole wall was painted a nice blue sky that went to a deep night sky, events from our adventure forever etched onto the wall.

The signs, Katania's fantastic idea, really completed the entire look. But my favourite part was the beautiful ceiling lamps that hung above, shining a plethora of different colours as they all took on different shapes. It was beautiful, and I teared up when I looked over the finished product.

The second thing was the visits. With all of the others having the special phones, we could all visit each other whenever we wanted. No one really was the most common, but Amy and Rory did seem like they wanted to take that spot, surprisingly. Even so, Galacta, Flowey, Dry Bowser and Scrap Baby practically lived here with how often I saw them over. Rainbow didn't have much issue, as she knew where they were in their series made it easy for them.

Third was the reverse, where I took time to just go back to the worlds I've been to before just to hang out. It was so fun, as there wasn't any pressure when it came to trying to deal with world-ending threats and whatnot. Even bought some neat stuff to spice up my room.

In the end, my life picked right back up after how low I was before. Never would I have imagined that in a few weeks while driving home on a dark and stormy night would I be celebrating my birthday with a new family in over three-ish months.

I smiled and let my memories guide me and Corey and McGee dragged me into whatever birthday scheme that had planned for me. Because no matter what, I knew it would be perfect.

~X~

I yawned as I entered my bedroom, all the birthday celebrations finally wrapped up and put to rest. Such a chaotic day of... stuff. I didn't hate a second of it, but man did it tire me out. I trudged over to bed and flopped onto the mattress as Gladius hovered over me.

"You look tired, my boy", the sword said in a cheeky tone. That little shit.

"When your birthday rolls around, you'll get my pain", I grumbled, unmoving.

Maple smiled and moved to where his bed was, a large flower bed in the corner of my room, complete with a small water fountain and other decorative flowers.

The sword chuckled at my failed attempt to be threatening, and glanced at my nightstand. "Hm, you didn't use that small device Zomboss gave you."

My eyes widened in surprise and I scrambled into a sitting position, and looked at the small orb that sat on my side table in silence. This small device was a gift from Zomboss the penultimate day before the whole 'goodbye' turned 'see ya' later'. I carefully picked it up and held it in my hand, the button used to activate it facing upwards.

"What do you think it does?" I asked.

Gladius shrugged. "Who knows. Zomboss is capable of a lot of things, so whatever this does is a mystery."

I half nodded and returned my gaze to the orb, and when my curiosity peaked, I didn't hesitate to press the button. Almost immediately, the small sphere transformed into a miniature Zombot, looking identical to Zomboss' own when he fought the Movie Lot Monster all that time back.

It looked up at me with its glowing yellow eyes, and saluted.

"Zomboss is the best", I said suddenly with a smile. Maple climbed over my shoulder to gaze at the small robot, and almost in the blink of an eye the bot dashed over and sat next to the Wasabi Whip, kicking its legs innocently. The plant was caught off guard for a moment before happily relaxing.

"That sure is something", Gladius said with a chuckle. "Do you think he has a name?"

The small bot shook its head, and pointed at me, signifying I am supposed to give him one.

"Hmmmmmm... what would be a good name for you..." I inquired. I let my eyes wander around my room, trying to look for inspiration, and they eventually settled on a photo of me, Zomboss and some of his scientists inventing. "How about Z-Tron?"

The small robot tilted its head in thought and then nodded rapidly.

"Then welcome to the family, Z-Tron!"

Z-Tron raised its hands in a silent cheer, then followed a sleepy Maple to the floor bed. I fought back to coo as my two PvZ based companions snuggled up next to each other and instantly fell asleep.

Gladius hummed then yawned, quickly putting on his scabbard and climbing into bed. 'I hope today was all that you asked for, Caleb."

I climbed under the blankets and hugged the sword close to my chest. "It was that and more. I couldn't think of a better first birthday with my new family."

"Now you're actually sixteen years old."

I snorted, leaning over to click off my lamp. "Yeah... Goodnight Gladdy."

"Goodnight Caleb. I love you."

"Love ya' too, you oversized letter opener."

~X~

A short and sweet epilogue to just round things out. There will be one-shots that fill in that four week gap, don't you worry.

Up next: Caleb gets a strange call from Izzy, and he wonders if the Psycho Hose Beast will be okay...

~Caleb~