Chapter Text
Rob sat on the front steps of the house he'd claimed as his own. He’d been there, in that... void, for about five, maybe six months now? He didn't know; It was hard to keep track of time in a place like this.
Being deemed one of the world’s mistakes was bad enough, but having to spend every single day of his life with nowhere to go, barely anything to do, and absolutely nobody to talk to was starting to make him go insane.
As he played with the peeling paint on the stair railing, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He stood up and walked down the steps to try and get a better look.
“What the...”
There was what looked like a hole in the sky, and through it Rob could see roads, trees, actual blue and actual clouds instead of the terrible static he’d been forced to stare at daily.
One by one, he watched three figures enter through the hole. He couldn't at first make out who they were because of their distance, but as the three’s journey through the Void progressed, Rob recognized them as Elmore Junior High’s guidance counselor, Mr. Small, Darwin Watterson, and Gumball Watterson.
At first he just stood and watched them, but then Rob realized that these three could actually help him. That this was probably his one and only chance to escape- to return to the real world. The world that didn't want him. The world he wanted to prove wrong.
He began to frantically wave at his friends, calling out, “Guys! Guys, over here!”
Rob’s stomach dropped as he got no answer, not even a single look in his direction.
With cans of hairspray in their hands, Gumball and Darwin began heading even further away from Rob, too far for his voice to reach them.
His stomach dropped even more when he heard them call out the name "Molly."
Molly. They came here for Molly. Not me.
Do they even remember me?
He wanted to call out again, louder this time, even though it knew it was no use.
Of course they don't remember me; They could never even remember my name.
Rob’s dread and sadness suddenly turned to anger.
There's no way they couldn't have heard me- They ignored me, that's what it was. Just like that, they ignored me. They've never actually cared about me. Never bothered to learn my name, never bothered to be nice.
He sat back down on the steps, defeated.
I'm here for a reason- I’m a mistake! Why did I think I could make it out?
For the next few minutes, Rob hopelessly watched Gumball, Darwin, and Mr. Small- and eventually Molly- to the best of his ability, forcing tears to stay in his eye. When he saw the four of them climb into a horrid looking van, however, he suddenly got an idea.
He ran near the edge of his piece of land, desperately hoping his plan would work, and waited until the van drove by. When it did, his heart racing, he jumped onto the back of it and clung on for dear life.
At first he grinned, ecstatic at the fact that this worked, at the fact that he was actually escaping, but then he suddenly gritted his teeth and tried not to scream in pain as parts of his skin began to peel off. Confusion and terror filled his whole body.
As more and more and more of his skin tore off to reveal static underneath, Rob squeezed his eye shut, becoming afraid to reopen it. He was filled with far too much pain to have the mental capacity to question what was going on.
Soon enough, however, he felt himself fall onto a warm, rough surface, all the pain disappearing in a split second. He opened his eye to see he was lying on pavement, and he stood up, taking in his appearance.
His head throbbed, and he began to wonder why he didn't even know his own name...
Rob shoots upwards on his mattress, awoken from his nightmare. After taking a second to gather his bearings, he takes a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down.
So often, and for as long as he can remember, had the events of... that day plagued him during the night. Recently, the nightmares had become a lot more vivid.
And all he wants is for them to go away.
A few minutes later, he's managed to calm himself down, pushing the nightmare to the very back of his mind. He actually hadn’t realized he’d even managed to fall asleep in the first place- He had been studying a map of Elmore, trying to figure out the best route to Banana Barbara’s house from the junkyard where he’d been staying.
Earlier in the week, Rob had take a trip to the mall, and there, he’d seen the Watterson siblings and Banana Joe. He'd overheard them talking about the latter’s mother, who, from what Rob was able to pick up, could seemingly paint the future.
Instantly, this piqued his interest. After finding other sources around Elmore that confirmed it, Rob became overjoyed. This ability could be incredibly useful to him, especially because of what he’d found out about the Void...
So, he had decided he needed to keep Barbara for his own, knowing how desperate his need was for her power. Sure, kidnapping was technically illegal, but he needed to do it, and, well, he’d invaded the police once before, so it shouldn't be too hard to do it again.
So he pulls his phone out of his pocket and checks the time- about midnight. Perfect.
Putting his phone away, he rises to his feet and exits the warehouse. Hopefully this is one thing she won't predict.
“Darwin, Darwin!” Gumball yells.
“What, what??” Darwin answers.
“Help me out here, man! I’m surrounded!”
“Well, I’m kinda busy, too! I have one HP left! I can’t exactly-”
“Dagnabbit! I died!” Gumball slams a fist on the desk, scowling at the ‘You Died’ screen on the computer. “Now we gotta redo the whole leve-”
Darwin watches as Gumball suddenly gets knocked out of his seat by a flying dictionary, a distant “Shhhh!” coming from the librarian across the room.
“You okay?” Darwin asks.
Gumball stands up, rubbing the side of his head where the book hit. “Yeah.”
“Should we call it a day?”
“Awh, c’mon, man, we're so close to beating the game! We-”
“Hey, Gumball, Darwin?” a voice interrupts. The two look to their right to see Banana Joe.
“Oh, hey, Joe. What's up?” Gumball asks.
“And are you alright? You sound and look so down.” Darwin says.
“Well... i-it's my mom. It's kinda what I wanted to talk to you guys about.” Banana Joe says.
“What's wrong? Is she okay?” Gumball asks.
“No. She's missing. It’s been.. almost a week now.”
“A week? That’s horrible!” Darwin exclaims.
“Is that why you've been out of school so often?” Gumball asks.
“Yeah. I just wanted your guys’ help making posters and hanging them around town.” Banana Joe responds.
“Of course!” Darwin says, already getting an app up on the computer.
“Though why are you waiting until just now to do this?” Gumball asks.
“Well, my dad and I thought that at first she’d show up on her own, then when it was clear she wasn't going to, we thought we could find her. We’ve done everything we could.” Banana Joe says, defeated.
“Well, we’ll help you with those posters, no problem, buddy. I’m positive we’ll find her real soon.”
Banana Joe manages a smile. “Thanks, guys. You're great friends.”
“Awh, shucks.”
“What? Where...” Banana Barbara asks, dazed, just coming to. She takes in her surroundings: a bunch of junk, an easel, her paintbrush, paint, and a ton of canvases.
“I’m sorry, Barbara,” a voice behind her says. She jumps, turning around to see an unfamiliar cyclops, one who looked like he was... glitching?
“Who-”
“My name is Rob. And again, I’m sorry, but I had to do this. I know you can paint the future, Barbara, and I need your power. So you are gonna stay here, with me, and you are gonna paint. Okay? You're gonna paint. Or else.”
“Or... else?"
"Or else! Now come on, Barbara, pick up your paint brush and start!”
Frightened, Barbara stands and hurries over to the easel beside her. She grabs her paintbrush and dips it in some grey paint.
She remembers clearly the day she’d gotten this paintbrush. It was the day of her burnout.
She was walking home from Chanax Inc., stumbling around, feeling a bit disoriented and generally disconnected from reality. She wasn't exactly paying attention to where she was walking- and with her crossed eyes it was kind of hard to see much in the first place- and she’d walked straight into a red van.
She’d passed out almost instantly, and when she came to, she heard a deep voice asking if she was alright. She stood, noticing how some of her skin had browned, and looked around to see where the voice was coming from.
“Over here. In the van.”
She took a few steps to the side and looked into the van’s open door to see a pair of triangular eyes looking at her quizzically. “You good?” they asked.
“I feel like painting.” Barbara answered calmly, simply repeating the last sentence she had spoken aloud.
“Oh. Well, I have something for that, actually.” The pair of eyes disappeared for a minute. When they returned, a shadowy hand extended out the van door holding a paintbrush.
Barbara took it, and brought it up to her eyes to get a good look at it.
“Five dollars, if you want to buy it.” the shopkeeper said.
Without a word, Barbara took out her wallet, handed the shadowy hand a five dollar bill, and began to walk away.
“Wait! I should warn you- Ma’am?”
Barbara continued to walk away, either having not heard him or having decided to ignore him.
“Ah, forget it.”
“Are you finished?” Rob asks calmly, snapping Barbara out of her thoughts.
“Mhm.” Barbara answers, looking up at Rob on her right, who had been inspecting her painting.
“What is this? Is this... static?”
“Yes.”
“Come on, Barbara, I need more than that! Start a new painting!” he yells, grabbing the canvas off the easel and throwing it aside.
“Okay..” Barbara says, grabbing a blank canvas from the pile beside her.
But it goes like this for an entire week- Barbara painting static, static, and more static. And with each painting, Rob gets increasingly more frustrated.
As of currently, eight days after her kidnapping, Barbara is painting yet another canvas full of nothing but static. And Rob is about to snap. “No. No, no, no! The future! I want you to paint the future! What happens next?! That can't just be the end! I need your power!”
Realizing his outburst, he takes a second to calm himself, change his tone of voice, and put a smile on his face. Yelling at Barbara won't get her anywhere. “Heh, now, come on, Barbara, one more time! Work your magic, paint the future.”
Barbara switches out her canvas for a new one. Keeping the smile up on his face, Rob says, “That's it.”
Then he notices what exactly she’s painting. “Ugh!”
Barbara shows off her painting to him- to nobody's surprise, a canvas full of nothing but static. Grabbing it from Barbara’s hands and tossing it behind him, Rob says, “No! No more static!”
He takes a step closer to the frightened banana. “I’m gonna give you one last chance. You’re gonna tell me everything you know.”
“Okay..” Barbara says. Rob looks at her with anticipation. “Your stomach produces a new layer of mucus every two weeks, otherwise it'll digest itself. A blue whale's toot bubble is large enough to enclose a horse.”
“No! NO!” Rob breathes heavily.
“Hippopotamus milk is pink...”
“Why you-” Rob grabs Barbara and lifts her close to his face, grabbing her paintbrush as well. “You’re gonna take this, and you're gonna paint what happens next! Otherwise, that face of yours won't be so... a-peel-ing."
Barbara stares at him.
"Wait, that came out way lamer than I expected.” He lets Barbara down. Shoving the paintbrush in her hand, he shouts, “Just paint!”
“Huh. It's working, though. I am definitely seeing things.” Gumball says. It's been a while now of searching for Banana Joe’s mother while trying to act like bananas, and it seemed like a solid plan, but maybe licking a payphone wasn't the best idea.
“Me too! It's like that shadow is pointing the way.” Darwin says. Gumball’s shadow is going crazy, frantically pointing to the left.
“Now, what would your mother do?” Gumball asks Banana Joe.
“Definitely go in the opposite direction.” Banana Joe answers.
Giving the boys a hint to her location seemed like a great idea. All Barbara has to do is make sure Rob doesn't find out about it.
“Hey, Barbara.” Rob says, a banana in his hand. Barbara quickly turns around, her heart beating fast. She moves over a bit in an attempt to block her painting from Rob’s view. “You better get going. Otherwise...”
While looking Barbara directly in the eyes, Rob slowly brings the banana closer to his face, but instead of eating it, ends up shoving it into his eye. “Ugh... oh.. sorry, it's just with only the one eye, I've got really bad depth perception, and, y’know...”
Barbara stares at him.
“Get back to work!” Rob yells suddenly, causing Barbara to jump back around to her canvas. She switches it out for another one and gives the boys another clue.
“Wait, look!” Gumball points to the sky. “My finger.”
“Ooh!” Darwin and Banana Joe respond.
The three continue on, soon coming upon a wall decorated with graffiti.
“Look at that speech bubble!” Banana Joe points out, “‘I’m here Banana Joe.’” he reads.
“Of course. Barbara must be inside this wall!” Gumball says.
None of it is working. I’ll have to get them here on my own...
On her canvas, Barbara, a mind with a link to the paintbrush she’d bought from a weird magic van, paints a hole in the ground to the right of the boys. She switches the canvas to one she’d done of Rob watching her paint, and then paints a hole in the ceiling.
At hearing a strange sound, Rob turns around to see the hole form in the ceiling of the warehouse in front of his very eye. He moves forward, his vision darting between the portal and Barbara.
“You can... You can alter the paintings.” He smiles. This is huge. This is what he’d been waiting for! “You can change the future!”
“Only what’s left...” Barbara says, a small smile on her face.
At her words, Rob’s smile disappears completely. As he talks, he picks Barbara up and shakes her. “What does that mean?! Talk to me, Barbara! Come on! Spill your guts!”
“Okay.” Barbara says.
As she starts to try to get herself to throw up, Rob drops her. No, he's had it. He grabs a crowbar he spots on the floor and lifts it high.
But he can’t do it. He can’t hurt her like that...
As Rob tries to run things over in his head, he hears screaming coming from behind him. Both him and Barbara turn around, and on the warehouse floor are Banana Joe, Darwin...
and Gumball.