Chapter 15: The Chase

## Plot

Gumball/Darwin and Anais have to do their best to run from the X-Group and its mobs. However, this is only the beginning of what is to come for them.

## Chapter (WARNING FOR SPOILERS)

It starts back off from where Chapter 14 ended, with Gumball/Darwin and Anais running down the street as the X-Group chases them. Anais soon grabs the two and they hide behind some garbage cans. G/D is panicking, as all three try to keep quiet.

X is trying to find them, however followers of his interrupt his search, much his annoyance. One spots the three hiding, thanks to G/D's shoe sticking out. They try to escape, however the group surrounds them, with X sneering.

Anais tries to stop them, however X grabs her. He monologues that she cannot easily save her brothers, and cannot fix anything. She desperately struggles to escape, but is forced to watch as the other group members beat up and harm G/D. Unable to stomach this for obvious reasons, she manages to kick out of X's grip, and takes G/D away from the area.

They rest in an alleyway, where Anais looks over the two's injuries. She reassures them that they can patch these up when they go home, however as they walk carefully down the street, a group of followers approach, demanding that she hand over G/D. Refusing, the three run down the street once more, the mob following behind them.

Anais takes the two inside a dollar store and quickly purchases bandages, throwing the money to a confused and startled Larry as they go. They go into another alleyway, hiding. The mob passes, and all is safe for now. Gumball/Darwin then sit on an upside down garbage can as Anais patches up their wounds.

Once somewhat rested, the three warily return back home, figuring that the X Group wouldn't bother to check the same place twice so quickly. Nicole is quick to take them inside, being very frightened and worried for their safety, as the three have to explain what happened. Tearfully, their mother hands G/D a brown backpack with supplies, requesting Anais to take them to the forest where she believes they will be safe until things blow over.

Naturally Gumball/Darwin are confused and upset, pointing out how equally the infamous Forest of Doom is. She acknowledges it, but explains that the group could come back to hurt them, and that she's only trying to well, as Gumball puts it, **"Let me guess, protect us?"**

He's agitated, pointing out that the two were well aware of that statement, hearing it plenty of times before, and the danger they've been caught in a while, once again putting it **"they made that pretty darn clear considering what we saw on the news earlier!"**

Anais questions how long the two will be in there. When Nicole does not say, the young bunny states that she will go with them, much to her mother's shock. Anais stands her ground, stating further that she will not leave them alone to deal with this danger, as G/D is family, and as their family they should be there rather than not do a thing.

The siblings then go up the stairs, to pack anything else they might want in their journey, while the parents feel grief for the decision made. Minutes later, it's time for goodbyes, complete with sorrowful hugs all around. Anais reassures Nicole that she will keep G/D safe, that this whole situation will be over before they even know it.

The three siblings then begin their way to the woods, uneasy for what could happen, as they keep hidden from mobs.

## Fun facts!

-The original name for this chapter on Fanfiction.net is called "Pain and Sorrow". This was changed for the DeviantArt, Wattpad, and ao3 versions.

-Many changes from this chapter are generally just tweaks to lines and adding more depth to sentences. However there are still some major bits of content added to the update.

-The "Can't we stop them like we usually do?.." line was originally said by Anais, to which Nicole tells her that nothing is the same anymore. This was changed to give Darwin more lines compared to the original chapter. The other change was that of the added dialogue of Anais's "I'm going with them" line, better giving a more emotional moment.

-The scene of the three siblings giving goodbyes to their parents has parts added on to it compared to the original, with emotional hugs and reassurances.

-The original chapter was planned to have a "torches and pitchforks store" scene, where the angry mob chasing the three siblings would go inside a store meant for such items on their way. This was cut just because it didn't really fit with the event, it was a little weird. This scene would've been a reference to a SpongeBob episode (that which I can't remember what episode the original joke came from).