Author's Note:

As you can see, I have re-written the story. I have lost the inspiration to continue it for a long time until recently, I find out about 'The Seer'. It is the most amazing Phineas and Ferb comic I have never seen...Well, I have never actually had the chance to read it because the author has already put the story into the storage before I can read it but I still respect her talents. I have gone for a long time and my writing, thankfully, has improved slightly. I think there might be a few typos and grammar mistakes, seeing that English is not my first language and I haven't found a beta reader yet. If any of you wishes to become my beta reader, please tell me...Thank you very much.

Also, this chapter is very different from the original one. Very. Different. The main idea is still the same but if you have read the original one, you will notice it. I send out my biggest thanks for those who have read my original stories and still want it to be continued. As I have said before, I will never abandon a story. I may lose the inspiration but I will find it again if I have time. Now, as I have finished what I have to say. Let's begin the traditional disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I do not own Phineas and Ferb. Be thankful for it, because if I have owned it, the cartoon will rate M because of violence and dark themes.

Prologue: Nothing will ever be the same again - Bad feeling

"Santa thinks everyone in Danville's been naughty? But… how could that be?" Phineas asked uncertainly as he looked at his sister – Candace, his eyes were depressedly trying to search for something in her eyes, anything that would prove that this idea, his idea was not the one that caused this madness. Just a word, just a touch, just a small smile, anything to prove his innocence! He had thought that this was a great idea and it was, wasn't it? Everyone had had fun, right? Next to him, Buford said something but he paid it little to no mind as he looked at his sister, the one that would help him in times like this, to help him make sure that this was just some mistakes and that he wasn't the cause of this. "What different is this year than last year? Oh, I know, you and your friends got everyone in Danville involved in one of your stupid scheme." Candace said bitterly and Phineas felt as if he had been slapped. He wanted to take a step back, to shake his head and deny everything she said but somehow, he couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't even think clearly.

Finally, he gathered his courage and opened his mouth to speak again, his words came out just barely above a whisper, and his eyes were blurry with unshed tears "You think it could be my fail? Could this… be true?" Candace snorted as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, the anger in her eyes flickered as Phineas flinched slightly, unable to accept the news. He only wanted to help…he didn't think Santa would be mad at them for this, for…wanting to celebrate Christmas. Candace seemed to think his silence as a denial for what he had done and her anger got the better of her again. Her stupid, good for nothing brother had ruined her Christmas with Jeremy, and looked at what he was saying. He denied everything. Taking a deep breath, Candace opened her mouth and screeched "Yeah, you and your stupid scheme make Santa think we are all naughty. This is all YOUR FAIL. I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY ANYMORE. YOU MAKE US ALL INVOVLE IN YOUR STUPID GAME. YOU ARE NOTHING BUT TROUBLE. I AM SO ASHAME THAT I AM YOUR SISTER. GET AWAY FROM ME AND MY LIFE."

She stormed off, leaving a shocked Phineas and his friends behind. The young boy was ready to crack at that moment. His sister, his only sister didn't want him. She hated him. She thought he was nothing but a pest, a troublemaker, a… burden. He choked back a sob and flinched slightly when he felt his stepbrother's hand touched his shoulder briefly, trying to comfort him and ease his pain. Isabella looked at him sadly and tried to say comforting words to her crush but stepped back when he purposely ignored all her attempts. Phineas looked around and his eyes landed on a furniture store. His eyes widened as he realized something. 'That's it! If I sleep, this will turn out to be one big nightmare' He thought as he walked to the store, his eyes shone brightly with hope.

"Wow, it was a terrible nightmare…" Phineas opened his eyes and grinned cheerfully, his smile was forced and depression was rolling out of his body in waves, the young boy was near his breaking point. He sat up and looked around, only to realize that the nightmare was still here…and it still continued, on and on and on. Isabella looked at him; the pain was clear as day in her eyes as she said softly "Phineas. Please don't do it again. It won't change what happened. It pained me more to see you like this. Please, just stop." Phineas frowned slightly when he looked at her and without saying a word, he closed his eyes again, continued to circle that had happened for the past 20 minutes. He pretended to sleep, opened his eyes and hoped that it was all a nightmare, and felt the disappointment when he realized it wasn't, then he pretended to sleep again and woke up a minute later… Isabella fell into an uncomfortable silence as she stared at her crush, her lips curled upward into a small, sad smile as she wanted nothing more than to touch him and make his nightmare go away. At last, she torn her eyes from Phineas and looked away, her heart clenched painfully even more when she observed him. He looked so vulnerable, unlike the cheerful, creative boy she had fallen in love with. She gave him a small nod, not that he would notice but she still nodded nonetheless. Turning away, Isabella felt the corners of her eyes got wet and she brushed away a tear, wanting to be strong for both herself and her crush.

Ferb looked at his brother, his concern for his brother rose up a notch as he looked at the young boy's sleeping form. Unlike his friends, he knew that Phineas was not as normal as he seemed to be and that he was, in reality, very unstable. Inventing things was Phineas' method of keeping a clear head and his sanity intact…if Phineas ever cracked then... The older boy shuddered despite himself. It was not a good scenario to think about. Closing his eyes, Ferb hoped that this nightmare would go away soon and return his cheerful brother back to him.

"Isabella, we've gotten what you want. Here you are." A fireside girl – Adyson Sweetwater said as she and her friends carried into the shop a pile of heavy and tall boxes. Isabella absently waved her hand and forced a smile "Thanks, girls…please put them near here" The girls noticed their leader's forced smile and stared at her in confusion. "I'm fine…don't worry" Isabella lied and gave them a more convincing smile, or at least it was more convincing than her previous smile. The fireside girls looked at each other but didn't say anything and moved the box closer to the bed where Phineas was 'sleeping'. In their worry, the girls didn't focus on where they were going and before everyone had the chance to react, Adyson tripped on a small box lying carelessly on the ground, causing all the fireside girls to fall with her. Isabella yelled as she realized a box was swaying dangerously above Phineas' head. "Phineas, watch out!" But it was too late, the moment Phineas opened his eyes, the boxes fell on his head, a sickening crack was heard in the silent room as even Buford and Baljeet stopped what they were doing to look at the creative boy's direction. "PHINEAS!" Isabella yelled again and both she and Ferb dove into the last pile of boxes, searching for their friend. The others immediately sprang into action as they moved the boxes, revealing a bleeding Phineas as he laid motionlessly, his face was pale and a small stream of blood was running from his head. "No" Isabella said as she covered her mouth, to horrify to speak properly. "No, no, no…PHINEAS!" She called out again.

Ferb felt his heart stopped beating the moment he landed his eyes on his stepbrother and best friend's form. He looked so small, so weak and Ferb, with shaky fingers, moved closer to the boy and grasped his wrist gently. Checking for the pulse, the older boy sighed in relief and spoke quietly "Phineas is alive…someone please calls the ambulance" For once, no one interrupted the boy as he gave out his order.

The siren shrieked as the doctors and nurses moved Phineas' body to the ambulance. Ferb was sitting inside the car as it sped up, feeling strangely numb. He did not feel sad, nor regret and not even guilt. Everything became blurry in Ferb's mind as he stared at his brother, his breathing was soft and unsteady, unlike the laughing brother Ferb was familiar with. This boy was too stilled, too quiet, and too pale that Ferb had a hard time accepting that this…boy in front of him was really Phineas. Ferb did not remember much about the trip to the hospital. All he remembered was Isabella's tears, Buford's silence, and Baljeet's mutters as the boy flipped through the pages of his book, trying to calm himself down. He remembered their mom's sweats as she ran all the way to where they were, forgot to even put on the coat in her hurry, and his sister's grim face as she stared at them, a strange emotion that Ferb didn't realize was on her face. He remembered their mother buried her head on their father's shoulder, silver tears ran down her face. He felt a sob threatened to destroy his emotionless face but he held it back. He would not break down in front of everyone.

The ambulance stopped and the doctors fell into a familiar routine as Ferb stood up and stepped out, his feet refused to move and his body felt heavy. The pre-teen walked slowly to a bench and sat down, buried his face into his hands, feeling suddenly exhausted. A hand touched Ferb's shoulder and he looked up to see his father staring down at him with a sympathy expression "It's going to be okay, Ferb…your brother is going to be alright. Do you want to rest?" Ferb, as usual, didn't reply and stared at the door blankly where his brother was having a surgery. His father seemed to abandon the attempt to make him talk and instead, sat down next to him and held his small hand inside the man's large, warm hands. Even though Ferb didn't say anything, he really appreciated the gesture. Somehow, it gave him strength, like everything would be okay like his father had said. Ferb closed his eyes; finally let a small tear run down his face. His father didn't say anything but simply stared at him and pulled him into a hug. The pre-teen didn't resist and Lawrence felt a surge of sadness swept through him. He flinched slightly…Suddenly, he felt as if his family would never be the same again. The older man hastily pushed the feeling aside, feeling silly for such thoughts. He could never imagine that his feeling was right and their small family would shatter and shatter very soon.

One week later…

"How is he, doctor? Why doesn't he awake yet?" Linda asked worriedly as she stared at her youngest son. Her eyes dimmed with worry and she seemed to be older than she really was. One week had passed and Phineas hadn't shown any signs of waking up soon and truthfully, it was beginning to make her worry sick. "I truly apologize, ma'am. Technically, he should be awake by now. Physically, he is completely fine but mentally, I really don't know. We have to wait until he wakes up to check up on him" The doctor said as he followed her stare and ran a hand through his messy gray hair. It had been a tired week for him. There were too many accidents at Christmas that he had to pull an all-nighter and he hadn't even had a chance to sit down all this morning. The man sighed and comforted the worried mother "I'm sure he'll be alright…please excuse me, Ma'am…I have other patients I need to attend to. Good day" Seeing that she was too distracted to answer him, the doctor silently made his way out of the room, leaving Linda and her two sons in the room.

Linda looked at them both as they were still sleeping, Ferb's hand clutched tightly around his brother's. She was very worried about the boys and not just about Phineas. Ferb looked so tired, so exhausted that it made her heart bleed when she looked at her son's form. After the first day of Phineas staying in the hospital, the older boy had surprised her by speaking his mind. It had been a long time since he had spoken on his own and not because of a question. He had said that he would like to stay in the hospital to look after Phineas. At first, the woman had immediately dismissed the idea of letting Ferb stay in the hospital and forced him to stay home. However, she had to change her mind after a few days of letting Ferb stay home. The pre-teen barely ate a spoon of food per day and all he did was looking out from the window, waiting for Phineas to come home and smile. He slept only a few hours a day and at night, when Linda herself found it hard to sleep, she could hear his pencil stretching something on the paper, probably a machine of some sort to help her brother. Linda didn't have the heart to tell him that his idea would probably do very little to improve his brother's health. Luckily for her, without Phineas, Ferb didn't seem to be in the mood of building anything. His mood affected the whole house as Lawrence didn't smile now and Linda didn't even want to do house chores. Only Candace didn't seem to be affected by it. The girl somehow blamed her ruined Christmas as Phineas' fault and wanted nothing to do with him. Of course, as a sister, she cared for him but his accident seemed to bother her the least. Linda looked out from the small glass window and spotted Candace talking on the phone with someone in the hallway. 'It must be a friend' The woman thought grimly.

Linda was pulled out of her thoughts as Ferb stirred slightly, his eyes opened and he looked at her. Knowing that she would not have a greeting, Linda simply moved closer to the bed and touched Ferb's cheek with her right hand "Please, eat something, dear…you are too tired to do anything" Ferb shook his head and continued to look at Phineas, his face was blank. Ferb looked terrible. His eyes were red and tired, his green hair was messy and she could tell that he had lost weight. "Phineas is about to wake up" Ferb announced suddenly and Linda looked at him strangely "How do you know, honey?" Ferb didn't say anything as he held Phineas' wrist for the woman to see. Phineas' fingers…they were…twitching. A moment later, Phineas gave a small grunt and Linda could see Ferb's face lit up uncharacteristically. Not that she blamed him, she could feel herself smile brightly as Phineas' eyes opened and a tear of relief ran down her face. He was alright. Thanks god he was alright.

Phineas grunted once again, his voice was scratchy since he hadn't used his voice for a week. He managed to say softly "W-water" Ferb handed his stepbrother a glass of water and Linda watched with a small smile as Phineas flashed his brother a grateful smile. Ferb helped Phineas sit up and her youngest son, for the first time, noticed there was another person in the room "Hey, Mom" He called out cheerfully only to fall into a coughing fit a minute later, his small frame shook with each cough, tearing Linda apart. "Take it easy, honey…how are you feeling?" Linda asked and took a seat next to Ferb as Phineas grinned cheekily "I have never felt this good, Mom" Linda put a hand on his forehead and asked worriedly "Are you sure, dear? The doctor said you might feel a little dizzy…" Phineas pushed his Mother's hand away and smiled once again, this time his smile seemed to be more forced "I'm fine, really…see?" He opened his arms wide but stopped when the coughing fit came back. Linda stood up and walked out of the door "I'm going to call Candace and your dad…they're probably worried sick…Ferb, watch your brother for me, okay?" Linda's back turned and therefore, she had completely missed the cold glint in her youngest son's eyes as she mentioned Candace. Ferb gave a soft grunt, which could be translated as "Yes, Mom" and Linda walked out of the room to announce the good news, leaving the duo alone in the room.

The room fell into a strange kind of silence as Ferb studied his stepbrother, his eyebrows furrowed with confusion as he noticed something was strange with his best friend. Phineas, meanwhile, was smiling at Ferb, completely oblivious to his stare as the door opened once again, revealing Candace, Lawrence, and Linda. Phineas looked at his family and greeted each of them "Hey, Dad, Mom…Candace" He paused briefly as he mentioned Candace's name, too briefly for his family to notice except for Ferb. Flashing his family members a smile, Candace tried to look casually when she noticed his smile for her did not reach his eyes. Shivering unconsciously, the teenager girl studied her brother uneasily. Could he still be mad about what she had said? No way…Her brother was the most forgiving person in this world and she never admitted it out loud but Candace was proud of her brother for it. "Hey, son…how are you?" Lawrence asked as he sighed in relief mentally. His feeling was wrong after all. But if it was wrong, how couldn't he shake the feeling off?

"I'm completely fine, Dad…just, well…a little hungry" Phineas admitted, his face flushed red for a moment before his stomach groaned, causing everyone to chuckle. "Alright…I will get something for you, boys…and yes, that includes you, too, Ferb." Linda announced as she turned the doorknob. "Dad…Candace, you can go with Mom, too…I just want a moment with Ferb, that's all" Phineas said, his face showed a slight discomfort "About what, dear?" Linda asked and Phineas shrugged before grinning "Just some new ideas…I may invent a time machine next…no, I have already done that…how about a…a…" Phineas tapped his cheek and mumbled to himself, making Linda smile. Her boys had such wonderful imagination. Kissing his cheek, she laughed and said "Okay, honey…let's go...we don't want to interrupt the boys' conversation, right?" Lawrence and Candace looked like they were about to refuse but thought better of it and nodded.

As the door closed with a soft click, Phineas turned his head to look into his brother's eyes but remained silent. Ferb and he often played this game. It was called 'who can be silent longer'. Of course, Ferb was always the winner and after ten minutes or so, Phineas gave up "Tch…I can't never beat you in this, Ferb" He said and grinned as his brother rose an eyebrow "So, as usual, the loser has to answer the winner's questions, huh?" Ferb asked quietly. Even in the quiet room, Ferb's low voice was barely above a whisper and Phineas nodded "Uh-hm…So, ask me, Ferb" The older boy stared at Phineas again and after picking his words carefully, he opened his mouth to ask "What do you want to talk about?"

"That," Phineas grinned and pointed at Ferb's chest "is what I thought you would ask me first. Alright, I will go straight to the point then…Answer this question for me, first…"

Author's Note:

You have finished the prologue. What do you think about it? Is it better than the first time? Do I need to slow the pace down? or increase the description? any other suggestions? I don't accept flames but I accept helpful criticism. That's all.

Please read and review. Each review brings joy and inspiration to me.

Thank you.