CHAPTER ONE
Considering I got a decent response to this, I decided to keep going. I'll try to update at least once a week, if not more. Warning: character death ahead.
Brainless Genius: Thanks!
IrresistibleCookie: Lol sorry bro.
I don't own Phineas and Ferb.
GENERAL POV
"Come on, Candace!" Phineas cried, tugging his sister's wrist and pulling her down the stairs. "We're going to the park to play in the creek!"
Candace sighed and slumped into a kitchen chair, plucking a banana from the fruit bowl and eating it as Phineas plopped down next to Ferb, bouncing eagerly in his seat. "Phineas, why would I want to go to the park and play in the creek?" she asked in exasperation, rubbing her forehead with her hand.
Linda walked over to the table with a travel mug of coffee and sipped it slowly, raising an eyebrow at her daughter. "Candace, I'm asking you to come. I thought we were going to go shopping afterwards?"
The orange haired girl smiled thinly, taking the last bite of her potassium filled fruit. "Oh yeah. Okay, but don't expect me to play," she warned her siblings, pushing her chair backwards and standing back up, tossing the banana peel in the trash.
Phineas laughed and the boys ran for the car, Phineas asking "Where's Perry?" as their footsteps moved away and getting shrugs in return.
They didn't speak on the way to the park.
They should have. They would all regret it later, some more than most.
But they didn't.
Ferb yelped as Phineas tackled him into the surprisingly deep water, sending a splash of freezing liquid flying towards the parents and kids sitting on the grass.
Laughter filled the air, and Phineas and Ferb were quick to organize a water race with the younger kids in the area, knowing well enough that they couldn't do anything too crazy due to the age of the children.
Linda was sprawled on a towel in the grass, sunglasses covering her eyes, and Candace had found a magazine and was scanning the articles lazily, not paying much attention to the details in the pages. The girl was bored beyond belief and could not believe that she had allowed her mother to drag her there.
Then again, she hadn't put up much of a fight against it, either.
She glanced up as Phineas and Ferb came stumbling from the frigid water, dripping wet and laughing. Each picked up their towel and began rubbing at their hair, but Ferb paused, his eyebrows furrowing as he stared at the horizon.
"Ferb?" Phineas asked slowly, lowering his towel. "What is it?"
Linda sat up at those words and pushed her sunglasses onto her forehead. Everyone in the immediate vicinity followed Ferb's gaze to see a small speck in the distance, one that was quickly growing larger as they watched.
"What is it?" Phineas asked softly, pulling his shirt on and slipping into his shoes.
Candace got to her feet and squinted, her eyes taking in as many details of the speck as possible; the way it was shaped, how fast it was moving, the flames coming from behind it….the direction it was headed.
The girl paled violently and spun around to face her mom. "Mom. It's coming right at the creek. We need to get everyone out," she demanded, her voice growing hard and somehow familiar to her brothers.
Linda took one look at the seriousness of Candace's face and jumped to her feet, whistling loudly. "Everyone out of the creek and into the library, now!" the woman yelled, her no-nonsense voice sending everyone flying.
The two dozen or so people who had been there moved quickly to the building, Candace and Linda holding doors and ushering them in, Phineas and Ferb jogging at the back just in case anyone fell behind.
The Flynn-Fletchers met at the doors and turned back to stare at the speck.
It was no longer a speck.
The size of the bomb (for lack of a better word) hurtling at them was hard to discern, but that didn't make it any less terrifying. Linda shoved her kids into the lobby of the library and slammed the doors behind her, locking them immediately.
"Get away from the doors!" the former singer yelled, pushing her kids towards a wall. "Cover your heads with your hands!"
The siblings clambered together, ducking their heads as if preparing for a tornado warning at school, with Candace centered between her brothers. She wrapped her arms around them and lowered her head, her hands clenching as she waited for impact.
The only sounds in the room were several faint whimpers from the youngest of the children and the soothing murmurs of the parents there. Candace risked a glance up, her eyes darting to the clock above the door.
It was 9:34 am.
A loud whistling sound came from outside and the largest explosion Candace had ever been witness to shook the building, sending rubble and plaster down on their heads and causing the walls to rock.
Children screamed and cried out and Candace tightened her grip on her brothers, her heart pounding and tears streaming down her cheeks. "I love you guys," she murmured, trembling violently.
She heard Phineas gasp out a choked "I love you" and Ferb reached over, grabbing her hand and squeezing tightly. She could feel them shaking as much as the walls and then…slowly…it stopped.
The building settled and everyone looked up, mothers and fathers alike bowed over their children to protect them. Linda stood up shakily from her position next to Phineas and raised her voice. "I don't know what that was. But I suggest you get to safety as soon as possible. This building isn't stable anymore. Go to a friend's house, or somewhere with a basement. Be careful! Whatever just happened, I doubt it was the end!"
The people bolted so quickly that Candace lost her grip on first Phineas, then Ferb as they were pulled away by the panicking masses. The girl shouted for her brothers, faintly hearing a British accent shout her name before her mother latched onto her wrist.
"Come on!" the woman shouted, dragging her daughter out the doors and to the car.
Candace barely caught sight of the blackened, smoldering creek before she realized what was happening. She shoved her mother away. "Mom! We need to get Phineas and Ferb!" she cried desperately, her lips quivering.
Linda turned to Candace and the teen could see how badly her mother was sobbing. "Candace, we need to get out of here. I don't know what those were, but I know they won't be the end. Phineas and Ferb are intelligent. They'll know what to do. For now, we need to get out of here and just pray they stuck together."
Candace sobbed but allowed her mother to drag her to the car and shove her into the passenger's seat. Linda started the car and peeled out of the parking lot, driving over the baseball field next to the library to avoid hitting fleeing children and parents.
The car slipped onto the road and Linda floored the pedal out of the city, aiming for Maple Drive. Candace glanced in the rearview mirror and paled, whipping around.
"Mom," she whispered in horror, her eyes going wide at the sight of shapes covered in black hurtling towards them on jetpacks. Whatever or whoever they were, they weren't messing around.
Linda slammed on the brakes and Candace was flung forward into the windshield, her vision going dark for a second before she heard her mother screaming. A rattling sound came from the front of the car and the glass shattered on Candace as the air bags exploded, causing the girl to get cuts all over her legs and lose her breath for a moment.
Candace spun to her mother, coughing. "Mom, we have to-!"
Her voice cut off abruptly and she let out a choked sob. Linda reached a trembling hand over, her fingers brushing Candace's cheek gently as she struggled to breathe.
Bullets. The rattling sound had been bullets. And her mother had been shot, making her lose control of the car and send it smashing into a lamp post. Her torso, shoulders, and left arm were bleeding heavily, and a singular bullet had pierced her skin directly next to her heart.
"Candace baby," Linda murmured, swallowing hard and trying her best to keep calm. "Find your brothers. Please. Stay safe."
"Mom," Candace gasped, wrapping her fingers around her mother's hand. "Mom, please. I don't…l...I'm so sorry I always…I just…."
Linda hushed her, her fingers shaking. "I know, honey. I love you. I love the boys, too. Tell them that. Tell your father. Be brave, Candace. Be careful."
Candace shook her head rapidly, her eyes on the sky. The shooters had evidently thought that they had killed both people in the car, because they hadn't come to check and see if there were any survivors. "No…Mom. I can't just leave you here," she stuttered out, tears spilling over her cheeks and dripping onto her top.
Linda squeezed her daughter's fingers. "You have to honey. I need you….need you to find the boys. I know they're capable of much more than I could understand….you need each other."
The woman pressed her fingers to Candace's trembling lips and then let her hand fall, her body shuddering as she coughed violently, blood spilling from her lips.
Candace cried out and latched her arms around her mother, whispering words of false comfort into her ear and crying. So much crying.
Linda stilled and slumped back and Candace shivered, glancing down. Her mother's wedding ring glinted on her finger, speckled with blood but undamaged. Candace gulped and slipped it off and, having nowhere else to put it, slipped it into her cleavage.
She brushed her lips across her mother's forehead. "I love you," she whispered, before crawling out of the car and stumbling down the street, not paying attention to where she was going. She finally slumped against the wall in an alley, her gaze lost, and sank to the ground sobbing.
It was 9:57 am.
I will consistently update you with the time, just so you have a concept of when everything is happening.
I'm kinda feeling crappy, so I'd really love some reviews.