Chapter inspired by: I Will Not Say Good-Bye by Danny Gokey
Two months later
"Are you sure you wanna do this?" Mabel peered into the back of the truck, pointing to the various objects inside. "Didn't you and your brother make most of these?"
"Yes, we did." Ferb couldn't help the wistful smile. "There were more from when we were children, but they disappeared everyday." The twins exchanged a puzzled look. "Hard to explain."
"Seriously man, why give all this away?" Dipper picked up a tag hanging from some sort of recording device, reading from it. "Animal Translator." He picked up another tag on a different invention. "The Platy-Posterior. Huh."
Mabel snorted at the name, looking at another tag. "X-Ray Glasses. Whoa!" She picked them up, placing them on. "They really work too! Dipper, I can see your skeleton!"
He cringed, swiping the glasses from her. "That's not creepy." He glanced at the other tags. "Super Shoes, Hair Growth machine, Giant Game of Darts call Isabella Garcia Shapiro, antigravity dumbbell." The man put a hand to his chin in thought. "You know, you could make a lot of money selling these instead of just giving them away."
The Brit shook his head. "My brother never wanted to make money off of our inventions; he always built them to help others. I'll be giving them away to people who need them."
"And you're sure about this?"
He nodded.
"Well, good luck," Mabel said, grabbing the X-Ray glasses from her brother and placing them back into the truck bed. "Hopefully you find people to take them."
That afternoon
I will always see your face
in the shadows of this haunted place
I will laugh I will cry shake my fist at the sky
but I will not say good-bye—
Ferb shut off the radio as he pulled up to the house. Good-bye. That's what he should be doing. Saying a final good-bye to his brother instead of holding onto the memories.
But he couldn't let them go. Not yet.
His gaze fell to the empty truck bed as he climbed out. Today had been a success at least; he'd given away most of the inventions him and Phineas had made.
All except the X-Ray glasses prototype.
He chuckled at the memory of the day they made the glasses, slipping them on. He frowned, his gaze landing on a crop of nearby bushes. Calmly, he took the glasses off, hanging them on his shirt. "I know you're there. I can see you. Show yourselves now or I'll run you off the property."
The five beautiful men emerged from the bushes, tentatively looking around. "Yo Dawg," one of them said, "where P-Man at?"
"Yeah man," added another. "We haven't seen him for weeks. It's lonely without him here."
Ferb grunted. "What do you know about loneliness?"
"Lots!" Creggy G spoke up. "We're all alone in this world yo."
"There's five of you."
"Doesn't mean we don't get lonely."
"We have feelings Dawg." Deep Chris looked around. "Seriously, where's P-Man at?"
"Gone."
"He go on a trip?" Leggy P asked. The Brit shook his head. "Then where is he?"
"Deceased." The men shot him a confused look and he sighed in exasperation. "He died."
The five men stared at each other a moment before turning a collective gaze to him, speaking in unison. "Of what?"
"Accident."
"Yo man, that's rough," Chubby Z said. "You two were tight."
"Yeah Dawg," Greggy C added. "We didn't know him that long, but P-Man talked about you all the time. He said you blamed yourself for the accident where he lost his arm and that it wasn't your fault."
His eyes filled with tears. "Get out."
"But we were just tryng to—"
"GET OUT!" He picked up a nearby rock, lobbing it at the men, causing them to go running into the forest with a collective whimper. Ferb snorted in the direction of the bushes before disappearing into the house, re-emerging minutes later with a bottle of beer in his hand.
Alcohol seemed to be the only thing that could dull the ache these days. He twisted the top off, sitting down on the edge of the porch before taking a sip, grimacing at the taste. It wasn't great, but it helped. He took another sip, starting at the sight of something sitting on the opposite end of the porch.
A machine seemed to stare at him, a metal body complete with a pair of robotic arms and legs. He eyed it a moment, his gaze shifting to the forest as one of the men he'd chased off earlier cautiously made his way to the porch.
Ferb smirked; if the man had been an animal, he would have had his tail between his legs.
"Yo Dawg, we're sorry about your brother. We thought we'd give this to you." He motioned to the machine. "It's a Tree Hugger P-Man made for us. It's supposed to hug trees, but we thought you could use it. You know, because you're sad and everything."
The Brit gave a weary sigh. "Thank you."
"Don't you wanna see what it does?" Ferb shot the man a withering look and Deep Chris whimpered, backing off the porch before running back to the safety of the trees.
He rubbed his temples, taking another sip of beer before standing up, walking to the other end of the porch. He surveyed the machine; more metal than anything else, there were two buttons on the top. He pressed the one marked AUTOMATIC.
Immediately, the machine whirred to life, its robotic arms flailing as it stepped off the porch, making a beeline for the nearest tree.
The Brit followed behind, watching in mild fascination as the robot wrapped the extendable arms and legs around the trunk, shimmying halfway up the tree before stopping. It hung there for about five seconds before slowly dropping back down to the ground, shutting off.
Well, his curiosity was piqued at least. He pressed the second button, marked MANUAL, raising a brow when the machine failed to respond. Suddenly, a slit opened in the front and a piece of paper spit out, fluttering to the ground. He picked it up, reading:
Manual Setting Instructions: Sit down in front of the robot and spread your legs out. Then spread you arms out like you're giving it a hug. This will start the manual response
Ferb did as the instructions said, watching in wonder as the machine seemed to recognize the action, kicking on. But what happened next amazed him; the robotic arms suddenly retracted, being replaced by two human looking arms. The main body of the machine turned itself inside out, revealing a surface made of inflatable vinyl.
The machine reached out, the human arms pulling him into a gentle hug. He started to resist, only to set the beer bottle down, returning the machine's hug and burying his face in the vinyl covering.
Finally. No one telling him it would get better; no explaining what happened to his brother; no more well intentioned but empty words of comfort. Just a pair of soft arms with nothing to say.
It was the best thing that could have happened in the last two months.
Slowly, he pulled away, watching as the arms retracted, becoming robotic once more, the main body turning itself back into the metal surface. For a moment, he sat and stared at it, debating whether to ask for another hug. But it was getting late; the machine would probably rust if left outside all night.
Ferb stood up, grunting as he attempted to pick up the machine. After getting a firmer grip, he walked back to the house, carefully stepping onto the porch before nudging the screen door open with a foot. He felt his way into the kitchen, groaning as he hefted the machine onto the kitchen table.
While trying to catch his breath from the small amount of exertion, the Brit's eyes noticed another piece of paper sticking out from one of the robot's arms. He gently pried it loose, eyes filling with tears as he read what was on it.
To Do Today:
Clean the garage
Finish the Tree Hugger 2000
Meet Ferb at the dock at ten
Apologize for what I said earlier and forgive Ferb for what he said. He's been really sad lately and I don't know what's wrong. I know he's protective of me, but he can't keep treating me like a little kid. Still, I know he only does it because he loves me. If he didn't love me, he wouldn't care so much. I should tell him I love him.
Tell Ferb I love him. He's not just my brother. He's my best friend. I'm sorry for what I said and I know he's sorry for what he said too. We'd never intentionally hurt each other.
The tears fell freely, forming into small puddles on the kitchen table as he lifted his eyes heavenward. "You forgive me."
And just like that, a weight was lifted off his shoulders and for the first time since both accidents, the dull ache was replaced by a feeling of happiness and peace.
He'd been forgiven. He could finally let go of the pain and move on.
A/N: So. This was supposed to be the last chapter of the story, but then my creative brain decided there needed to be one more after this. Unfortunately, I'm out of town this weekend, so expect the final chapter either Sunday or Monday.