Phineas awoke from a light doze to find a hooded spirit hovering over him.

"Christmas Yet To Come, I presume?" Phineas said.

The spirit nodded.

"I don't suppose I have any choice in the matter here."

The spirit shook its head.

Phineas took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Let's do this, then."

Mists swirled around them, and they stood at an open grave. Phineas saw his family lined up to one side, dressed in mourning. Linda and Lawrence supported each other. Ferb was trying to look stoic, but Phineas could see the emotions rippling beneath the surface, sadness and anger in equal measure. Vanessa rested a hand on his shoulder; Phineas couldn't tell if it was reassurance, or holding him back. Or both.

Candace...Phineas couldn't look at Candace. It was too painful to watch his big sister reduced to tears at that level. She was sobbing into Jeremy's shoulder uncontrollably as her husband held her, trying to comfort her.

Behind them, the kids were talking quietly to each other; they looked just a couple years older than when he'd last seen them. Elizabeth and Everett looked fourteen or so; Amanda stood next to Ambrose, who was holding a baby that couldn't be a full year old, while Xavier had a dark-skinned young man standing beside him, on the opposite side of Fred.

"How did he die?" Fred asked. "He was so young."

"Mom said it might have been poor nutrition," Xavier said. "Apparently they went into his house and all he had there for food was ramen. She said he'd probably died of scurvy."

Elizabeth shook her head. "He didn't die of scurvy. Dad was saying...he just didn't have anything to live for anymore. The wood-metal fuser patent he'd spent so much time fighting to protect had just expired. His other patents weren't worth nearly as much. He'd lost his love, he'd left his family. There was just nothing left to keep him alive."

"Who was he in love with?" Everett asked. "From everything I've heard, he doesn't really seem like the type."

"Aunt Isabella," Amanda said. "I can just barely remember before she broke up with him. Just before your parents got engaged."

"Wait. Uncle Phineas had a thing for Sarah's mom?" Everett asked, shaking his head.

The conversation tailed off for a few minutes before the young man with Xavier asked, "What happened to the rest of the patents?"

"They went to my Dad, since he's still technically part-owner of Flynn Technologies," Elizabeth said. "Uncle Phineas never had the money to completely buy out his share. Dad said he's planning to open the patents up to the world."

"Uncle Phineas would have hated that," Amanda said.

"That's at least part of why Dad's doing it," Everett said with a smirk.

The hearse drove up, and Phineas's coffin was placed in the grave. The mourners dispersed, off to get their heads together before a sad Christmas Eve. Phineas sat on the edge of his grave and thought, the spirit patiently waiting behind him.

A car drove quietly up, and Isabella got out. Tears in her eyes, she stood before the grave. Phineas went to comfort her, but his hand went through her, and she shivered as if suddenly chilled.

"I told Ferb I wasn't going to come when he called me," she said to the grave. "And yet here I am."

She stared at the grave for a few moments, silently, and Phineas hovered nearby.

"Damn you, Phineas," she said bitterly. "Damn you for throwing away everything you had. Everything we had. Everything you could have done for the world."

She paused, fighting back her tears. "I loved you, Phineas. And then I hated you. And now...I'm just done with you. Looking at this...I realize that the Phineas I loved died years ago. It's just taken this long for your body to catch up.

"Goodbye, Phineas."

Phineas turned to the spirit as Isabella drove away. "Take me back. I've learned what I needed to."

Mists swirled again, and Phineas was alone in his bedroom.

Fortunately, I know a few tricks that Ol' Ebenezer couldn't have ever thought of.

He looked at the clock, which read 3:14 AM.

Plenty of time, he thought. I know what I'm going to do tonight.