Chapter 10: Searching for Solutions

"Little lady," Nova asked Isabella one day while they were in the training room, "See what you can find on dreams."

"What kind of dreams, specifically?" Isabella asked curiously.

"Nightmares." Nova replied rather ominously, a shiver running up the equine's spine.

Isabella shivered rather uneasily. "N-nightmares? W-why n-nightmares?"

"I think it's time to solve Ferb's problem. Any longer, and we could risk some permanent damage."

Sighing, she nodded, and, closing her eyes, she recalled a nightmare she'd had recently. When she opened the book, all the spells were about the subconscious, nightmares, and dreams.

"Here we go." Isabella showed the unicorn the list. "What exactly are we looking for to help Ferb?"

"I believe he's been infected with a Nightmare." Nova replied.

"Of course, he's having nightmares, Nova, but what can we do to help him?" Isabella replied exasperatedly.

"No," Nova replied, "The creature is called a Nightmare. They're parasitical creatures that feed on fear and pain."

Isabella blanched at that. "How do we proceed?"

"We need to find a spell so we can see inside these nightmares Ferb has been having. If he is infected with a Nightmare, it'll likely show itself in them."

"What about this one, the 'Projection of Dreams' spell? It seems to be simple enough. IT says that it works with nightmares too."

"Hmm. Well, it will take a few days to perfect, but that's manageable." Nova replied.

"A few days?" Isabella echoed, "Didn't you say any longer and we risk permanent damage?"

"Which is why we need to get moving." Nova replied, and they got to work.

…

Phineas had become increasingly distant, worried for his step-brother to the point where he would only allow Isabella, Odyssey, and Nova to come near him, and Ferb, who began to have walking nightmares and severe cases of paranoia, was put under twenty-four hour confinement in his quarters.

Because of this, Isabella and Nova worked increasingly hard to come up with a solution.

When the spell was mastered, Phineas, Isabella, Odyssey, and Nova piled into Ferb's quarters, where the green-haired young man lay upon the thread-bare sheets in a fitful sleep.

"Phineas," Isabella asked hesitantly, "are you sure you want to be here?"

"He's having another nightmare." Phineas observed by way of ignoring the question.

"I think it'd be best to do this now if we're going to do it at all." Nova stated.

Odyssey gave the horse-equivalent of a snicker. "If you can even manage the spell without setting your tail on fire."

Nova grumbled, "That was one time. Besides," The unicorn bickered, "If anything were to happen to the young man, I doubt the young sir would want to continue on his quest."

Phineas shook her head. "If I couldn't help Ferb, I'd still find Perry. But I can help him, so let's do something before it's too late!

Odyssey sighed and backed off. "The little one is correct. We require immediate action, and you're the best chance we've got."

Trying not to smile at that, Nova bowed her head slightly and turned toward the restless Ferb.

Planting her feet carefully, Nova closed her eyes and let everything fall out of her thoughts. Then she allowed herself to concentrate solely on tapping into Ferb's nightmare. Several minutes later, a single sphere shimmered above the British-born young man's head.

"It worked." Phineas gasped softly, and Nova relaxed.

When Ferb came into focus, he glanced around. "Hello?…Hmmm. He's always complaining about me not being here, and yet he's not here right now."

"I wouldn't say that." A voice echoed around him. "I've just set up today's little adventure. I was wondering if you noticed the change in scenery."

Ferb glanced around. "I see that you've been examining my memories again." He shrugged. "It's not as if this tower Phineas and I built even mildly resembles the cave-like labyrinth filled with torture devices that has been your domain since nearly the beginning."

"Torture devices?" Isabella repeated worriedly, "And what's with this tower? I don't remember this at all."

"Remember when we built that escape tower that summer, Isabella?" Phineas replied, trying to remind her.

"You don't mean—?" Isabella glanced at him.

Phineas nodded, "Ferb's nightmare seems to be emulating that oddly-rude tower."

"You know," The green-haired young man commented idly, "I just noticed how close your voice is to the tower's." He shivered a little. "It still haunts me. Are you sure you're not a cousin of his, or something?"

The Nightmare audibly gritted his teeth. "For the last time, Mr. Fletcher, I am not a figment of your invention! I am a Nightmare!"

Nova turned to Odyssey. "That enough proof for you?"

Odyssey grumbled, "Whatever."

The unicorn smiled, and then it faltered as Ferb began to run through the tower. He ran quickly, but no matter what he tried, the spikes and arrows they had built into the tower moved quicker than they had the previous time. He ran for his life as a bunch of arrows nearly collided with his side.

"Why pick a memory for him to go through?" Isabella wondered aloud.

"He didn't go through this alone, did he?" Nova asked, trying to understand the memory.

"Of course not." Phineas replied as Ferb slipped through a wall to avoid the spikes only to get a cut on his face that bled easily. "Ferb and I went through it together."

Nova frowned. "I don't like the sound of this."

"I still don't see the point of this memory." Ferb commented bitterly as he pushed himself flat against the wall, the very tip of his hair sliced off as a blade flew past, "So the spikes move faster and it's just me. It's not as if you can do anything more."

"I can do anything I want." A figure rose out of the floor. It largely resembled his step-brother, but the redhead's eyes were as black as night. Completely black so that not even the whites were visible.

"Why does it look like I have smallpox?" Phineas wondered.

"I think this is a little more serious than a near-obsolete illness." Isabella ventured fearfully and buried her face in his chest, peeking out at the image nervously. "Phineas," She said worriedly, "I-I'm scared."

Phineas wrapped his arms around her, protecting her. "I'm scared too, Isabella. But it can't hurt you."

"I know." Isabella amended. "I know you'll protect me." She glanced to where the nightmare image floated. "Ph-Phineas…why does it look like you?"

The charcoal-eyed doppelganger turned on the green-haired young man, a meticulously mischievous grin crossing his face, a row of razor-sharp teeth glinting sinisterly. "I can be whatever I want, whenever I want, wherever I want!" The Nightmare-Phineas hissed out, its eyes narrowing dangerously. "Even you can't escape me now."

Ferb could feel a pang in his heart as he watched the doppelganger Phineas. Despite how disturbing the image was, he missed his step-brother. For the last few weeks, he had been distancing himself from everyone—especially Phineas—in an attempt to not risk hurting any of them.

"You've been depriving yourself of the attention your friends and family are attempting to give you." The Nightmare-Phineas chuckled darkly, "Which means there's plenty of emotional pain here. And I must say, I believe the psychological pain wafting from you right now is the most pleasant flavor I've ever tasted."

Ferb only glared.

"What, Mr. Fletcher? Have I crossed a line? Killing you repeatedly in your nightmares didn't do that already?"

Phineas looked downcast. "I didn't realize it was this bad."

Nova nodded. "I don't think any of us expected it to be this bad."

Odyssey lay on the floor, gazing at the image speechlessly.

"Isn't there something we can do?" Isabella asked worriedly. "Can't we, I don't know, wake him up?"

Nova shook her head. "If we try to do that, we might risk hurting him even more. This Nightmare has a firm enough grip on his subconscious that if we managed to pull him out of it, the Nightmare would just pull him back under. Ferb isn't like the average human."

"That's for sure." Isabella laughed.

Nova gave her a look. "Because of this, he will last longer than others, but due to his uniqueness, he will be subjected to excessive pain for pure experiment's sake."

"W-what exactly do you mean by 'last longer than the others'?" Phineas asked nervously.

"I don't want to scare you, but Nightmares are different than other parasitic creatures. They feed and then kill their hosts after they're finished with them. Sometimes, if they've grown rather fond of a host, as I imagine this one has with Ferb, they toy with them until it becomes uninteresting."

Isabella looked a little green, and Phineas was a bit pale.

"So we just sit idly by while the young lad suffers?" Odyssey grumbled irritably.

"Of course not." Nova replied. "Yes, we must let the nightmare take its course, but I never said anything about being idle, Odyssey."

"Then what sort of plan do you have in that supposedly great, all-knowing brain of yours?" The winged horse replied sarcastically as the nightmare image faded, but Ferb remained in a fitful sleep.

"The only way a Nightmare is vulnerable is when it is in its physical body, and a Nightmare such as this isn't very vulnerable even then. Find it, however, and we'll have a chance to remove it."

"So, where can we find the physical body?" Phineas asked curiously.

"It's somewhere on board, that much is clear. This Nightmare likes to be in control, he'd keep his physical body close in case of emergency. We'll need Ferb for this though. He's the only one who'll be able to see it."

"So unicorns aren't all-knowing, then?" Odyssey continued rather sarcastically.

Nova turned on him. "I've had enough of your cold, disparaging remarks, you stupid pegasus!

You act all high and mighty with your high society mannerisms and vocabulary, but you're just a young, underachieving horse with little fluffy wings!"

"They really are quite fluffy," Phineas commented to Isabella, who giggled a little.

"You're arrogant, you're a pathetic warrior, and your aiming is horrendous! A terrestrial equine could fight better than you!"

"You don't want me to start on you unicorns." Odyssey replied huffily.

Nova glared at him, shuffling closer. "There. That's your problem. You may bother me, but at least I assume that most pegasi aren't as arrogant, pompous, and rude as you, or your species would have died out a long time ago. You, however, can't seem to get past the fact that yes, I'm a unicorn, but I'm not the only unicorn. I'm not the same as the rest. I don't care if you hate me, but don't hate the culture you never even experienced!" She stomped off in a huff, leaving the rest of them behind in Ferb's quarters.

Odyssey looked a little put out. "I never said I hated her. Where did she get that idea?"

"She's really hurt by the fact that you can't make an effort to get along with her." Isabella explained helpfully, "That's why she thinks you hate her."

"Perhaps I ought to go after her, then." Odyssey amended as he stood.

Phineas smiled at him, "We'll take care of Ferb when he wakes up."

Isabella nodded. "Yeah, we'll make sure he's okay. Just go after Nova."

Bowing his head gracefully, Odyssey said, "I will see to her happiness. It is the least I can do to alleviate her stress." Then he slid out the door.

Phineas sat down on the side of the bed, and Isabella sat down beside him. All was quiet in the room now, and the silence seemed to stifle their breathing. Isabella could feel the tears threaten to glisten upon her cheeks, and worriedly, she looked up into Phineas' eyes. Giving her a weak smile, he pulled her closer.

This was how Ferb awoke, bleary-eyed and exhausted, despite his near-constant sleeping lately.

"Phineas?" Ferb asked drowsily, "Isabella? What're you doing here?" He managed to get out.

The redhead dropped his arm from around Isabella's waist only so that he could grip his step-brother's shoulders and shake him gently. "How could you keep this from me, Ferb? How could you let this go on like this?"

"I didn't want to risk hurting you, Phineas." Ferb managed to say, his exhaustion masking everything else.

"I asked you to come to me if you needed to," Phineas continued, "and when you didn't come to me, I respected your privacy. Even when you kept having them, kept acting strange, kept avoiding us, I let you alone. I hoped you'd figure out what was wrong with you and solve it yourself. But this is too much. You've been in far too much pain for far too long. Help me find this Nightmare's physical body so we can free you."

"What…do you mean?" Ferb managed to speak again as he squinted, trying to figure out if he was still having a nightmare.

"Nova's found a way to remove the Nightmare, Ferb," Isabella explained, "but we'll need your help."

"Nova?" Ferb echoed confusedly. "Help?"

Phineas nodded. "If we can find its physical body, we can put in enough pain to make it leave."

Ferb shook his head. "No…hurts…hurts too much…"

"It's okay, bro." Phineas wrapped his arms around him, "I'm right here."

Isabella joined him, and they sighed, sharing a look of worry. If they didn't help Ferb soon, they might very well lose him all together.