Oh my God, you guys. Sorry if this is awkward to read, but I wrote this chapter out of sequence, before chapter one, even. See, this ties in to the whole time travel thing, too. Eh? Ehhh?

By the way, random fact, my favorite Idolmster girl is Yayoi. Haha, yeah, yeah I put that in there to keep you from getting to the good part. Knowing me I probably put a cliffhanger on the last chapter, and now you may hate me. Oh, what the hell? You might not even read these things. I do, but I'm not you.

There no words describing the fear in both of the Ferbs at that moment. The present-day one, the fear of the unknown, and the adult, fear of repeating his own history.

The older Ferb gathered himself after a few moments, and ran to help his brother. The scene was almost identical to the one F remembered, but from an outsider's point of view. He saw himself, holding the injured redhead in such a loving, protective way that it was impossible to describe.

The younger Ferb stared at the man in front of him with a look of great surprise, almost fear. He knew instantly who the man was, with emerald hair, and dark eyebrows over pale eyes, an older yet exact reflection of himself. Unlike most others when faced with this sort of event, Ferb was beyond questioning 'how?' His own life experience had robbed him of that. The only question running through his mind upon seeing his older self was 'why?'

However, the older Ferb took almost no notice to him. He immediately went to helping Phineas, who apparently had already known about and spoken to him.

"I c-couldn't do it…" croaked Phineas, tears creeping over the edge of his eyelids. His lip quivered slightly, out of both pain and immense guilt for messing up.

The older Ferb stroked his brother's cheek lightly. "It's not your fault."

"I-I just…"

"Shhh… You'll be alright. We'll go get Perry, then we'll take you to the hospital. Don't cry…"

Present-Ferb blinked, staring at his older self. Perry? Hadn't he run away not long ago? And besides that, what good would a platypus do in that sort of situation?

The older Ferb turned his attention to his semi-reflection. "Carry him and follow me," he commanded.

"…Right."

He was led to a silver car, with a blue-haired man sitting behind the wheel. Upon seeing them, the man looked close to horrified.

"Calm down, Perry," sighed the older Ferb.

Ferb blinked in astonishment before turning to face himself. "Perry's somehow human, then?" he asked, in an unsurprised, almost bored way.

"A long story."

Ferb sighed. "The first of many, I suppose."

The ride was difficult, in more ways than one. To began with, it was obvious to both Ferb and his older counterpart that neither of them would sit in the front. Since they were the same person, they both felt the same instinctive need to be near Phineas at this time of crisis, and they were also both intelligent enough to infer this on their own, wordlessly understanding that they would need to find a way to both fit in the back.

They ended up with Phineas lying with his head propped up against the door, held in the fold of the younger Ferb's elbow, and his legs held in F's lap. It was uncomfortable and only possible because Phineas was so small. But it worked, nonetheless.

Phineas stayed calm, and was surprisingly quiet, save for long, rasping breaths. He smiled sleepily up at his brother. "Sorry about this," he said quietly.

"Rest."

F was working to remove the smaller shards from his brother's skin. Most of them were easy to pull out, but there were a few, such as the one piece of metal lodged in Phineas's lower left abdomen, that would have to be left in place.

There were other problems, of course, but the most urgent one at the moment was the bleeding. No matter how hard F tried, there was no stopping it. The blood was already beginning to soak through the towel F was using to staunch it.

Ferb's main job was keeping Phineas awake and comfortable. He held his brother's hand, rubbing small circles into it with his thumb, all the while whispering words of comfort.

Ferb noticed with horror that blood had now soaked through the front of his own pants. How much of it had Phineas lost? He felt a terror like never before in his life.

"W… What's happening?" he asked, wide-eyed, to himself.

F shook his head. He mouthed 'Don't scare him.'

Ferb nodded, turning his attention to Phineas, who was now only softly panting. "How are you feeling?" he asked shakily.

Phineas smiled weakly, the most he could manage. "Bad," he admitted.

"I know," said Ferb sympathetically. "Just hang on unt-"

"I… can't."

A pause. "What?"

"I can't," Phineas repeated, smiling sadly. "I… just can't anymore."

"Oh… Oh, Phin…" Ferb looked heartbroken—No. He was heartbroken. "I know it hurts, but…"

"I'm sorry…"

Ferb gathered his brother into his arms. One look at the boy could tell anyone that he wasn't going to make it. He had a few minutes left, at most.

F turned away, unable to watch his brother die a second time. Perry leaned against the window, trying to block out the sound.

Ferb stroked his brother's sweaty hair. "Is there… anything I can do?"

Phineas wrapped his arms around Ferb, burying his face in his chest. "Smile."

Ferb blinked at the request, so inappropriate in the current situation.

"You don't… really smile much… anymore. I miss it."

Ferb nodded, and smiled, like requested, but of his own will.

You would ask for something like that.

The innocence of his own little brother amazed him. Phineas could make the brightest day on earth seem foggy in comparison.

He smiled back, and fell into his brother's arms. Eyes closed, he murmured something into Ferb's chest that was all but inaudible.

The world, in Ferb's eyes, was now colorless, like an old film.

That was so damn sad.

If you haven't guessed yet, I'm a brother myself. A twin. Younger, but still. So most of this was drawn from "WWJD". "What Would Johnny(me) Do?"

And at the same time, I had to work my ASS off to keep it in character. IT'S HARD WRITING FOR FERB! DX

Even if, like me, you have a similar personality to a character who's very complex, like FERB (Dx), you'll still (hopefully) have at least one difference from them, and that difference, like me and Ferb, could be enough to make it very difficult not to go all OOC, like I hope Ferb ISN'T.

And Phineas… Actually pretty easy to write for. Just make sure you go with happy and innocent, and not all Naruto-ish. Phin's naïve, not dumb. And I don't think he knows what a temper IS.

Phineas: Um… Is it… a breed of lla-yeah, I have no idea.

Ferb and Candace: …We love you anyway. =A=