A/N: Before we begin, I would like to explain an issue my reviewers had in posting a review for the story's latest chapter. See, I deleted the chapter announcing my fanfiction contest, which has since been closed, and of course, site rules dictate that you cannot review chapters twice unless you sign in as anonymous. So yeah, I am sorry for the confusion. I guess it is this confusion that reduced the average number of reviews, so sorry.

Enough chitchat! ENJOY!

P.S.: If any of you aren't aware of it yet, check out "A Love Unexpected" if you're in the mood for some non-standard romantic pairings. :D

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS:

-Marie Flynn DOES NOT belong to me in any way! All claims of ownership fall to Angelus19 and sam-ely-ember.
-Thomas Fletcher DOES NOT belong to me in any way! All claims of ownership fall to Melty19.
-Jasmine Rai DOES NOT belong to me in any way! All claims of ownership fall to sam-ely-ember and Melty19.

The elevator stopped with a slight lurch, but Marie couldn't help but feel the strong feeling of nausea rising up in her abdomen anyway. She had just experienced a big number of traumatic stuff, including her brushes with Death itself. It was nothing an average nine-year-old would go through in his or her entire life. She tightened the grip she had on Phineas's hand; after all of this, she was determined to never let go of her father ever again.

The elevator doors slid open, and Marie's worries subsided the moment she saw a number of familiar faces: Jazz, Baljeet, Mishti, Candace, Jeremy, Amanda, Xavier and Fred, Linda, Lawrence, Vivian, Doofenshmirtz, and Charlene. Everyone stood up at the sight of her and Thomas and ran up to greet them.

"Oh my goodness! Marie!" Jazz squealed in delight and ran forward, embracing her best friend in a tight hug. "I am so glad you're okay! I was afraid that...that..." She broke off, almost choking on the sentence.

However, Marie smiled kindly and replied, "It's okay, Jazz. I'm alive, aren't I?"

"Who in heaven's name took you?!"

"Remember my dad's stories?"

"Yeah."

"And you remember him mentioning that he and my Uncle Ferb had counterparts who were their rivals from the moment they first met?"

Jazz nodded. "Thaddeus and Thor, I believe it was. Those guys were definitely inferior." Her eyes widened when she made the realization. "OMG! It was them?!"

"Yeah. They wanted revenge against my dad and Uncle Ferb, so they kidnapped me and Tommy in order to attack their hearts."

"Oh my God, Marie, I'm really glad you're okay! Who knows what they could've done to you?"

"Yeah, who knows?" Marie replied, chuckling nervously as dark memories of Thaddeus's psychological torture returned to the corners of her mind. However, Jazz didn't notice the tone of her friend's laughter and instead hugged her a second time.

"Well, I'm glad you're back, Marie. I was wondering that without you, who is gonna blow up the city now?"

Marie chuckled, just as Candace knelt down and hugged her niece. Jazz, in the meantime, looked at Thomas, who had finished being hugged excessively by Charlene.

"So, Thomas," she said craftily, "did you and Marie do some, say, bonding?"

Instantly catching on, Thomas's cheeks became florid and his forehead began to glisten with the beginnings of sweat. "NO!" he replied defensively. "Well, we had to stick together! Those guys were unpredictable, and we didn't want to take any chances!"

"Well...I heard Marie call you Tommy. You were close by, and yet, you didn't let out a single burst of anger. That's quite a leap for you...Tommy."

Thomas became even redder. "I-I-I was being, uh, smothered by Grandma Charlene at the, uh, time, alright? How was I supposed to know she called me Tommy?" He looked at Marie as she was being hugged by Candace. "Hey, Marie! Stop calling me Tommy, okay?"

"That was kinda poor," said Jazz teasingly. "No anger at all." Her crafty smile became wider. "Admit it, Thomas, if you two didn't do any bonding, then you've at least finally become used to being called Tommy."

"I didn't!" protested Thomas angrily.

"You can spit lies to me all you want, Tommy boy, but believe me, I think you've finally gotten a head-start in realizing your feelings for Marie. Score one for Thomarie!"

Thomas merely delivered the Indian girl a flat look. "Thomarie?"

"My name for a romantic relationship between you and Marie. Just like my dad once coined the term Phinabella for Uncle Phineas and Aunt Isabella when they were younger." Thomas continued to look at Jazz flatly. "What?! It's got a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

Thomas just sighed in both anger and embarrassment.

After a few hours, the joyous reunion had now dispersed. Everyone returned to their homes, leaving Phineas, Isabella, Ferb, Vanessa, Marie, and Thomas alone in the waiting room of the Tri-State General Hospital.

"Well, kids," Phineas said, "time to go home."

"Indeed," replied Isabella. "We all need to get some sleep, now that the nightmare we've been going through is now finally over."

"Hey, Mr. Flynn, Mr. Fletcher!" a voice called.

The two families saw Lieutenant Kestler walking into the waiting room. For the first time, he was no longer wearing his formal suit, now just wearing a plain white-and-green-striped T-shirt, blue jeans, and dark-blue high-top sneakers.

"Hello, Lieutenant," Phineas greeted. "What brings you here?"

"Nothing, I'm just visiting my daughter," Kestler replied.

"That's nice! How's she doing?"

"She's in a coma."

An awkward silence fell upon the waiting room for a few minutes.

"Oh. I'm sorry," Phineas said.

"It's okay. She's been that way for about five years. I've gotten used to it, which is kinda surprising, since she had been ra-" He broke off suddenly and choked on the sentence. He then regained his composure and resumed speaking. "Well, since we're all here, I just thought I'd say I am very glad you safely got your children back." He looked down at Marie and Thomas. "Marie, Thomas, how're you two feeling?"

"Never been better," Marie replied, a bit silently and nervously, but the lieutenant didn't notice.

Phineas smiled at Kestler. "Thank you very much for helping us find our children. What can we do to repay you?"

Kestler smiled back. "Just keep your kids closer, that's all I ask."

Phineas nodded. "Understood. Well, we should get going."

"Alright. Well, I hope I'll see you guys soon. And hopefully not because of my work."

"Goodbye, Lieutenant."

Marie closed her eyes and inhaled slowly as she heard a wave crash against several rocks below. Exhaling, she opened her eyes again, just as a cold, gentle breeze brushed against her, causing her crimson hair to fly and her dress to flutter slightly. She was standing on a cliff that overlooked the ocean, which was just as blue as her father's eyes; they even twinkled from the sunlight, reminiscent of a twinkling that she sometimes saw occurring on her father's eyes whenever he got a new idea for an amazing invention. Not a cloud was present in the sky, similarly colored in a lovely shade of blue. Marie smiled at the beautiful sight, closed her eyes again, and stretched out her arms, allowing herself to just spiritually leave her body...

"Marie..."

"Yes, wind?" she replied, not opening her eyes, continuing to feel the arms of the breeze embrace her.

"Why're you still here?"

"Why? It's a beautiful sight, and after what happened to me and Tommy yesterday, I am not willing to let this go."

"You cannot just stay here all the time."

"Sure I can. Just watch me, wind."

The nine-year-old then took in a deep breath. For some reason, the smell of the air seemed to be filled with more sea-salt than usual...

"Open your eyes."

For some reason, Marie obliged. She then screamed at the sight: the blue sky was now occupied by the grayest of storm-clouds, which were shooting off bright bolts of lightning; the ocean, now colored gray, was more violent; and the wind had become stronger. A new wave crashed against the cliff with a lot of force, spraying Marie with droplets of water. Shaking her head in disbelief, she began to back away slowly and cautiously.

The wind's voice was louder this time, and more menacing. "You have been seeing the world in a false light. But after what has happened to you, you cannot ignore the fact any longer. Everyone you have ever known in your life has been hiding secrets. Everything you've seen, heard, smelled, touched...it's all propaganda. Everywhere you look, you see a lie. This is the world's true colors. It's not a shade of blue, it's a shade of gray."

"No!" Marie cried. "No, no, no, no, NO! This isn't supposed to be happening!"

"Oh, it is happening, Marie. This is what happens when you view things optimistically. You get punished."

"I don't wanna be punished! What am I being punished for?!"

"For being an optimist. You deny the fact that the world is flawed and you constantly ignore and dismiss all of the bad things that ever happen to you. And when you finally see the world for what it is...then that is when you are punished. That is why I kidnapped you, Marie. To punish you."

Marie's eyes widened, just as the ocean and the storm-clouds began to swirl around in a howling vortex. Many purple-colored lightning bolts began to shoot out of the vortex and bombard the cliff like destructive missiles. However, Marie ignored the danger all around, instead slowly turning around, flinching in fear.

"Thaddeus?"

She finally turned around, but she only saw a small fountain, the top of which was gushing out gray water. Unlike the rest of the environment, the fountain, as well as the small area encircling it, seemed to be shielded from the violent aberration of weather.

Marie cautiously walked away from the cliff and towards the fountain. The moment she approached it, the roar of the vortex, the rumbling of thunder, the howling of the wind, their sounds suddenly seemed to go into mute, as if someone turned down the volume to zero. The only noise she could hear now was the fountain gushing out its water; it was a sound both calming and disturbing.

Marie looked into the water.

And saw Thaddeus's reflection, staring back at her.

Marie let out an earsplitting scream, but an unseen force seemed to be keeping her from stepping back. She could only continue to stare into Thaddeus's brown eyes and his malicious yet triumphant smirk.

"It'll be alright, Marie. Sometimes, punishment is good. After all, I went through the same thing. I thought the world was perfect, and right under my grasp. I had a real wake-up call when your father ruined everything. It was quite hard, even traumatic for me. But after a while, I learned the best way to cope with the situation: anger, hatred, a lust for vengeance. And guess what? It worked..."

"NO!" Marie covered her eyes. "I'M NOT LISTENING TO YOU! THIS IS A TRICK! I WILL NOT FALL FOR IT!"

"Oh, but you will," Thaddeus's voice hammered through her hands. "Trick or not, you will fall eventually. Just remember-"

Suddenly, the unknown force turned Marie around, and she stared into Thaddeus's brown eyes.

"-The lies your dad told you."

"NO!"

"MARIE!"

Marie forced open her eyes and found herself, to her horror, still staring straight into Thaddeus's face. She let out a loud scream and began frantically flailing her limbs as means to repel Thaddeus. Just then, a familiar voice filled her ears.

"Marie, honey! Calm down! Are you okay?"

Marie sighed in relief and replied, "Yeah, I'm okay, Daddy."

"Are you sure? You were moving around and muttering in your sleep. Something about punishment-"

"I'm fine, Daddy, I swear!"

However, Marie wasn't so sure about that at all...

A/N: Well, it looks like Thaddeus is still affecting Marie even if he's locked away. What consequences this will bring, only I know and plan on telling you in the following chapters, MWAHAHAHA! I guarantee you, though, it'll be quite interesting and involving some father-daughter bonding.

And Thomas will have his own conflict too. Maybe you know what it is already... ;) ;) ;)

As for Thor, who's gone on the run last time he was seen...we're gonna be seeing him one last time. DUN DUN DUN!

I'd like to thank those who reviewed:

Guest reviewer: Well, you're gonna have to find out.

Proxus: Yes, I fooled you, huh?

Deborahpflover: HA! I GOTCHA! Which was the plan, of course. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

woodland5 (guest reviewer)

BlueLightningXD: XD GOTCHA TOO!

Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter! TheCartoonFanatic01 is out. PEACE!