Chapter 4: To Each Their Own Prison

Perry

I awoke in a cell. Frederick was at a sink, putting medicine in his deformed eye. "That smarts. I don't understand how he could live like this," he muttered to himself. I wondered at what he could mean by that, but only briefly. Frederick was the most feared character in the entire city. To look at him, I could hardly understand why, but I was not about to stick around to find out. I had to find a way out of my imprisonment.

As I was thinking this, he turned to me, his eye still blinking the medicine in. "Oh, good, you're awake. I was starting to worry I might have gone a little overboard," he commented, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. I backed up a little at his approach. "No, Perry, it's all right. I'm not one of the bad guys; not this time, at least."

"You're Frederick though, are you not?" I asked.

"Hm? Oh, that's just the name I've been given to cover up the past that almost everybody forgot. He didn't want me to forget though. At least, I don't think so. Maybe I was unintentional? I don't know. I know Isabella- uh, 'Christine', rather, was on purpose. She was made to remember so that she would know that she couldn't help break the spell this time."

"Right…"

"But! Now that I have you in safekeeping here, we can start work on getting Penelope back into this dimension. I heard him talking about how Penelope accidentally wound up in another dimension and how he was going to contact his alternate to help keep her there."

"What do I or this Penelope matter in all of this?"

"You two are the only ones who can break the curse over Danville. He thought that he would be able to bring the whole world under his subjection, but I guess he underestimated something along the way? I don't know."

"Curse? This isn't some fairy tale, Frederick-"

"What about the dreams?"

My eyes widened at that. "How did you know…?"

"I was hoping you would ask that," he said with a smile. He went over to the opposite side of the cell where there was a large something with a large curtain draped over it. He pulled back the sheet to reveal a large machine. "Behold! The Dream-inator!

"This device is something I have used to collect the magic in the air, alter it, and project anti-magic to others in the form of dreams. Unfortunately, it's only really had an impact on you. You've been having dreams of our past, the things which actually happened and not the things that we thought were to have happened." He seemed thoughtful for a moment, as if unsure of his word choice.

"Have you been… observing me?"

"Perry, it's very important that I get you to remember so that you can get Penelope back here, break the curse, and return me to my normal body. It's not that I hate being a platypus, mind you, it's just that… I can't be with Cheryl this way. I was going to propose to her. Then, this happened and…" He sniffed, looking downcast and near tears.

He continued, "Please, Perry. It's really important to me. Everyone's had enough mind wipes to last a lifetime. I gave up on evil because I wanted to live a normal life free of him."

"You're serious, aren't you?"

"I know you're looking at me like I'm the crazy one, but I'm not, this time. Perry, you are the only one in this dimension that can help us. You can save us all."

"Save you?! I can't even keep Christine away from Ichabod. I am no brave fighter, no matter how hard I try to be."

"Okay, since I know that's untrue, I'm just gonna ignore that. Let's get back to the problem at hand. Why were you at the mill?"

"I don't know, I… I felt like I had to be there. I felt like she was in trouble." I hesitated. "Look, whoever this he is that has you scared, I had best try to avoid him. In the meanwhile, I have to go back there. I felt like I was close to something." I got up to walk to the cell door, but Frederick stopped me.

"Perry, the mill, whatever significance it has, I believe you're right. It must be related to the curse, because that place is guarded."

"I saw no guards there." I moved forward again and he again stood in my way.

"There are worse places than this hiding hole of mine to be in. If he catches you-"

"I will move forward whether you wish it or not. The woman I love is in danger and, though I have only seen her in my dreams, I feel a desperation tugging at my soul to help her, to free her."

"I just… we've all gone so far, especially the two of us. We went from arch-nemesis, to frenemy, to friend, to family, to partners in the same pursuit of good and justice. I've known you a long time, Perry the Platypus and I just don't want to see you get hurt or killed."

Something about how he addressed me then struck a chord with me. It was familiar to me, even though I knew my name was Vlad Dracula, it began to sound false, even to my own mind. Perhaps he knew what he was talking about. I ventured to ask him a question that had been bothering me since the beginning of our exchange. "What is the name of the man you call he? Who has entrapped us?"

"In this world, he calls himself the Beast; but, in our world, he was always known as the Enigma."

A shiver went up my spine at the name. It was all so familiar to me. It was all so close to my grasp. My head ached as I tried to remember what I had forgotten. Before I could get much farther in my thought process, we heard boots clopping down the hall. Frederick seemed to go pale as he quickly went to the back of the cell and pulled back a stone to reveal a passageway.

"Find the one you call Christine. She will help you," he beckoned me to go into the hole.

"Aren't you coming?" I asked.

"I can't. I'm not a complete fool, after all. I need to be at his beck and call until this is all over, otherwise, this will get harder for everyone. Now, go!"

I went into the tunnel and crawled as fast as I could out of there. I heard the stone seal behind me. I breathed a small sigh of relief. As the tunnel got muddier and I exited into the rainy evening, I whispered, "I'm coming. Don't worry. I'm coming." I then rushed down the street toward Christine's home.

Penelope

I jolted awake. I had been lying against this dimension's Perry. The metal body was oddly warm, even in the places I hadn't touched. He looked at me tenderly and I smiled softly. "Don't get too used to me, Perry. My Perry is coming to get me soon," I said.

He grabbed me and pulled me into his lap. He breathed in my fur and I shivered at the sensation. "If only I were he. I've grown quite fond of you, even in this short interval," he said.

"I'm sure I must exist in this dimension somewhere."

"Yes, and if she's anything like you, I'm sure she's perfectly fine."

"I don't know, Perry. I was pretty lost in my years without you. It was painful to know you were out there, yet so far from my reach."

"Well, until we find the correct counterparts, we have each other."

"As grateful as I am that you got us out of there, I wear my ring for only one platypus," I said, scooching off of his lap.

He kept his hands around my waist and said lowly, "We might not be in safe refuge for much longer. We must get back to the mill as soon as possible. There is something there."

"I agree." He let me go and I looked out of the sewer grate to find the robots had gone. "Let's go."

"Right behind you." His voice sounded sad. I hoped, for his sake, that we could find this dimension's me. I hoped for myself and my Perry that we would be together soon with the curse broken and everyone home, safe and happy.

Well, that's all for now. I hope you are all enjoying the story so far :) Please keep reading and reviewing, thanks :D