Chapter 10: Back on Our Feet

Perry

I woke up to a cool sensation on my head. Gentle humming filled my ears and I looked through my steadily clearing vision to see my Penelope. It was such a relief to have a free mind again, to remember her freely once again. My throbbing head was a small price to pay for what it would give and what it already gave me.

"That's a view I never thought I'd see again," I said, my voice a croak.

Penelope jumped a little and her eyes glistened with barely suppressed tears. "I'm glad you're okay, Perry. I've missed you," she said, leaning down and hugging me.

I hugged her back. "It's not like we've been apart long."

"Any time away from you is too long."

"Well, I guess I better stick around then, huh?"

She swatted me and said, "You're dang right." She pulled away and wiped at her eyes.

"So… what now?"

"This has got to stop, Perry. I'm so tired of finally finding you only to lose you again."

I grabbed her hand and her fingers intertwined with mine. It was the first time I realized we were both wearing our rings. How could my mind-fogged self not realize the weight of the band on my finger? I laughed bitterly. "Can't say I feel any better about it."

"Perry?"

"Hm?"

"When we get back… no more secrets. I want us to be a family again. Remember Africa? We were all together then and it was okay."

"Yeah… Africa…" I couldn't think about our trip there without thinking of our lost daughter, Rosalynn.

"Yeah…" I knew it weighed on her too.

We were both quiet for a little before there was a knock on the door and we both jumped. "Come in," said Penelope.

On the other side of the door came in a familiar face. He looked like… a grownup version of our Maxwell. "Max?" I inquired.

"Hi, Dad," he said meekly. He came closer and looked at Penelope. "I have to go. If I do not get back soon, bad things could happen, like, time paradox and all that."

"I understand. Thank you for helping us get this far," said Penelope.

"Mom?"

"Hm?"

"It will be all right." His young self came out for a moment then before his face returned to normal. "The basis of a Chronological Distortion is sustained by an unusual happening. Returning everything to normal and resetting the magic will bring us back to your time and space, which will become my time and space."

"All we have to do is return Doofenshmirtz and the Enigma to their bodies."

"Right… and, of course, if anything were to happen to either of them in the process, you would not be able to return to your normal time and space. It is important that everyone that came into this process returns from it unharmed."

"Come on, Max. I'm not one to do rash things." Her eye twitched, possibly from stress. She rubbed it with her free hand and said, "Now, go on and go home. I'm sure we all miss you back there."

"Yeah… okay…" He closed the door to the room, zapped it with his watch, and opened it, revealing a portal. He stopped before going through. "Mom?"

"Yes?"

"Be careful. This time is not all it is cracked up to be." Whether he was referring to his time or ours, we weren't sure. He left, closing the door behind him.

The door reopened a second later to reveal the me from the other dimension. He put up a hand as if assuring us he meant no harm. "I just wanted to see how you two were getting on. Dinner's ready downstairs whenever you're ready," he said.

"You should stay here until you've recovered more," Penelope said to me. To the other me, she said, "Could you bring our dinner up? I'd… I just would really rather not leave him right now."

A sadness crossed his eyes as he replied, "Yes, of course. I… I hope you get well soon, mate. Take care of each other."

Penelope

It was after dinner and dark outside. Perry was asleep and I lay beside him. All the while, my thoughts raced.

Why does everyone have to come onto ME? I thought. I didn't mind the attention at some intervals, but… I already found love. I didn't need anyone else. It just made me all the more resolute to help the other dimension's Perry find the other me. I was sure it would be true love as it was with my Perry and me. In the meanwhile, though, I knew how he felt. It was how my brother felt.

Phillip was never good enough. He received little attention or love from our village. It was hard enough for me to get by on some days, but thinking back on how he must have felt… no wonder he developed this complex. Perhaps there was some PTSD from the incident as well. I could not ignore the fact that our father never really had time for us and our mother was sick often. Perry's mother became more like my mother. I feel like his father tried for us as well, but…

Phillip had been born small. He was shunned by the other kids. His lessons on love were few and far between. I tried my best to help him, but… there were things I had to go through too. I sometimes wondered if the attention that I gave him had been a mistake, just based upon where we were today.

"You're my brother, how far must you go?" I wondered aloud. Perhaps… perhaps I could try reasoning with him, if not one more time. I sat up and rubbed my hands across my face, exhausted with the whole mess. "Maybe it's not such a bad thing to want him gone. I mean, all our problems would be over… but then where would that leave me…?"

Sometimes those smells and sounds would ring through my head as if they were happening or had only recently happened. Too much time has passed for my mind to still drift to this. "I… I just need to think. I can't think." My mind was echoing with the sounds of my pain, which was only amplified by the night's silence.

It would be so much easier if I could just kill him.

I looked in the mirror, suddenly aware. The noise faded into a faint ringing. I had thought I had overcome my dark side. What I didn't realize is that it had always been me, the whole time. Perhaps it was only now that I was embracing it. These thoughts both terrified and sobered me. What do I do?

Whilst in the grip of this self-crisis, I caught a glimpse of something in the mirror: a person long gone who was now coming back.

Not a bad chapter, if I do say so myself. Please keep reading and reviewing, thanks :)