"Candace? What are you doing?!" Isabella demanded, struggling against the sack. "Let me go!"
"Later!" Candace retorted, running through the halls of the museum. Her rough movements jostled Isabella around so much, she was too dizzy to notice they came to a stop.
That was when Future Candace placed the bag on the floor gently, as if five seconds of gentleness would erase all the bouncing and swinging Isabella had done before. With that same gentleness, she opened up the bag, freeing Isabella from the darkness, letting her see…
More darkness.
"...where are we?" Isabella asked.
"Storage closet," Candace answered.
"Why."
"Wait, no, hold on. You can't ask me why!" Candace exclaimed. "You're the one who showed up in the future and then I had to go break into the museum in the middle of the night to keep you from messing time up and why are you here?! I could be sleeping right now!"
Isabella didn't answer, her expression strained.
In a tone reminiscent of a mother scolding an unruly child, Future Candace said, "Isabella. Why are you here?"
"I… may have been trying to see if I end up with your brother?" Isabella offered nervously.
In the dark closet, Isabella heard something that sounded a lot like Candace smacking her face into a wall.
"You used a time machine," another smack, "risked causing a time paradox," another smack, "and woke me up in the middle of the night," another smack, "for that?"
"Well. I mean, yeah," Isabella answered. "Wouldn't you do the same thing, Candace?"
Future Candace paused for a very long time.
"I mean you have a point, but that doesn't mean you're right," Candace said finally. "You still shouldn't have done it."
"I… I know that," Isabella said quietly. "I was just…"
She trailed off, causing a heavy silence to settle into the dark room.
"Just what, Isabella?" Candace asked gently.
"...I was tired of doubting myself," Isabella admitted. "I mean, I kept thinking he might have liked me, but then I remembered that I was certain Phineas would like me and he just… didn't. I just wanted to make sure…"
That was when Isabella felt a warm hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, you're talking to the former queen of anxiety and doubting herself. I get it," Candace said. "It's terrifying, not knowing for sure before you go for it."
Isabella nodded, but then she remembered Candace couldn't see it. Still, Candace went on.
"I know you can do it," she said confidently. "You've always been stubborn."
"What if he doesn't like me back?" Isabella asked.
"What if he does?" Candace shot back. "What if he agrees to be your boyfriend?"
"Did he?"
"Hey, I'm not telling you," Candace said. "You need to just up and ask him."
Isabella let out a disappointed groan, before taking a deep breath.
"You're right. I need to just…! Say it! I'll tell him right after our date- I mean, somewhat platonic outing to the movie theatre!"
"Great! Do your best and get back in the bag!" Future Candace said cheerfully. "You need to get back to the past!"
"...can we skip the bag this time?" Isabella asked.
"I'll just blindfold you this time," Candace answered, making Isabella groan.
Candace guided Isabella through the museum by the hand. The only sound Isabella could hear was the sound of their footsteps echoing through the halls. It felt all so… eerily empty, though Isabella knew it was long past the museum's opening hours.
"Well, we're here," Candace said quietly, guiding Isabella to the door of the time machine. Isabella felt the machine, before cautiously getting in.
She heard Candace fiddling with the date of destination input, before the sound trailed off.
"Isabella," Future Candace said. "What day did you come here?"
Isabella opened her mouth to answer, only to pause. Then she furrowed her brows, holding her chin in her hand as she thought.
"You don't remember," Future Candace said flatly.
"I don't remember," Isabella confirmed.
"Oh, just great, how am I supposed to send you back when you don't even remember!"
"Well maybe I would remember better if you didn't shove me into a sack! Why did you even shove me into a sack!?"
"Ask yourself that!" Candace snapped. "Your future self was the one who called me in the middle of the night and told me to drive to the museum with a burlap sack and when I asked why you were saying things like 'time paradox' and 'if things don't happen as I remember it we might die' and 'rainbow rose firework cannons' and-"
"Rainbow rose firework cannons?" Isabella asked.
"You said you would know what it means in ten years, four months, and two days!"
Isabella gasped.
"That's it! If we work backwards from whatever today's date is, we have when to send me back!"
"Isabella, you tiny little genius!" Candace cheered, ruffling Isabella's hair.
"Um, but you have to do it," Isabella said. "Since, you know, blindfold."
"Oh, right, hold on."
Isabella heard her mess with the date once more, then the sound of Candace grabbing the lever.
"Do your best, Isabella."
Isabella nodded, before she was sent back.
"Phineas, this will most likely break time," Baljeet warned as the redhead worked on a replica of the time machine in the museum.
"Nah, it's fine, we can fix it after," Phineas replied casually.
"That is not how that works. That is not how anything works."
"Uh, guys?" Buford said, because there was that weird effect that happened every time someone was time travelling.
"Listen, we can just fix it! It's fine!"
"No, Phineas! We are not going to break time again!"
"GUYS."
"It's not even breaking time! We're bending it a little! For true love!"
"PHINEAS WHEN WILL YOU REALIZE THAT THEY DON'T-"
"Uhhhhhhhhhh-" Buford said, because Isabella appeared in a time machine.
"I have to do my best to confess!" Isabella exclaimed as she jumped out, landing on the floor easily.
The three boys stared after her in stunned silence as she ran out of the museum, discarding her blindfold on the way. It was only after she was long gone that Phineas went, "oh, alright, we broke the curse and now she's confessing to Ferb on her own."
Baljeet facepalmed.
Isabella was antsy, because she really didn't want to just break into Ferb's house to confess to him. Phineas and Candace and their parents and Perry could be there and she would just die, okay?
However, she was also anxious and excited, which made her feel the incredible, desperate impulse to do something.
She needed to tell someone of her drive and passion, but the candidates she could think of were her friends (most still thought she liked Phineas), Candace (still at work), Ferb himself (ABSOLUTELY NOT)-
And then Isabella remembered the forums.
It was a terrible idea, but she went ahead and went for it anyways, for a lack of any other outlet.
bow-buff: That's it! I'm going to tell him how I feel! No running away!
RFOS: do your best then
"Huh," Stacy said, looking at the topic in curiosity. It was a bit funny to her that like, neither one noticed whatever was going on here, but honestly, one of them should have noticed by now, right?
Now, again, Ferb had actual powers of observation. Normally he would probably have put together the dots by now, even if he didn't tell anyone. However, he was assuming that bow-buff was not Isabella, because really, how often did someone look at a username on the internet and go "hey, that must be one of my friends"?
Even if she lived in the same city, bow-buff described having a crush on the younger brother and then falling for the older brother. If it was Isabella, then she said she used to have a crush on Ferb and then fell for Phineas. That obviously wasn't the case.
Well, Ferb knew that Isabella didn't actually learn Ferb was younger until after bow-buff's first post went up. However, he was incapable of going 'hey, if she thought I was older at first, then wouldn't that mean she used to crush on Phineas and then fell for me?' because he thought Isabella was incapable of liking him.
Because, well, it was Isabella. He very specifically remembered her singing about how she came over everyday to see Phineas and ask what he was doing. Not Ferb. It was never directed at Ferb. Then on her birthday, she sang about how all she ever wanted was time alone with Phineas, without any of the add-ons… and there was also that time Isabella reacted badly to the idea of marrying him… even as a joke...
Despite all of these cases happening when they were like, ten, it kinda cemented the idea that Isabella would never be attracted to him, regardless of whether or not Phineas was in the picture.
So obviously, bow-buff had to be someone else in Danville with a love for bows and had something complicated with two brothers. Maybe Thaddeus and Thor?
This assumption was totally not something that could ever backfire on either of them. Especially not when they had an outing to the movies planned, and Ferb thought Isabella could never liked him, while Isabella planned on confessing then.