"Oh, there you are, Perry!"

Perry jolted awake to the sound of Phineas' voice. What? How did he get home? He looked around, but there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. Not that that was saying much. Phineas was crouched down next to Perry, and behind him sat some sort of invention that the boys had made. Had it been a dream?

"The platypus retrieval machine works like a charm!" Phineas crowed, and Perry let out a confused chatter.

Ferb walked out from the other side of the machine and picked Perry up. And–

"Why are you covered in blood, boy?" Phineas' voice was suddenly worried.

Not a dream then.

"It doesn't appear to be his blood," Ferb noted.

Phineas leaned closer and nodded. "We should give him a bath."

Perry didn't fight his boys in the bath like he usually did. His fur was sticky and caked together, and he needed some time to think.

Phineas and Ferb had clearly built something that would find and retrieve him, presumably to keep him from wandering off all the time. Perry would need to find some way to disable it, lest they discover his secret identity again, but right now he could only find it in himself to be grateful for his boys' brilliance. He wondered if they had known it was strong enough to find him over three decades earlier on a different continent. He wondered how long he'd been gone, if they had built this device specifically to find him or if it was simply their project of the day.

The boys were cooing over him, but no more than usual, so it was likely he hadn't been gone long. Possibly not more than a day.

Almost more worrying was the boy's reaction to finding him covered in blood, but Perry didn't want to unpack that right now.

Perry wondered how Heinz was doing. He hoped the boy recovered well. Of course, Perry knew he recovered, he knew the boy's future self and had even seen the flashback to the science fair, where he couldn't even tell that Heinz's right arm had been fake. But Doofenshmirtz'd had a long time to heal, and he suspected that the backstories that he'd been privy to were not entirely accurate.

He wondered why he'd never seen a backstory about a certain platypus abandoning Heinz.

Soon, he was clean and dry in his basket, thinking. There was only one thing he could do, really. He needed to visit Doofenshmirtz.

He entered his lair through the tunnel under his basket. One quick slide with no interruptions, and he landed in the lair to a dark screen. He briefly wondered if Doofenshmirtz had called to gloat, but no. The scientist was probably freaking out, busy trying to figure out where he'd sent his nemesis.

Perry pulled on one of his spare hats and grabbed his jetpack.

The trip to Doofenshmirtz's building was the same as it had always been, quick and with a jaunty jingle. Perry took the elevator up, deciding that since he wasn't there for work, he might as well be polite and use the door.

When he entered the lab, he saw Doofenshmirtz bent over the -inator that had sent Perry to the past in the first place, pulling at wires and muttering to himself. Perry could almost see his younger self in his place, doing the exact same thing.

He chattered to announce his presence, and the doctor whipped around, arms flailing comically.

"Perry the Platypus?" Doofenshmirtz asked, surprised. "You're back!" He took an excited step towards Perry, revealing a small fedora sitting on the control panel.

The man paused and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Well, this is awkward. I was just trying to find out where I sent you, we never did finish–"

Perry cut him off by running over and hugging his legs.

Doofenshmirtz seemed to flounder for a moment. "Perry the Platypus, what are you–"

Perry squeezed tighter for a moment, cutting the man off again, before letting go. Doofenshmirtz was opening and closing his mouth, looking like he was trying to figure out what to say. Perry didn't give him the chance. He grabbed the doctor's right hand and tugged on it.

This seemed to shake Doofenshmirtz out of his shock, and the man raised an eyebrow. "Do you want to hold my hand?" he asked, confusion evident in his voice.

Perry shook his head and tugged on the arm again, before shooting the doctor a questioning look.

The man drew back, eyes wide. "Perry the Platypus. Are you actually asking for one of my backstories?"

Finally. Perry nodded, trying not to look too eager.

Doofenshmirtz crossed his arms. "Well, it's too bad you asked for one that I don't have."

Perry stared. What?

The man sighed and waved his arms. "Fine, I have a backstory, I just don't remember most of it. One moment, I'm sitting against a tree, and the next I'm sprawled out in a clearing with a smashed machine, a dead goozim, and no arm."

Perry blinked. Heinz had forgotten. It made a disturbing amount of sense, he supposed.

"I probably hit my head when I lost my arm, that's my theory. No idea how the goozim died, though…" Doofenshmirtz kept rambling, but Perry wasn't listening. Of course Heinz had forgotten. That explained why he'd never heard Doofenshmirtz mention this before. It hurt, a deep longing ache, to know that as much as he cared for Heinz, the boy didn't remember him. It was probably for the best, but it hurt all the same.

After a while, Perry cut off Doofenshmirtz's rambling and gestured to the -inator.

The doctor shrugged. "We're both tired, Perry the Platypus, and it seems like there's something that you're not telling me." Perry looked away. Yes, there was, but he wasn't going to talk about it. Especially not with Doofenshmirtz.

"How about this…" the doctor continued, walking over to the -inator and pressing the self-destruct button.

Perry's eyes widened as the machine fell apart. He hadn't been expecting that.

Doofenshmirtz smiled and waved him off. "You look like you could use some rest."

Oh. Perry smiled back, though it was probably a touch sadder than the one on the doctor's face, and headed towards the balcony.

"Before you leave," the man called from behind him, and Perry turned just in time to catch the fedora that was thrown at him.

Perry gave a nod of thanks before jumping off the balcony and letting his jetpack carry him home. He had a lot he needed to think about.

Behind him, he heard his nemesis yell, half joking, "Curse you, Perry the Platypus!"

Some things never changed.

Hope you guys enjoyed the ride! I had a lot of fun with this story, and I really enjoyed rediscovering this fandom. Thank you guys for all the support! I know this fandom isn't very large, but I'm thrilled with the reception that I've gotten.

I'm working on a sequel for this as we speak. I've got about a chapter written so far, and I'll start to upload it when I have a few chapters as a cushion. Keep your eyes out!

Thanks for reading!