¡Gasp! What's this? Fifty - no, fifty-two reviews? You guys are seriously the best. Sorry about the wait, school happened and the rest is history. Happy winter - or summer, depending on where you live - solstice, and here's chapter ten of MFEO for you! (And let's all ignore the fact that 'feo' is Spanish for ugly.)
Review responses!
Phineas A: Nope. There is still plenty to go.
Dreadwing216: Thank you. Here it is. :)
Flight from the testing facility had been exceptionally easy with the help of Ferb's invisibility pistol. Vanessa remained with her fainted father to explain what had happened, and to work out a system by which he and Charlene could rotate custody of her. Though it had taken some convincing, Cansummace had joined Perfeneas, Isealia, Graciela, and Ferb to the home of the latter. He hesitantly rung the doorbell to 1423 Maple Drive and waited.
A tall, quirky man answered, clear from the start that he was Ferb's father. He beamed at the boy and called inside, "Honey! Ferb has returned from his mission!" (As Linda had been a vital part of one of the government's largest-controlled experiments, she and her husband Lawrence had the special allowance to know that their son was an OWCA agent. Ferb took advantage of this to justify his two-day absence.) Lawrence turned to the small crowd at his doorstep, inviting them to come in.
No one outwardly questioned the man's sense of order when he chose to ask the group's names and intentions once they were each already through the door.
"Hello," the youngest began, "My name is Graciela and am Ferb's friend. We, ah, want to-to ask..."
The girl's request was silenced by the appearance of another woman, recognizable as a Flynn by her neatly-kept red hair. Her eyes never left Perfeneas and Cansummace once they landed on them, and she approached them cautiously. "It's been a while," she began, embracing each of her children briefly. "How are you doing?"
"We're just fine, M-Mom," Cansummace answered.
Perfeneas agreed, "I'm so glad to meet you."
Linda Flynn-Fletcher smiled sympathetically. "So, I take it you've won against that Mexican girl?"
"Well, actually, I-"
"Yes," Graciela cut Perfeneas off, "Yes, he did. I call Gr-I mean, I call myself - I-I call-" She stopped for a second to remember how the phrase worked in English, her face a deep shade of crimson. "Graciela. I am named Graciela. Work with Ferb sometimes."
"...I see. And who are you?" She asked, nodding to Isealia.
"She's my... Sister, Isabella," Graciela covered, cleverly adding another member to her fake family. "Came with me and Ferb for to escort Perfeneas here."
"Alright, then, follow me," she instructed, blissfully oblivious to the fact that Graciela and Isealia could hardly pass as cousins, let alone sisters. "You're going to love it here."
The five children toured the house, all three floors of it, making a final stop at Ferb's bedroom. It was much larger than needed for one person Ferb's age, and suspiciously, he did not take advantage of the extra space. All of his personal belongings were kept only on the east side of the room, leaving the west bare save for a collection of various - well, collectibles - which led Perfeneas to conclude that either one of his parents had a knack for antiques. Cansummace, in realization of how much she needed to be surrounded by more color, remained in a guest bedroom that was adorned in hot pink wallpaper. She loved the change so much that she immediately claimed it as her own room and was now planning about how to decorate it.
At this time, Linda and Lawrence had left the children to their own devices, the former promising pie when they were ready to come back down.
"So, I think Perfeneas will stays here, true?" Graciela suggested, noting the extra space.
Ferb nodded.
"Then we should probably tell them now, right? Would need Cansummace?"
In a denying response, Ferb moved to his closet and retrieved two items. "Close your eyes," he instructed the two successful experiments, and unsurprisingly, they obliged. First, Ferb took his stepbrother's hands - they became slightly more tense, ready to perform a wrist hold if Ferb dared try to hurt him - and raised them above his head. He calmly removed the redhead's shirt and replaced it with another. He then moved to Isealia, in his hand a garment much smaller than Perfeneas's but no less significant. Carefully, he tied the pink bow onto the bed of her hair, stepped back to Graciela, and allowed them to open their eyes.
"Look at yourselves," Graciela said, gesturing to a thin mirror near Ferb's dresser. "What do you think?"
Perfeneas and Isealia both turned and just stood there, entranced by the sudden addition of color to their attire. Never once, they realized, had they ever worn color. The only exceptions to this were the watery strands of Isealia's blue highlights and the fire that was the red of Perfeneas's hair.
Across the hallway, Cansummace was feeling the same way, surrounded by one of the things without which she nearly lost her sanity.
Isealia finally spoke. "I think it's beautiful."
Perfeneas answered, in reference to his new off-white and orange stripes, "It's certainly different. I like it! Truly, I do."
"That's good to hear," Graciela commented. "Are you ready?"
"That depends on for what we must prepare," explained Isealia.
"Yes, they are fine," the brunette concluded. She was about to continue when a wonderful aroma found its way into the room, enveloping the children and settling around them like a warm hug.
"But first," began Ferb, recognising the smell immediately, "Some pie." The others wholeheartedly agreed.
Cansummace remained inside the surprisingly bright home of the stoic Ferb Fletcher while he and his friends were finally given the chance to explore the backyard. They were saving the best for last, they reasoned, a point proven absolutely correct after only the first seconds of letting their feet rest on the green below them. Obvious care was put into the lawn's appearance, as each blade of grass was trimmed with an expertise only masters of landscaping could be expected to use. It was as green as the hair of the young boy who adored it so, if not greener.
The most prominent item in the yard, rewarding with the sight of it only those who were not distracted by the grass, was the tree. An infallible personification of its street's name, the towering maple stood strong against the back fence, contrasting the jet blue of the sky royally. Squirrels, birds, and communities of insects were proud to call the grand piece of vegetation home; it was the unrivaled monarch of the kingdom Plantae. Ferb led his companions to the base of this very tree and by doing so himself, invited the rest to sit down there.
But even Graciela was hesitant. The power held by the maple was not intimidating, though when added to the sureness with which Ferb always moved, it felt wrong at first to take command of the tree by sitting under it with him. Ferb's strong and silent ways, taken with the grace of the branches as they moved with the breeze, showed just how much the two organisms had in common. He seemed to fit exactly right with the whole yard; he was blissfully one with everything there. He walked with a certain confidence in knowing that the Earth would catch his next step. Even in the urban areas of Danville, his preference for travelling by motorbike and the skill with which he rode further demonstrated his ability to draw power, if only mentally, from the ground.
So, as not to disturb the Ferb-Earth connection, no one actually joined him at first. Perfeneas and Isealia also refrained from doing so to prevent the dirtying of their clothes.
But they all could sense that something was missing. The tree was much bigger than even Ferb could conquer himself. Graciela finally lowered herself to sit facing him, on the grass. "You two can sit, too," she informed, checking first with Ferb using her eyes. As they were expected to, Perfeneas and Isealia dropped down next to Ferb and Graciela, respectively.
"Good. That's better," Graciela began, noting the rightness of the brothers' positions under their tree. Surrounded by fire, water, and earth, she felt elevated and relieved, as if everything had just became right.
She looked to the sky as a flock of birds chirped overhead, flying freely against the bright, sun-infused cumulus clouds. She adored flight, absolutely adored it. It would bring her closer to the sun, the same sun that heats both the countries who were closer to war than her abuelita's cat was to its next nap. She felt comfortable on airplanes, one of the only places she could look down on the world despite her dismal height. She remembered the last time she flew - what was it, only two days ago? - she had felt so confident when dealing with the inexplicably monolingual policeman and flight attendant. But as soon as they touched down, she was nothing more than a girl little who can no talk English proper. As she would probably put it.
Graciela would get better. If she was going to live in America, she would learn to utterly dominate the language. She would be the best dang English-speaker in the whole dang world, dang it! And maybe she would take up street.
"So, let's see, what is first?" She wondered aloud, "Every the people will be looking for you two. You can not let them know which - who! - who you are if you are going to pull this off. So Ferb and I thinked about it, and give you new identities. Comprehend?"
Isealia and Perfeneas confirmed that they did, inwardly forgiving her mistakes.
"Well. You..." She pointed to Perfeneas. "...You go to call yourself Phineas; is the closest to your real name. And will need a surname, too."
"I have never needed a surname," the boy commented.
"Good, you do now. 'Doofenshmirtz' will attract too much attention, so should take the name of your mother - Flynn. Phineas Flynn. Sounds well."
"The alliteration makes it sound poetic," Phineas, as he was now called, agreed.
"...Will live here with your brother, Ferb, and your sister, who will be.." She snickered like the playful eight-year-old she was. "...Gertrude. Looks like a Gertrude to me."
The look Ferb shot at her screamed, "That isn't what we planned."
"Alright, Gertrude can be the middle name. She will be Candace. Is close to Cansummace, and German like your father. Candace and Phineas Flynn. It pleases me."
Phineas let this set in before asking, "What of the lovely Isealia?"
"Have already said who she will be. For now, she will pretend to be my sister and will be called Isabella. García-Shapiro is good to use in this country if you do not want to take my name. Will be my stepsister - yes, this works. Phineas Flynn, Candace Gertrude Flynn. Isabella García-Shapiro. And of course, Ferb Fletcher. What a group fun!"
"What about you, Graciela?" The now-dubbed Isabella wondered, "You're putting yourself in danger by staying with us. Would you have to change your name, too?"
That was one of the reasons Graciela had decided on another title for herself, the other being that OSBAM would have her head if and when they discovered what she had done.
"Gretchen," she announced, "I am going to be Gretchen. And my last name is common enough to keep."
"...Okay. Will we continue to see our friends?" Asked Phineas.
Gretchen sighed. "Lucky for you, your 'friends' do live around here. If they want to keep seeing you, that can be arranged. They would have to quit OSBA, though."
She faced Isabella. "But you, Isabella, you and I will both have to do new friends. Luckily, it seems that we already have two."
"That's right!" Phineas exclaimed, standing up in enthusiasm, "Ferb and I will gladly be your friends. Buford, Baljeet, Irving, Django, and Balthazar probably will, too."
Ferb, sensing that being constantly surrounded by boys would grow tiring to them, added, "Perhaps you can also join a Fireside Girls troop."
"It's decided, then," Isabella declared, sanding up as well. "We will all stay here together to prevent disaster from befalling our nations. We can do this!"
"Okay, I think I've got it down," Candace declared, getting used to her new name. "'Can', like, I can do this, and 'dace', like... Like, I can do dis!"
"That's... One way to look at it, I guess," Gretchen confirmed. After pie and an introduction to the backyard, the children headed back to Candace's room to discuss with the teen how the rest of their lives would be from that point on. At first, it felt like a big deal, moving into this new home, so much brighter than the dusky apartment, but since Perfeneas and Isealia were able to process and deal with change easily, the hard part was gaining their sister's cooperation.
"But what's with the stripes, bro? And you. Where'd you get the hair bow?"
"Disguises," Gretchen explained. "I suggest putting in a bit more... Color to your wardrobes. Ferb borrowed that hair bow from your friend Stacy, and he just had that shirt. As for Isabella, if she's going to stay in this country, you'll find a few dresses nices littles in the closet of this room that she can choose from. We've been preparing for a long time."
As Gretchen explained this, Candace began moving towards the closet and sifting through the dresses. The sizes ranged from tiny to wearable by people her age. She chose a pinafore from the middle, holding it out to the hot pink room. Ferb approached her, saying, "For clarification, I've never had to wear any of these," and nervously brushing away a few green hairs from between the pleats of the skirt.