I know I said it was a one-shot but then I thought about a scene after it, so here it is. I may write some other thoughts regarding this kind of thing such as 'What if this went differently' or something like that. I realize there's a lot of potential for that one scene and such. I don't know, just a thought. Anyway I know this is short, but I think this is all it needs really. I would have something at the end about Phineas talking with Marissa about 'Hey, it's not your fault, but I think this all speaks for itself here.

They locked us in a cell for awhile. Apparently, Other Dimension Doofenshmirtz was dealing with something else, maybe the escape of the Resistance again. Maybe he thought he would kill two birds with one stone this time. Eh, it's none of my business. He got what he was really after: me, the boys for some odd reason and Perry. Why would he want us now? I guess I'll find that out later. I sat on a bench of our cell. It was actually a little big in there, so I was able to stay quiet and distance myself from everyone. I could tell they were mad at me for not facing my fear. How could I though? I just sat on my own, and I looked at the ground.

"Oh perfect, Marissa, you just had to be afraid of fire!" Candace yelled, "You just couldn't face your fear this once, huh? Now look at us! We're in this cell, and there's no telling what he wants with us. Had you just jumped across, we'd be just fine! But no, you had to make everyone get captured because of you. And Phineas made the decision for everyone without us getting a say in the matter!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

I jumped at the sudden squeaky voiced outburst of my brother. His fists were curled, and his eyes were shut tight. He was breathing heavily too. Candace had apparently jumped at him too like when we went around the world and Candace wouldn't get on the trike.

"That is ENOUGH," Phineas continued, "I'm sick of this! All day there's been nothing but secrets and lies and anger and blame. I'M DONE WITH IT! This whole day has been tearing this family apart! It's not Marissa's fault she's afraid of fire! Fear isn't something that's decided, Candace! What about you and your fear of spiders, huh? You've been saying you were going to conquer that fear since you were little, and have you?"

"No, but I probably would have if it meant avoiding getting captured," Candace retorted.

"You say that now, but picture it: you're in a minecart and there's little you can do except jump into it. You can see a spider in the cart, just staring at you. The spider throws images and thoughts and what-ifs at you. Can you REALLY jump into it? Another thing, you can't just FORCE someone to conquer a fear like that, Candace. Spiders aren't even that bad. Yeah, there's poisonous ones, but leave them alone, and they won't hurt you. Fire is dangerous on almost all occasions and it can't be run away from all the time. You need special equipment for certain fires. It's not fair for Marissa to suddenly face something she's been afraid of her whole life because of a stressful situation like that. Conquering fears is a baby steps thing, and that was no baby step."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures, Phineas. Now because she didn't face-"

"JUST SHUT UP! I need FIVE MINUTES of peace and quiet with no blame, no secrets or lies or I'm going to explode. This has been an extremely stressful day for ALL of us, and I just need five minutes to calm down and collect myself."

With that, Phineas came and sat next to me. Ever since he was little, we confided everything with each other. He sighed, and he leaned into me. Suddenly I realized he wasn't just yelling at Candace for blaming me for our capture…

He was yelling at himself too.

In case it needed mentioning, yes, Phineas was yelling at himself for disowning Perry and being so mad at him. Seeing Candace angry at Marissa for her fear (something she can't necessarily control) made him see maybe he was mad at Perry for something he couldn't control, and he didn't want to see it happen again. Candace does still have a bit of a beef with Marissa, but she's thinking about what Phineas said. I know in PnF Save Summer, she conquers her fear of spiders in a yes sudden way almost, but the difference is that earlier in the day she'd mentioned trying to conquer her fear. The fire was just suddenly thrown in Marissa's path, so she didn't see it coming or anything. I admit I am kind of a wussy when it comes to conquering fears. Everything mentioned in the previous chapter about 'avoiding bunsenburners and such' is extremely true about me. I am TERRIFIED to cook on the stove even with my friends there to help me along the way. I'm slowly taking baby steps so I'm not as afraid, but not being able to go to my friend's house for her to help me hasn't done much progress. I don't know. Anyway, so yeah, that's that lol. You think I should periodically post 'What if it went differently' chapters for this? I realize there's a lot of what-ifs for this lol.