(A/N: I normally take some ideas from other stories, so full credit to sistergrimm97 for coming up with this idea! N.B: Any decisions to kill off characters is purely my own. Enjoy!)
Phineas seemed to fall in slow motion. His muscles were painfully paralyzed by the Taser.
Isabella screamed."Phineas!"
"Let's go." Hazelton said, not even giving her time to grieve over Phineas. "Oh, and bring the boy too. But tie him up."
The robots did as they were told.
Hazelton didn't even bother to pick up the Taser. The important thing now was that, they were captured. The pretty girl was still shooting fire out of her eyes at Ferb, but he couldn't care less. What good was looks? Phineas was tied up, and Hazelton could not help but pity him-
Wait. Is that pity I'm feeling? This cannot be!
Blank. Blank. Blank.
I cannot allow myself to show mercy. Not even to such a nice boy.
We're going to one of your inventions, boys, one which I think you'll remember very well...
But first, they would have to be knocked out, so they won't know where they're going.
He gave the command.
Ferb's POV(1st person)
I didn't want to see that look in his eyes. Not now,not ever.
Yet there it was. And I was wholly responsible for it.
His eyes always told a thousand words. But now, they only told two.
You traitor!
I looked away. I didn't want to be distracted from my mission.
3rd person POV
Bang!
An explosion of pain flashed through Phineas' head. White spots appeared in his vision. And then he knew no more.
Where am I?
Wherever he was, it was completely dark. He couldn't see his own hands in front of him.A room, perhaps? Then he felt something to his side. Air.
There's an air vent here? Where am I?
He instinctively shot up, but his head smashed against a beam, and he nearly passed out again.
What kind of room has its ceiling three feet off the ground?
But slowly, the horrible truth dawned on him. He wasn't in a room at all.
I'm in a box!
Stunned, he touched the walls of his strange prison. They seemed to be made of some metallic substance. It felt familiar, but he couldn't place it...
Then, it dawned on him that he was trapped here. With no way out.
Panic threatened to set in. He tried to stave it off, but it was no use.
Blinded by fear, he started yelling and pounding on the walls. But for all the response he got, he might as well have been yelling at some cheese.
Isabella tried to gain her bearings. She seemed to be in some odd room, lit only by torches. In the corner sat a box, about three feet tall. Perfectly no use to her. She still didn't know where she was, and even if she could find an escape route, it was useless, as her hands and feet were bound together. Not to mention I wouldn't leave Phineas...
That's when she heard the screams.
Straight away, she knew beyond any doubt who it was.
He's in there?
She screamed."Phineas! Phineas!"
"Oh, don't worry,"Hazelton said from behind her. "He'll be alive. He'll only wish he was dead...as soon as Ferb returns." He was standing beside a control panel with dials and levers.
"Let him go! What are you doing to him?"
"I'm not doing anything...yet. You don't know this place?" His evil grin was visible even in the flickering light.
Isabella looked around. Panic had sharpened her senses, and on her second look, she took in more.
But she realized, she did not want to know the answer.
How is it possible? How is it possible that we're in-
"The castle?", her voice barely more then a whisper.
"Oh wow! Hole in one! How did you guess?" His tone reeked of sarcasm.
Ferb was deep in the castle. His mission was to switch on something.
His real mission, however, was to retrieve something.
After all, it was his castle, and he knew all the hiding places. It was even his idea to come here. After searching awhile, he found it. Exactly where he had left it. The only problem was, he couldn't use it. Yet. So he slipped it into his pocket.
If I use it now, there's no way I'm getting out alive...
"Excellent! Now that Ferb's back, let's get the show started! But first..."Hazelton clambered onto the tank and slid open a slat, revealing a small plexiglass window.
"Alright, let's not be stubborn. Where-is-it?"
'Where's what?" The sound echoed in the tank.
"You don't know?"
"Either you tell me what you're talking about or you don't get it."Phineas' voice was resolute.
Hazelton shrugged."As you wish. Five years ago, you defeated some guy who tried to take over the Tri-State Area with your creations. There was a locket that allowed you to remake it all. And you've been dreaming about it ever since. Sound familiar?"
Phineas was stunned. "How do you know?"
"Because it's real, dimwit. How else could I describe it so accurately?"
"But then, how come I couldn't remember it?"
"Clearly you are just being stubborn. I don't care if you remember it or not. That is irrelevant. Right now, tell me where is the locket!" Hazelton lost his patience.
"You're crazy if you think I'm giving it to you. Sic semper tyrannis!
Hazelton frowned. "Alright then, we can start the show!"
Ferb pulled a lever.
Suddenly, there was an odd gurgling coming from the pipes. Isabella could distinctly hear it. Then Phineas renewed his screams.
"Help! They're trying to drown me!"
They're pumping in water?
"Let me out!" This last was directed at Hazelton.
He just wagged his finger at Phineas. "Locket first."
Phineas mouthed two syllables. Never.
"Alright then." Hazelton's face disappeared from the window.
The water level was at his chin. Because the tank was so small, Phineas was in an awkward half-standing position. In a matter of seconds, he would be completely submerged.
He resumed pounding, fueled only by adrenaline. Trying to find a way out.
Naturally, it didn't happen.
He was floating now, floating due to the buoyancy.
He floated in the tank, his face coming in line with the window.
Then the face of his tormenter reappeared in front of him. "Last chance." it said.
Rage coursed through Phineas unlike anything he had ever felt before. For an answer he swung his fist backwards and into the window. The blow shook the container. The face retreated.
But nothing gave. Instead, the water level just kept on rising, as if to mock Phineas as well.
His face pressed against the plexiglass window. The last pocket of air.
Then, that too was submerged.
The first thing Phineas noticed was the silence. The complete and eerie silence.
Don't breathe!
But it was futile. He couldn't hold on forever. The water enveloped him.
He somehow realised he was going to die. Yet, for once, there wasn't a thing he could do to change that. For once, he was a pawn of fate, rather then creating fate.
I'm being murdered and I can't do anything about it!
No. Phineas Flynn does not break. Phineas Flynn always knows what to do.
But there's nothing I can do but sit here!
Somehow, the silence seemed to give him strength, strength to face...what? He didn't know. He'd never really thought about it. The silence, the total lack of sensory input, brought home the fact that he was well and truly alone, and that no one was coming with him on this journey.
It was time.
Yet he held out for one more second. A last act of defiance.
Then he gave in.
The water poured into his lungs. A searing pain seemed to burn him from within. If he could scream, he would have. It was worse then anything imaginable.
Then, mercifully, it was over.
He's gone. Isabella couldn't believe it. She just stared at the man, and stared at the turncoat. I don't know him anymore!
Hazelton seemed a little shaken, but maybe that was because of the blow. He motioned for Isabella to be brought back.
The robots, which had been hiding in the corner, sprang to life. One of them seized Isabella.
For her part, she didn't resist. She couldn't. Her love was gone, taking a part of her as well.
Isabella was only dimly aware they were heading back to the complex. Her mind was in chaos. She needed something solid to come to grips with.
Something like...Ferb.
Isabella stared at him. "How could you do this? How?" Her voice was breaking.
Ferb did not return the stare, choosing to look away. But he did return his answer.
"I did what I had to do."
Isabella could hear no sympathy in that voice.