Ferb was standing on a rock, overlooking a giant chasm.
Sure, there were safer places to stand. But for whatever reason, Ferb had chosen the rock.
He was just about to eat from the giant bowl of ice cream that had appeared next to him when the rock began to shake.
"Ferb! Ferb!" The rock said.
Ferb opened his eyes. Phineas was shaking him. "Ferb, wake up!"
Ferb blinked.
"I had a dream, Ferb."
"So did I."
"What was it?"
"I don't know." Ferb said testily. "I didn't get far enough in it."
"It was about Perry, Ferb." Phineas said. "I was in a field, walking down a path. Then I saw Perry appear on the other side of the path. He looked really happy to see me, and I asked him why he was in the field instead of back at home. He didn't seem to be able to hear me. He was kind of foggy. All he said was 'Where am I?' and I told him I had just been asking him where he was. But he just said 'Where am I?' again. And then 'Hurt… hand… okay?'. And then I started dreaming about riding a rainbow cow, and then about dad holding a rubber plate. And then I woke up."
"Go back to sleep." Ferb grumbled.
"You're not very sympathetic when you're tired." Phineas said. "Where do you think Perry is, Ferb? He said he'd come home after work."
"Maybe work ran long." Ferb said. "We could call Monogram."
"I guess." Phineas sighed.
"I find that if I don't worry too much about things, they turn out okay." Ferb said.
"That's not making me feel better."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm worried sick."
...
Perry kept his eyes on the dirt path he was walking on.
A bird flew over and sat on a treebranch.
"Moo." Said the bird.
"Birds tweet." Perry told it.
"Tweetity moo." Said the bird.
"Never mind." Perry thought he saw a clearing up ahead. He quickened his pace.
He was standing in a field with many flowers.
Suddenly Phineas materialized across from him.
Perry grinned. "Phin! What are you doing here?"
For some reason, though he was compelled to run and hug Phineas, he was rooted to the spot.
Phineas looked equally happy, but also concerned. "Field…back home?"
The rest of Phineas's words were lost. Perry couldn't make anything out. It was as though Phineas were talking underwater in a language Perry couldn't understand.
"Phin, your arm. You've got a cast. What happened? Are you okay?"
Phineas said nothing.
"Phin… I don't know what happened. Somehow I ended up in Gluum- a place for dead people- but I'm not dead. Do you know where I am? If you do, I can get back home. Where am I?"
"…Where you were." Phineas said, after a bit of underwater-sounding noises.
"Phin, enough with the blowfish talk. Where am I? Why are you hurt? What happened to your hand? Are you okay?"
Phineas began to fade.
Perry reached out for him. Phineas did the same.
Perry woke in a cold sweat.
...
"You fell asleep. You okay?" Terrence asked.
Perry rubbed his eyes and sat up in his chair. "I didn't know you could fall asleep in Gluum."
"Of course." Terrence said. "Almost anything you can do in life you can do here. Dreams are the main way ghosts communicate with the living other than actually going to the surface."
"Is that what just happened? I saw Phineas."
"Probably." Terrence said. "What did he say?"
"Hard to tell… he kept talking funny."
"Your spirit was probably having a hard time keeping you in three spots." Terrence said.
"Here, sort of in the real world, and in the dream?"
Terrence nodded. "Ghosts can split themselves into two parts, but it takes a lot of energy. And they can't go too far from themselves."
"Like thisssss!" A voice said gleefully. Two fennec foxes appeared, floating over the table.
"Frederich." Terrence said disapprovingly. "Why are you here?"
"Iiiiii knoowowwww youuuu." The two Frederichs said together. "You'reeee frienddssss with my ssooonnn, Lowweeee! He liveeesss at the agencyyyy! LOWWWEEEEE!"
"Really? Had no idea." Perry said.
"Donnn'tt mocckkk meee." Frederich hissed. He vanished in a puff of air.
"…Can you do that?" Perry asked.
"I can." Terrence said. "I just don't like to. Like splitting in two, it takes a lot of energy."
"Do you ever have to worry about running out of energy?" Perry asked.
Terrence nodded. "You get tired, and if you lose it all, you're forced to either sleep it back or go to the surface to get more from living things. Only a few Gluum spirits choose to do the latter."
"They drain energy from other people?"
"That's why Haunted Houses are so dangerous." Terrence said. "Don't worry, though. People rarely have their energy drained to nothing. Worst that happens is they shudder for a few hours from the experience."
"Shudder-tastic." Perry said.
...
Prince gazed intently at Perry's face, trying to figure out how deeply he was sleeping. The doctors had said it was a coma, but she didn't believe that junk. Sometimes people just got tired and needed to sleep for a few days. It wasn't that they couldn't wake up.
"Fine time to get hit by a car." She told him. "Right when I needed ya to keep an eye on Rem. She's going after some huge business-villain. I don't know all the details. But even in that metal suit, I don't trust that she won't get hurt."
Perry was silent.
"What's with the idiot who hit you, anyway?" Prince said, fondly stroking the cheek that wasn't too scratched up. "He couldn't see the huge loser walking across the street?"
Perry's eye twitched slightly. It gave Prince a little hope.
"There, see, like I told them. You're just sleepy." She reached down to untie her boots. They were driving her insane. Malice had given her high-heeled combat boots as a gift and she was forced to wear them to appear grateful. But whoever invented heels obviously hated people who tried to sneak around without making giant thonking noises when they walked.
"You need help with those?" Someone asked.
Prince looked up. Her eyes narrowed. "I think I can take off my own shoes."
Poppy smiled a little. "Okay. Those laces looked pretty tight."
"What are you doing here?" Prince growled.
"The father of my children is in the hospital." Poppy said. She moved around to the other side of the bed and sat down in a chair. "Seemed only right to come."
"Well, it's not like you can talk to him. He's sleeping." Prince said. "You came here to watch a beat-up guy sleep. He doesn't even know you're here. Why would you come?"
"The same reason you came." Poppy said. "To be there for him."
Prince glowered.
Poppy set a card down on Perry's bedside table. It had a picture of flowers on the front.
Prince could see a little bit of the inside: "Get… feel better… cheers you up! Marilyn."
"So your name's Marilyn now?" Prince said, folding her arms.
Poppy looked uncomfortable. "It's an inside joke we had a long time ago."
"Uh-huh."
Poppy shifted her weight a little. "I'm not your enemy, Prince. I'll be honest… I still do have feelings for him. But they're very faint. I love Toto. I'd never abandon him. Perry's a close friend of mine, is all. He broke up with me, in the end. He wanted to be with you. He's happy with you, I can tell."
"'Course, whatever."
"My parents had the same relationship. They were friends, but they didn't want to be mates. And my father came and visited my mother when she was sick as well. I'm sure if that had been or were the case with your parents…"
"How many freaking times are you gonna poke around in stuff that isn't your business? Shut up." Prince snapped.
"I'm sorry." Poppy said. "I shouldn't have pried."
Prince pulled at a loose string on the end of the hospital bed. "Dad was mindless. Mom wasn't. I was abandoned when I was really little. Lived with my dad's brother. The only time my parents ever even tried to contact me was when my mother asked me to come to my sister's funeral. She died of illness or something. I didn't go. I liked my sister. But I hated mom. I didn't want to do anything for her. As for my dad, he had no idea who I was. Only my uncle really cared about me."
"Sorry about your sister." Poppy said.
Prince shrugged. "I don't know why mom made such a big deal over the funeral. She never liked my sister, either. Almost abandoned her along with me."
Poppy said nothing.
Prince was furious with herself. She had just poured half her past onto the lap of someone she couldn't stand.
"I have to go." Prince said sharply. She stood and walked out of the room.
"You forgot your-"
Prince didn't look back. She knew for a fact she didn't forget something.
She had left behind an inside joke that Marilyn wouldn't get.
...
"Daly? Hellooo?"
"I know you're there, critter-whose-name-I-forget." Daly said, filling another bowl with freezing water and setting it down on his kitchen counter. He dipped his finger into the bowl and tasted the water. "Hm. Needs more water."
"What are you doing?" Perry asked.
"That's for me to know and you to never find out." Daly said.
"Why did you call me here?" Perry was beginning to get annoyed. He wanted to get back to his home. The past few days, Terrence had been busy, so Perry had started decorating his home with the flowers from Willow and some spare paints Mr. Brownie had given him. He was creating a mural across the front of the house. So far it included Phineas, Ferb, his Snugglebear, Linda, Lawrence, Candace, and a Carlos the Caring Clown doll with its head ripped off.
"Wanted to talk to you about something." Daly said, filling up another bowl with cold water. He set it down next to the others on the counter and turned to face Perry. "I saw what you did with your house."
"Well, I'm sorry it's not the shabby, gloomy thing you like, but it's mine and I can do what I want."
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Daly said. "Do whatever you want. Regina Lynde blew hers up. Anyway, the townspeople saw your place, too. They're asking me to ask you if you'd want to make their houses look pretty as well."
Perry frowned. "Huh?"
"You're a decent artist." Daly shrugged. "And while I'd despise my wonderful town being decorated in bright colors and flowers… I think it's a fair idea. You don't have to do it. It'd be without pay, so it'd really stink to do all that work…" Daly glared at him. "And if you touch the town square, I'll banish you from Gluum and your spirit will have to reside elsewhere… probably somewhere much less pleasant."
Perry honestly couldn't think of anywhere less pleasant than Gluum, except for maybe the dentist.
"You're trying to talk me out of it. Listen, I'm not gonna paint the town red. Maybe I'll just paint a few houses. I'll leave your town square alone."
"Fair enough." Daly said.