UPDATE! Now, I guess…. Ferb hates me.

Phineas expected to feel the metal piercing his skin, but it never came. His eyes were clenched shut, from fear. He felt a warm, unknown liquid spray onto his face, and blinked them open.

Then the grim realization of what the liquid was, and where it came from, hit him. Phineas felt like throwing up.

Ferb was standing over him, shielding him from the machine, but at the cost of being impaled himself. Blood spilled onto the spike, from which it dripped, a lot of it landing on Phineas. Somehow, though, he was obviously still alive.

"F… Ferb…"

The AI laughed. "Aww… How touching. Protecting your little brother at the cost of your own life."

Ferb growled. "Stay… away from him…"

"Now, I don't think you're in any position to make commands…" Another long, deranged laugh. "Now… Be a good boy and die, won't you?"

Ferb spit blood in its face. "No." He raised the gun to where its heart would be.

The machine frowned. "You're resorting to that?"

He pressed the gun further, about to pull the trigger.

The machine, however, knew just how to make him hesitate, pulling on every emotion Ferb had.

For it put on the appearance of his brother.

"Please, Ferb…" it begged, with that same, pitiful little face that had never, over the course of twelve years, failed to melt Ferb's heart and make him give into anything.

But now, it filled him with nothing but hatred. "How DARE you?" Ferb shoved the gun against the AI's chest, enough to hurt a human. Phineas squeaked, as though he himself had been the one hit. Ferb was confused, and the AI started to laugh.

"If I get destroyed, your brother dies. My system is connected to his body, directly. So anything that happens to me, happens to him."

Ferb froze. "N…no…" His hands shook so badly that he almost dropped the gun. Until he heard a voice from behind him.

"Ferb! Just do it!" Phineas cried. "Once it gets destroyed in the past, it won't matter anyway!"

Ferb let out a long sigh. "I… I can't do it…"

The AI laughed. "I thought so."

Ferb tossed the gun to Perry, and looked away. "Do it."

Perry nodded, and fired a round into the AI. Its disguise flickered, and went away to reveal a metal droid like the small ones from the future. It smoked from the places where the bullet hit it, and fell to the ground with a large thud. Ferb hissed from the pain of the tentacle ripping halfway out of him, leaving all but the tip. He pulled the rest out, wincing, and fell.

Perry tried to go and help him, but almost as soon as he moved, Phineas's breathing became heavier… labored. Sweat was beading on his forehead. Blood dripped from his chin, onto his clothes. And the AI certainly hadn't been lying.

Damnit.

Perry was stuck.

"I've got him," said Vanessa. "Go see what you can do."

Perry nodded.

Ferb's condition was critical. He was rapidly losing blood, unconscious, and only minutes away from death. Perry knew that Phineas needed him, so…

He decided to give Ferb those pills.

They were tablets invented by the agency that would reverse most bodily damage. They were created to allow agents to keep going on missions, even if they were injured. And they were for EMERGENCIES ONLY. Perry had been afraid to use them on Phineas, fearing that their power would do more harm than good.

However, they didn't have enough power to completely heal Ferb. Still, they would keep him alive at least long enough to be there for his brother.

But he would have to be awake to take them. Perry shook Ferb, snapping in front of his face a few times. And eventually he woke up.

Ferb groaned as Perry shoved the pills in his face. "What're those?"

It was very obvious that Perry wasn't going to let him go without them any longer, and so he let him shove them down his throat.

Almost instantly, his condition improved at least a little. He was still on the verge of death, but at least he had a little longer.

Ferb snapped into attention, and crawled over to his brother. "Phineas…"

Phineas smiled weakly. "Hey… You okay?"

"Are you?"

His smile faded. "I… I don't… think so…"

Ferb stroked the side of his brother's face and sighed. He looked into those sapphire eyes, rapidly losing their spark, shaking his head in defeat. "I don't think so either."

Phineas sighed, smiling apologetically. "But… That's okay. Once the past gets fixed-ow…!"

"You're being very strong."

"I wasn't run through with a metal… thingy."

Ferb laughed to himself. Phineas was much, much smaller than him. Not just shorter, but physically tiny. Yet he showed more strength than many adults would be able to in this situation.

Suddenly, Ferb felt extremely dizzy from the blood loss. But he couldn't die. Not yet. Not first. He decided to lie down on his side next to Phineas, wrapping his arms around the little redhead. Phineas turned over on his side, snuggling into his brother's chest.

"…I don't… know how much… longer I c-can…"

Ferb sighed. "It's alright. Go ahead and let go. I'll be right behind you."

And so the brothers simply faded away in each other's arms, right there on the linoleum floor, as though no one or nothing else in the world mattered.

But it would all be alright when the world reset.

…Or would it?

No note, no Sebastian and/or Stan. That was too damn sad.