Phineas' POV - Morning

Today was beaming to be an amazing day. No tutors were here to teach me, as Mr. Doofenshmirtz had to attend a meeting with the royal advisors and the rest were busy teaching my other cousins in the main city! Which means… NO LEARNING! No notes, no history lessons, no family trees that involve actual trees, no ANYTHING! I think today is a perfect day to go outside and do more things with snow, like combine summer and winter! You know, that sounds impossible when I told everyone in the mansion about my idea, but I think it can be achieved one day.

Wearing my usual attire of an orange dress shirt with a coat and long pants, I ran out of my room as fast I could after looking outside. As I slide down the staircase, I was greeted by one of the butlers, Buford. He wore a simple outfit with tan pants and a white dress shirt unbuttoned at the top, also buff and tall. Boy, he's one of my absolute favorite ones to be with! His family comes from a long line of generations that serves our family. But his facial expression he has on tells me something is up…

"Good morning, Phineas." He greeted with a funny French accent. One day, I hope he could teach me some nice French words so I can turn a girl's heels for me… "I hope you are enjoying your morning so far."

"I am! Um, if you'll excuse me, though, I'd like to go outside…"

"I'm sorry, Phin. But the royal advisors would like you to stay indoors for today. Maybe another time?" He explained, with an uneasy voice.

What! How can anyone stay inside when outside holds so many endeavors? You know, Buford is never like this…

"Oh… Okay. I guess I'll just… Help out in the kitchen for lunch! I'm sure the staff would appreciate that." I reassured Buford. I know he feels bad for not letting me outside today, and I didn't want him worrying about me.

"Thank you, Phineas. And I do apologize that you can't enjoy your day outside. I'll inform Mr. Doofenshmirtz that you will be occupied for the day. Ciao!" He waves goodbye and runs up the staircase towards the study.

Man, I'm still a bit annoyed that I can't go outside the mansion… I wonder what's so bad about going outside today.

Ferb's POV - The Village - Noon

This village isn't so bad. The farm is outrageous, but everyone out here seems to get along. Probably because I'm not waving my UK flag at the moment. I'm walking around, listening to the conversations from the local townsfolk to smelling the fresh fish being displayed for sale. One of the nicer mistresses sent me out to run some errands and collect ingredients for their dinner tonight. I'm to get a wide variety of groceries, which was better than being yelled at fat, old, ugly, fogey-

"ATTENTION FELLOW CITIZENS!"

I raise an eyebrow from hearing an earshot of the announcement. I just walked into a crowd forming around the village square. It looks like an old lad holding a piece of paper is standing on a table, with the surrounding townsfolk watching him.

"The royal Romanov family is being held in containment, for treason against the people of Russia! We have suffered many losses and have received ridicule for being weak from the previous war. We shall not-"

I blocked out the rest of the man from my head. To me, that sounded awful. Holding a family against their will doesn't sound pleasant to me, and very inhumane. You know, you could just let them go to another country or something…

"BUT! We must find more of the family! It is our duty to bring the Romanovs… TO JUSTICE." The crowd surrounding him cheers as he finishes his news.

One word. Ow. You know, it would have been more appropriate to hold such a meeting indoors or something.

Five hours later

Finally… I am officially finished finding everything on this list. I slump on the grass patch, next to the nice pond we have on the farm. The nice mistress is lucky I did this, considering her sisters are evil crossovers of witches and demons from below. If she wasn't so nice, I would spat on each of the items I purchased for them. You know, walking down the village was kind of nice, especially when an old man isn't yelling at you about the royal family at the hour. And you know what else? This probably won't be such a bad life here in Russia after all…

Phineas' POV - Late noon

Finished helping the staff in the kitchen… Check. Set the table… Check. What else…?

"Phineas! The meeting is over, and we can now chow down!"

Mr. Doof walks into the dining room, hunchback from the long meeting with the advisors. Jeez, it must have been an important one for it to take five hours!

"Over here, Mr. D!" I wave him over by the kitchen door. Man, was I ready to start this dinner! I had a LOT of questions to ask him.

He walks over to me to give my bright red hair a ruffle and motions me to the table. We sat down next to each other and he claps his hands for the staff to begin and bring out the food. Stuff like Borscht, Golubtsy, and Kvass. The usual lunch for the Romanov Mansion.

After a couple of quiet moments, I began to feel a little curious.

"So… How come I wasn't allowed to go outside today?" I asked.

"Well... I- Oh, the royal advisors… Advised it." He answered.

"And do you know why?"

"Um-"

"Oh! And what did you talk about with the advisors?"

"Er.."

"And another question! What-"

"Alright! That's enough questions for one day." Doof exasperated as he takes a gulp from his glass of water. "We will talk about it when everything calms down…"

Everything? Is something happening….?

"You know, if your father was still alive, your family wouldn't be in the mess Tsar Nicholas has made. He didn't mean it, but everyone is quite dishonored of the preceding events. Oh, uh. Don't tell your mother..."

Huh… Dad. He was supposed to be next in line until he contracted a disease. Apparently, my whole family has it except for me and my mom. And you know my cousin, Alexei? He's the youngest but the only boy in their family and eventually he won't survive. That would mean I could-

"Oh, Phineas… I'm sorry I mentioned your father. I know he meant the world to you." Doof said as he noticed my sad expression. He knows how bad the "royal disease" has affected him. I was looking down at my soup after thinking about all that.

"It's okay. I just… Wish it was better for him. He meant a lot to me…" I started looking up at Mr. Doofenshmirtz. "But you know, I always have you as a dad." I smiled as I thought of the tutor.

"Aw... Kid, I always thought you of my own when I first started teaching you. You have always shown such compassion, more intelligence than any of the other kids from the Romanovs. Come here!"

He extended his arms from an embrace from me. His hugs are just like dad's…