Terrence wished he could convince Perry that he would lead him safely back home. Perry was impossible to console, which was understandable. Some of the things that happened around them even spooked Terrence a little, and he didn't have the same associations Perry did with them.

They had walked by many windows with some faces Terrence recognized. They were other agents with glowing red eyes, glaring with hate at them as they passed.

Another room held a ghostly version of Perry who appeared to be looking for something. He kept sweeping across different angles of the room and peering closely at the floor. He grew smaller and smaller as he searched.

They made their way to a room that appeared to be a graveyard. A few skeletons were sitting in the dirt.

Perry suddenly shook his head. "No. I can't go on. I can't. Don't make me."

"Perry, it's not real."

"I can't. Dark. It's too dark. Too… hard. I don't want to… I don't want to go… I can't take it."

Terrence nodded slowly. "All right. I'll find some light."

"Don't go."

"I won't. I'll be right here." Terrence concentrated hard. He felt his energy split.

"Two Terrences." Perry commented softly.

"Yes. I will stay with you and find light." Terrence moved away. He was aware of being next to Perry, gazing at the path ahead. He was also aware of climbing over the skeletons in search of some kind of light source.

The smaller skeletons resembled Phineas and Ferb. A taller one, Doofenshmirtz.

Terrence suddenly realized that these were meant to be the skeletons of the boys and Doofenshmirtz. That was why Perry didn't want to go through the room.

He found a small candle and a match sitting under a pile of bones.

His skeleton.

Terrence frowned. He couldn't quite find the energy to reach the candle. He turned around and went back to Perry and himself.

"Move to the side a little." He said. "I can't go too far from my other half. If we stand here, I can reach the candle."

Perry was hiding his face. He allowed Terrence to walk him a few steps to the left.

Terrence made his journey again. This time he was able to reach the candle. He brought it back and put himself back together.

"Okay, I'm all here. You ready?"

Perry didn't answer.

Terrence lit the candle. It flickered slightly, and then filled the room with light.

"You're okay, Per. Come on. Focus on the light, not the bones."

Terrence guided him to the exit of the room. The small candle burned down just as they left.

"R-roomy in here." Perry said. "In my head… right?"

"Yes." Terrence said. "And we need to go to the right. We'll get out, Per. I promise you. You'll be fine."

Perry once again refused to go through the next room, which appeared to be full of machinery, and Terrence had to find a small lightswitch that didn't give light for very much time. They ran into the next room.

This one was dark save for a small spotlight. A Perry with his back to them was sitting in front of a mirror that was framed with eyes. The reflection in the mirror kept shifting back and forth between Agent P and a mindless platypus. The eyes on the frame did not move.

Then, as though he were suddenly aware of their presence, the Perry spun around in his chair to face them.

He had no face.

Perry started to cry.

"It's all right." Terrence said again. His words seemed to bounce off of Perry. "We're almost there. I can sense it. We're almost out…"

But Terrence sensed something else. Whatever was in the last room was bound to be something terrible. And anything worse than what they had already seen… Terrence didn't want to think about.

The ghostly Perry who had been searching for something appeared in the room. He floated over to the door and gazed at it.

He gave a loud shriek and vanished.

"It's all right, Perry." Terrence said. "I'm right here. I won't let anything bad happen to you. We're almost out."

The last room was dimly lit. A single screen stood in the middle of it.

Terrence saw nothing on the screen.

Perry didn't appear to, either. He wiped his eyes and tried to control his breathing.

After a moment, Perry narrowed his eyes, as though he were hearing something Terrence couldn't. He started to growl.

He was focused on the screen.

"There's nothing there, Perry." Terrence said.

But he had the feeling that there was something there. Something he couldn't see.

Perry's eyes grew wide. He shook his head furiously.

"What's wrong, Perry?" Terrence asked.

Perry fell to the ground, sobbing. Terrence tried to pull him up. Perry didn't seem to know he was there anymore.

"Please, NO." He yowled. "NO. DON'T MAKE ME CHOOSE. I CAN'T. I CAN'T. PLEASE… NO!"

"It's all in your head, Per."

"DON'T MAKE ME! I CAN'T TAKE IT…"

Desperately, Terrence looked around for a light source.

He saw nothing. No switch, no match, nothing. He couldn't even tell how the room itself was lit.

"Terrence, come back."

It was Daly's voice. Terrence looked around.

"You can't help him here. We have to find another way to get them out. This has nothing to do with their minds now. This is the alien trying to break them. We can't mess with this kind of thing."

"I promised him I wouldn't leave."

"He doesn't know you're there. We have to help him another way. Come back."

"I'm here for you." Terrence told Perry. He hoped he could be heard over the wailing.

He pulled himself back to the streets of Danville.

...

"So I was leading my dude," Daly said, pointing at Doofenshmirtz. "Who for some reason has this pathological fear of lawn gnomes, pink dresses and pretzels, and we get to the end. I can't see anything scary, but for some reason he falls down and doesn't listen to me. He just keeps screaming. Anyone else have this problem?"

All the ghosts nodded.

Bucky clanked his bones sadly.

"Exactly. We can't hear or see anything because it has to do with impending death, which is something we ghosts can't sense. We can't tell when someone is about to die. Only when they ARE dead and, obviously, when they're alive. They are being forced by the aliens to make an impossible choice. This has nothing at all to do with their own mind. The alien is using their mind to torture them, to break them, so that they will be easier to conquer… but if they don't break, she'll certainly kill them. This is what she meant when she said they'd 'succumb or die'. At least we managed to get them through their own fears. Now we think of a new plan."

"I got nothing." Mr. Brownie said.

"Anyone seen the fox?" Daly asked.

Everyone looked at each other.

"Frederich Highton Land? Anyone seen him?"

"WHEE!" The fennec fox ghost burst forth in a flash of light and floated down to them. He began to skip around Daly.

"Hello, High Land." Daly said. "You missed the whole thing. Now, we're trying to think about how to help-"

"My Lowe is smart!" Frederich sang, hopping in circles. "My son shall defeat the aliens!"

"Your son, most likely, is cowering in the last room of his mind." Daly said. "Now, we have to think of a way to…"

"No, he isn't." Frederich pointed.

The fennec fox was slowly lowering from the circle of unconscious beings. When he touched the ground, he opened his eyes.

"How did you get out of that?" Daly demanded.

"I understand my fears." Lowe said. "And I know how to bring myself out of unconsciousness."

"He is a psycho-iatrist!" Sang Frederich. "I led him and then he got out himself!"

"You were actually in my head?" Lowe asked, with some interest. "I thought you were just part of the other fears."

He weakly padded over to a broken pole and picked it up.

Gretalyn the alien had her one eye closed, concentrating hard as she interfered with the minds of the animals and humans.

With surprising strength and speed in his weak state, Lowe slammed the pole against the alien, taking off a tentacle, which disintegrated into the street.

"Very interesting." Gretalyn boomed, her eye still closed. "You believe that you will be able to beat me."

She lashed out with a tentacle and slammed Lowe up against a wall. The pole fell to the ground.

Frederich growled and tried to bite her. His ghostly teeth made no damage.

"The earthlings are weakening." Gretalyn said. "There is nothing more you can do to help them- OW!"

She whirled around.

Lowe had managed to break free and had whacked her with the pole again. A second tentacle disintegrated.

"Lowe, Lowe, Lowe, Lowe!" Frederich sang.

"Set down that horrible earth metal!" Gretalyn hissed.

"Set down the earthlings." Lowe responded.

"Never!"

Lowe tossed the pole. It sliced off another tentacle.

"I will destroy you!" Gretalyn yelled.

"It's truly a pity." Lowe took a deep breath. "You came down here to be recognized, and everyone still hates you."

Gretalyn growled.

"No one cares about you." Lowe's voice wobbled slightly. "And no one ever will. You're still the outcast. You always have been. You will be mocked forever."

Gretalyn yelled. She began to melt.

"I'm sorry." Lowe said sadly. "But that was the only way to defeat you."

"I HATE EVERYONE!" Gretalyn shrieked.

She vanished into nothingness. Lowe appeared to regain his strength.

"They're feeling aliens." He said, shaking his head. "They're extremely sensitive. Their weakness is what they chose to fight with… I had to hit her where it hurt in order to destroy her."

"Genius! Genius! My Lowe is a genius!" Frederich sang happily.

The beings began to lower to the ground.

Bucky clanked happily and ran over to Phineas, who was rubbing his eyes. Ferb was shaking slightly.

Perry was lying on the ground, covering his face. Terrence ran over to him.

"You okay?"

Perry uncovered his face. "You were really there?" He asked.

"Yes. I was always there, guiding you."

"Thank you… for doing that… sorry… I didn't get to tell you." Perry wiped sweat from his brow. "It was… awful in there…"

"Perry, that last room. What was there?"

"Gretalyn's voice." Perry said quietly. "I had to choose… between Phineas and Ferb. Who would live. If I didn't pick… she would kill them both slowly and painfully… I… never chose… I just appeared here… I'm so glad I'm out of that nightmare… I couldn't… choose…"

"You're back. Everyone's safe. Danville is safe."

"You told me it would happen. I wanted to believe you… that I would be fine…"

"You were scared. It's okay."

"The boys. Where are they?"

"Right over there." Terrence pointed. "They're fine, too."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, Per."