Hey everyone! This is PFT3000 reporting back for duty. I've been working on Strangers in the Dark and it hasn't been going so well. I've hit a major roadblock. It's a small little, tiny, bity problem I found with the plot. So that story may not be updated for a week or two, but on the upside I've got enough done of the sequel to The Hidden Pain of Life to start it! So please… Enjoy!

(A/N: This first part happens right before Phineas died in the Epilogue.)

Prologue, Third Person P.O.V.

"Where is he?" a frantic Ferb rushed into living, through the back door.

Candace pointed upstairs. You could tell she had been crying, as she held back a sob. Not wasting a second, Ferb raced upstairs. The home nurse that had been assigned to Phineas stopped him.

"Let me through please! I have to see him." Ferb cried.

She shook her head. "Unless you're related, I can't let you through. Sorry. It's the rules."

After a few minute of arguing, Ferb stopped. He slid down the wall and into a ball. The nurse, seeing Ferb on the verge of tears, sighed and let him go see his stepbrother.

"Just don't tell anyone." she whispered as he ran through.

He burst into the room and gasped. It was too late. Phineas… Was gone. He was dead. Letting out the tears he had tried so hard to hold back, Ferb laid his head on his brother's chest. Linda came in a not after, and gasped.

"Ferb… No…" she whispered.

Ferb flung himself into her arms. "I only wanted to say thank you… For, for everything!"

His stepmom wrapped her arms around him and rocked him back and forth. She knew it was hard for the boy. He had just lost his best friend. And no matter how much she hated Lawrence, Ferb was someone she would always have a place for. No matter where he was, and no matter who's child he really was.

"It's going to be okay."

Ferb shook his head. "No it's not. There's nothing I can do to fix this." he sniffled, and continued. "And if there's nothing I can do to fix it… Then there's nothing I can do to help him."

Then, snuggling closer to his stepmother, he cried.

The next few days went so bad. There was enough hustle and bustle to keep his mind off things. It was the day of the funeral that got him. Everyone had spoken and now only Ferb was left. He stood there, staring at the crowd and then said four simple words.

"Thanks for everything Phineas."

A month later, Ferb was rummaging in a drawer for his sketchbook. He came across a picture of him and his dead brother.

The shine in Phineas' eyes and his smile were enough to make anyone's day. But the words he spoke that day… They could've, would've, made a grown man cry.

*Flashback*

"Carpe Diem Ferb! Don't forget it! Please!" Phineas yelled off the porch. "Don't forget me!"

"I won't. That I promise." Ferb whispered, waving from the car window as it drove away.

*End Flashback*

He hadn't told Phineas bye that day. He should've though. He just didn't think he'd never see Phineas alive again. And that was his problem. He didn't think. For someone who had so much time to listen and learn things about people, he sure hadn't done it that great.

Flopping onto his bed, he clutched the picture, as if his life depended on it. Then a few minutes later he sat up, put it on his dresser, and smiled.

Still smiling, he looked at it, and said, "Phineas, I know what we're going to do today."

With that, Ferb tried his hardest to move on. To recover his old life, but not restore it. So he matured and grew much taller. But he didn't, couldn't grow up. For if he did than he would lose all connection with the brother he had loved so much. And this small, tiny part of him was what kept him alive… And Phineas.

What did you think? Too much? Too little? Well I hoped you enjoyed, and please review! It would really make my day! Thanks for reading, and hope to see ya'll soon!

PFT3000