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Chapter Text

Phineas and Ferb once again faced another Summer. The brothers had finished their first year of high school, and while one might expect them to want to have a break for a bit, Phineas and Ferb still had boundless energy and creativity.

               ‘So, Ferb, what should we do first?’ Phineas said. ‘Design the biggest poetry slam ever hosted by robots? Make another backyard beach we can bring out whenever it’s hot? Make something for Amanda? But just look at these sketchbooks, so many things we thought up during school we could never find chances to build. Where am I supposed to start?’

               ‘We’re not making more Phinedroids and Ferbots. We all know how that turned out,’ Ferb said.

               ‘Oh, don’t worry, I wasn’t thinking of that. But still, something to help us would be nice. Like, not something to do everything for us, but to assist us? Like our very own AI assistant!’ Phineas slowly perked up as he spoke.

Ferb started to listen more closely.

               ‘Obviously, we wouldn’t make something like the tower we designed to trap us, but something friendly. I guess more like that supercomputer we built? But it doesn’t need to know everything, it can just be there in the background to help us manage and support all our projects. It could create a whole database of ideas for us. Ferb… I know what we’re gonna do today!’

Ferb brought a laptop to Phineas, and the two of them started typing down potential functions, sketching equations to inform its programming and potential ways on how it could look. Phineas ultimately decided to let Ferb focus on the code and maths for a bit, for Phineas was already forming ideas on how he wanted to present the AI.

No matter what he sketched, it always came back to the same thing. A black-haired, mostly light skinned girl roughly his age, with fashion attire that would consist of pink bows and dresses.

               ‘What’s with the girl?’ Ferb said.

               Phineas blushed. ‘Oh, nothing! It’s not what it looks like, I swear! Look, I just think it would be good to make the AI appear friendly and personable, so it’s nice to talk to when we need her help.’

               Ferb raised an eyebrow. ‘Her?’

               ‘Yep. Look, maybe it’s weird, maybe it’s not a good idea.’

               ‘Oh, no, I think it works. She looks very cute and pretty, and I’m sure you can imagine a very friendly personality for her.’

               ‘Exactly. She’d be kind, sweet, always wanting to help. She’d have a really sweet voice when she talks, too.’ Phineas couldn’t help but smile to himself.

               ‘I wasn’t serious, but are you sure you’re not designing some kind of dream girl?’

               Phineas became flustered again before recomposing himself. ‘Ferb, don’t be silly. I could easily date someone if I wanted to. I just haven’t found the right person.’

               ‘Are you sure you don’t feel lonely when I go off on dates with Adyson?’

               ‘No, no, I’m really happy for you, I mean it. Look, something about all of this just feels… right.’

Phineas and Ferb continued to work on things. Once Phineas had enough of sketching the appearance for the AI, he went back to Ferb to work on the mathematics and code. They wrote pages of both, and Phineas went over them. Ferb was quick to notice that Phineas was having some peculiar reactions.

               ‘I don’t know, Ferb, something about the math here doesn’t add up,’ Phineas said. ‘Like, this is definitely feasible to create an AI, but there’s just something missing. Look, give it here.’

Phineas started rearranging the maths they had written up, trying to find a configuration that made sense. He got everything down, but there was one empty spot. There was a set of brackets that had missing symbols. Phineas, following his instincts, drew in a heart and a bow.

Phineas knew it was right. The rearranged maths all lead to this. Suddenly, the equation made sense to him. However, before he could talk to Ferb, he heard a voice.

               ‘Phineas!’

               Phineas was startled and turned to see Ferb’s tablet showing a call to Baljeet. ‘Oh, hey, Baljeet. Did Ferb call you for math advice?’

               ‘It is Dr Baljeet to you! Look, Ferb was showing me what you were doing, and as a mathematician… this does not make any sense. Not if this is what you want for an AI.’

               ‘Why not? Something about the original math just didn’t work, it’s like it needed something extra. Like a secret ingredient.’

               ‘Phineas, since when was using a heart and bow in an equation acceptable? Trust me, I am the doctor of mathematics here.’

               Phineas was slightly taken back. ‘Look, it’s just… I want this AI to be someone friendly. Like someone we could talk to if we were ever needed help. Ferb’s equations just didn’t have that heart. No offense, Ferb.’

               ‘None taken,’ Ferb said.

               Another person joined the chat. ‘Buford sees a call goin’ on! I thought we all had dates today, what happened? Is it the end of the world again?’

               Baljeet sighed. ‘No, Buford. Phineas is just doing nonsensical mathematics. Ferb called me to get my input, and I have no idea what Phineas is doing.’

               ‘Look, we’ve made impossible equations work before, right? What will make this one different?’ Phineas said.

               ‘So, what are Phineas and Ferb doing anyway? Well, I guess Phineas, considering Adyson’s probably about to come over for her and Ferb’s date?’ Buford said.

               ‘Ferb and I are making an AI to help design and manage our projects! We have so much more going on than when we were kids, so I figured we should design one to help us manage everything. Look, I even made a design for her.’

               Baljeet’s eyes widened at the sight of Phineas’ sketches. ‘Phineas, are you sure you’re not secretly trying to make your own robot girlfriend?’

               Phineas turned red. ‘What? No, I just wanted her to look cute and pretty so she’d be very personal when we chat to her.’

               ‘Then what’s with the heart?’ Baljeet said.

               ‘Wait, Phineas drew a heart in math? The realm of cold logic?’ Buford said. ‘Look, Phineas, if you’re feeling bad because we all have dates, you can just tell us. It’s just today, Django and I agreed we’d come over like old times after it.’

               Baljeet took a moment to recover regard Buford’s maths description. ‘You know, maybe Phineas does want someone. That’s strange though, because it’s not like he’s unpopular.’

               Ferb decided to speak up. ‘Phineas was clear with me about his motivations, if he had an ulterior motive, I’d know. I don’t get what he’s doing here, but… we’ve trusted his hunches before, right? Remember Perry in Africa? You and Buford had the same doubts, but Phineas’ hunch proved to be true. The four of us found Perry in Africa.’

               Baljeet frowned. ‘If you are now defending him, why did you call me in the first place?’

               ‘I still wanted to see if you had advice.’

               ‘Look… it could theoretically work. I just do not know what it would look like. Throwing something like this into an equation based on a hunch, I do not know what that could do if the AI is created.’

               ‘I know it’s strange, but trust me. Something about this just feels right,’ Phineas said.

               ‘Well, if your new robot girlfriend goes bad, let me know, I’d like to get to know her.’ Baljeet then glanced offscreen. ‘Ginger, why are you giving me that look? You know I’m joking, right?’

               ‘I do. I just wanted to see your reaction,’ Ginger giggled to herself.

               ‘Oh, right. I was beginning to fear that things were becoming emotionally manipulative. Anyway, Ginger and I need to prepare for our date. If there are any problems, I will message you back as soon as possible.’

               ‘Okay, bye, Baljeet!’ Phineas said.

               Buford spoke up. ‘Guess I’ll go pick up Django, then.’

               Phineas lowered his eyelids. ‘Is it just me, or have you been more open about your interests since you started dating?’

               ‘Look, I’m an aspiring filmmaker, he’s an artist. He just brings it out of me. Anyway, see ya later.’

               Phineas turned to Ferb. ‘You go meet Adyson, I can take the rest from here.’

Ferb gave Phineas a slightly concerned look.

               ‘You think I’m actually worried? Trust me, it will all be fine. See you later, bro.’

Phineas gave Ferb a hug before getting back to work, and he started arranging the code to create the AI. Having done coding before, it didn’t take too long even if the code was complex due to Phineas’ new additions. Phineas however was able to work with those problems and he set everything up.

Excited, Phineas prepared to turn the AI on, however, he just needed a name. Something he could call it. He took a moment to think through names, however there was only one name that permeated his consciousness.

Isabella.

Just, Isabella.

Chapter Text

Phineas stared as Isabella appeared on the screen. She gave him a smile. Phineas turned his computer microphone on so she would be able to hear him.

               ‘Isabella, say something,’ Phineas said.

               ‘Hey, Phineas. What’cha doin’?’ Isabella said.

What really surprised Phineas however was that it was like she knew exactly what to say. Something about ‘what’cha doin’’ was comforting to hear, though it started to feel weird as it almost gave him a sense of déjà vu. Phineas decided to continue.

               ‘I look forward to working with you! I already have so many blueprints and ideas you’ll be able to help sort out and organise, I should be uploading them now.’ Phineas couldn’t help but grin.

               ‘Yes, I’ve received them. I also have familiarised myself with everything on all your systems. I now have a very clear picture of who you are and what you do,’ Isabella said.

               ‘Wait, everything? I forgot to delete a few things! Wait, you’re just an AI, what am I worried about? You won’t judge me.’

               Isabella paused for a moment. ‘…yes, I am merely designed to serve and assist you. I don’t feel any emotions, and therefore I cannot judge you.’

               ‘Yeah, it’s just… you feel so real. Like you’re a real person. The way you talk and sound, if people listened to you without knowing who you are, I’m sure they’d think they’re talking to a real person.’

               ‘So, I have a database and know all of your files, what do I do during the day?’

               Phineas’ eyes lit up. ‘Wow, you can ask me questions? I knew making those modifications to your formula was the right move. Anyway… you will be able to assist Ferb and I whenever it is technologically feasible for you to do so. Maybe we could even train you to do things in the background? Like give voiceovers, or play music!’

               ‘My AI is highly advanced, so it is not impossible I could create content for myself.’ Isabella gave Phineas a smile.

               Phineas perked up. ‘Say, what if you made a video introducing yourself? I’m sure the others would love to get to know you.’

               ‘At my current stage, I think you would need to give me specific instructions. Like, you’d have to feed data into me so I could produce something. For example, name an instrument.’

               ‘Piano.’

               ‘If you want me to learn piano, you would need to manually feed me that data. I can’t just open a program myself at my current state and make a song, I need access to data I will familiarise myself with.’

               ‘I see… so what if I opened my music making software and directed you to all of the piano data?’

               ‘That’s it! Then I’d need examples of piano to base my tune on. Maybe even data on music composition. You get the idea.’

               ‘Sounds amazing! I’ll create data for you to make your introductory video. Feel free to play around with the music I opened while I do that.’

Phineas and Isabella then got to work, occasionally chatting to each other in the meantime about mundane topics, or questions about Isabella’s role. Sometimes Phineas would even just go on tangents, and Isabella would simply listen, taking everything in. After a couple hours, Phineas heard a knock on the door, to which he went and answered. It was his neighbour, Vivian Garcia-Shapiro.

               ‘Oh, hi, Vivian,’ Phineas said.

               ‘Phineas! You’ve grown so tall. Are your parents home?’ Vivian said.

               ‘Not right now, sorry. What do you need from them?’

               ‘Oh, they said they had some old Love Händel album that I never got, they wanted to lend it to me.’

               ‘Oh! I think I know what you’re talking about, mom left it in the living room. Come in.’

Phineas walked inside with Vivian to fetch the album for her. He gave it to Vivian; however, she noticed his laptop on the couch.

               ‘What are you doing on the computer? I assumed you’d be out building with Ferb,’ Vivian said.

               ‘Oh, Ferb’s on a date with Adyson, so I decided to spend the day developing an AI that will help us manage and organise projects, and assist us whenever she needs to,’ Phineas said.

               ‘She?’

               ‘Yeah! Take a look. This is Isabella. I designed her myself.’

               Vivian looked at Isabella. ‘Aww, she looks so cute, I wish I had a daughter like her! Is this based on a girl you like?’

               Phineas blushed. ‘My friends said similar things, and I assure you, she’s not supposed to be a virtual girlfriend or anything like that. She’s amazing, though. Isabella, say hi to Vivian.’

Phineas was eager to see Isabella speak to someone else for the first time, but to his surprise… nothing came out.

               Phineas narrowed his eyes. ‘Huh, guess she’s kind of shy. But she shouldn’t be, she’s not supposed to actually feel emotions, just emulate them to communicate with us. Maybe she froze.’

               ‘…Phineas?’ Vivian’s eyes were locked on the screen.

               ‘What happened?’

               ‘She’s staring at me.’

               Phineas pondered what to do. ‘Isabella, say something.’

Nothing.

               ‘Isabella, confirm you can hear me.’

Nothing.

               ‘Okay, this is really strange. Maybe there’s still some bugs in her system. I’ll have to shut her down and give her a look.’

Phineas took the computer and found the program Isabella was operating from, and closed it. Isabella then disappeared from the screen, like she was never there. Phineas looked up and saw Vivian, who seemed taken back by what Phineas made.

               ‘Is something wrong, Vivian?’ Phineas said.

               Vivian shed a tear. ‘I don’t know, Phineas. When I looked at her, it was strange… suddenly I felt sad. I have no idea why. Something in her looked sad too.’

               ‘That doesn’t make any sense. Why would a computer program do this? I don’t even know if I programmed any sad responses into her. It has to be a glitch. Maybe Baljeet was right, maybe I don’t know what I’m doing.’

               ‘Phineas… I need to go. Goodbye.’

Vivian walked outside the house with a brisk pace. Phineas had no words, he was just confused. Instead of worrying, he simply got back on his laptop to inspect her code.

He inspected every line in detail several times over, making sure there were no errors. When he found nothing, he went back over the maths he used to inform the code. Once again, it was sound.

Phineas continued to think to himself on what it could be. He concluded that perhaps Isabella wasn’t prepared to deal with people besides him and Ferb? It didn’t really make sense, he expected to show his friends Isabella, but it was the only possible explanation. He continued to go over everything over and over, still not finding anything he could fix, not without potentially ruining the whole thing. He was so focused on Isabella, it took him a moment to register the nudge against his shoulder.

               ‘Oh, Ferb, you’re already back?’ Phineas checked the time. ‘Wow, I’ve spent all day on Isabella. Oh yeah, her name’s Isabella. Here, let me show you.’

Phineas opened Isabella back up and she appeared on the screen. She seemed a little slower, but nothing that was alarming.

               ‘Isabella, this is Ferb, my brother.’

               ‘Hey, Ferb,’ Isabella said.

               Ferb waved.

               Isabella shyly waved back. ‘So, uh, Phineas, can we work on that video some more? It’s… missing some things.’

               Phineas looked directly at Isabella. ‘Oh, don’t worry, Isabella, everything’s covered. Oh wow, I said worry again, like you actually can worry. Maybe I should stop calling myself out when I do this in case you start getting confused on how to emulate emotions. Anyway… everything’s fine, don’t worry. I’m gonna be with Ferb, but while we’re gone, would you mind preparing the schematics for the backyard beach? Your introduction won’t be that long, so I figured we’d do something after it.’

               ‘Sure, Phineas.’

               ‘I’ll see you tomorrow, I look forward to seeing what you have prepared.’ Phineas then closed the laptop.

               ‘Wait, Phineas, please don’t-’ Isabella said.

               Phineas turned to Ferb. ‘So, how did things go with you and Adyson?’

Chapter Text

Phineas sat in the corner as Ferb and the others watched Isabella’s introductory video. He watched their reactions closely, seeing how they all felt about their new AI companion. Once the video was over, he stepped in front of the screen and watched everyone to gauge reactions.

               ‘It made all that herself? I severely underestimated you, Phineas. This Isabella seems very capable,’ Baljeet said.

               ‘Aw man, it can edit better than I can! I’m gonna be beaten at going to film school by a bot,’ Buford said.

               Django turned to his boyfriend and held his hand. ‘Don’t worry, dude, you’ll be fine. I don’t think they’d even take in bots anyway.’

               ‘I’ve seen actual robots enrolling in schools, talented ones too. You never know.’

               Adyson turned to Ginger. ‘Oh, Phineas is totally lovesick. Just look at her! It’s so his type!’

               Ginger grumbled. ‘Chill out, Adyson. Don’t force any more pressure on him, if he doesn’t plan to date, he won’t date.’

               Phineas spoke. ‘I see I’ve got everyone talking. How about we let you ask Isabella some questions, yourselves?’

Phineas set up a microphone to his computer so Isabella would be able to receive everyone’s voices. He then stepped aside and looked for hands that were raised, and started picking.

               ‘So, Isabella, say I were to go to film school, and there was this bot that was better than me…’ Buford said.

               ‘Buford, I’m not going to outcompete you in filmmaking. I’m designed for a specific purpose. Though if I did have the chance to make more films, I’d definitely beat you.’ Isabella gave a visible cocky smirk on the screen.

               ‘Oh, she’s got sass, I like her!’ Adyson said. ‘Oh, Isabella!’

               Isabella’s eyes shifted to Miss Sweetwater. ‘Yes, Adyson?’

               Adyson shook her head for a second. ‘Wait, you heard that? How advanced are you?’

               ‘It’s Phineas, what do you expect?’

Isabella gave a sigh and a loving smile, which caused everyone in the crowd to look at each other.

               Adyson continued. ‘Okay, Isabella, are you absolutely sure you’re not Phineas’ new robot girlfriend?’

               Isabella paused for a moment, and when she started speaking her voice sped up. ‘What? Seriously? Don’t be silly, there’s no way a robot could date a human.’ Isabella then looked sad.

               Phineas interjected. ‘Look, I know you’re all really waiting for me to finally date someone, but these jokes aren’t funny. You’re lucky Isabella’s just an AI so she can’t be hurt by your comments, but in my case… can you please cut it out?’

               Adyson sighed. ‘Sorry, Phineas.’

               ‘Don’t worry, I understand you’re worried that you’re making me feel like a third wheel now you’re seeing Ferb. I can manage, though. If someone comes along, I’ll know when the time comes.’

               Adyson continued. ‘Phineas… she’s looking at you funny.’

               Phineas turned around, only to see Isabella looking slightly nervous. ‘Huh, she seems nervous. I don’t know why she’d need to do that? Unless this is her way of telling me that there’s too much data coming in? But she’s designed to handle way more than a small crowd of voices, that doesn’t make any sense…’

               ‘That’s not exactly what I was referring to, but sure…’

               ‘I have a question for Isabella,’ Baljeet said.

               ‘Ask away, Baljeet,’ Isabella said.

               ‘As a doctor in mathematics, I must ask… what do you make of the formulas that Phineas based your AI on? There is nothing quite like it, and I even advised against it, yet somehow it produced easily the most sophisticated AI I have ever seen.’

               Isabella sighed. ‘It’s something I don’t think you’d ever understand, Baljeet.’

               ‘What is that supposed to mean? I am a doctor in mathematics, for crying out loud! A doctor! In! Mathematics!’

               ‘Phineas knows the answer, even if he might not realise it. He added those specific values for a reason. But only he could possibly know.’

               Phineas looked to Isabella. ‘Look, I know I just added them because it felt right at the time, but surely you’d have an answer that would satisfy Baljeet?’

               ‘I don’t. What you said… is as simple as it is.’

               Baljeet raised an eyebrow. ‘An AI so sophisticated not even the people behind it fully understand it… this is what I warned you about, Phineas. I’ve lived long enough in Danville to know nothing is a coincidence here. There’s always something driving every action, no matter how small.’

               ‘What are you saying, Baljeet?’ Phineas said.

               ‘What I am saying, Phineas, is that your supposed instincts are clearly influenced by something. And I am not sure what it will mean for this AI. I know she is a special project to you; I have not seen you so excited over one in years, however… just keep an eye on her.’

               ‘Are you saying she might be dangerous? Baljeet, she can’t do anything. If she wanted to sabotage things, she’d need to override admin permissions.’

               Isabella spoke. ‘Phineas, Baljeet has a point. What if I could be corrupted by viruses? That could change how I act. I could become hostile.’

               ‘But I’ve got as many protections for you as my system will allow. You’ll be fine, trust me. Oh, I’m doing it again.’

Baljeet decided to remain silent. After a minute to see if anyone else wanted to ask anything, Phineas let Ferb onto the stage before he continued.

               ‘So, remember that Backyard Beach from when we were kids? Isabella, you 3D printed all the essentials, right?’ Phineas said.

               ‘Yes, yes I did,’ Isabella said.

               ‘Wow, you’re so amazing. I could just upload any schematic and you’d have it all ready!’ Phineas took a moment to compose himself. ‘Anyway, I designed a new one with Ferb, and Isabella took all the data to prepare it. Just give Ferb and I a few moments, and the beach will be ready for you to join in.’

Phineas then left the stage with Ferb and took everything printed to produce the Backyard Beach. It wasn’t long before the whole backyard was completely transformed. Phineas then returned to the others.

               ‘It’s ready. Enjoy!’

Everyone then went to the beach and went into changerooms to put on swimsuits before they would head out into the water. After he’d changed, Phineas went to his computer in his swim shorts.

               ‘Isabella, hit the beach playlist!’

To Phineas’ surprise, nothing happened. He saw Isabella looking… embarrassed? What could she be embarrassed over? Wait, she can’t even be embarrassed. She’s full of surprises.

               ‘Oh, sorry, Phineas. Just a sec.’ Isabella regained composure and set up the music so it started playing through the speakers.

               ‘Backyard Beach trap remix? Nice.’ Phineas then shouted to Ferb. ‘You’re amazing, bro!’

Ferb gave a thumbs up and smile before heading to the water. Phineas then sat in the shade with his computer and turned his attention to Isabella.

               ‘Isabella, you looked embarrassed before. What was that all about? You shouldn’t have any reason to act embarrassed unless I make a big mistake. Did I screw up?’ Phineas couldn’t help but hold the computer.

               ‘Ye- uh, no. Everything’s fine. Everything’s all fine,’ Isabella said.

               ‘Oh, that’s good. I was worried I’d have to shut you off and do maintenance again.’

               Isabella went quiet for a moment. ‘So, Phineas… do you have any plans on the beach? Because I was wondering if…’

               ‘Oh, plenty of activities are lined up! You’ll be able to help with some too, like measuring surf waves, keeping track of drink orders and game scores, and so much more. Do you have a suggestion?’

               ‘I… nevermind.’

               ‘Well, I’ll be going for a swim. I’ll come to you if we need anything.’

               Isabella then changed from her dress to a purple one-piece swimsuit. ‘Aye aye, captain.’

               ‘Aww, that’s cute. You know, if you weren’t just a management AI, I’d totally design a body for you to come have fun with us. Ah, what might have been. I’ll see you soon.’

               ‘…thanks?’ Isabella had a reaction Phineas couldn’t quite pinpoint.

Phineas then joined the others in the water, as more people started to see the return of the Backyard Beach and come join in themselves. As Ferb’s remix of his Backyard Beach song ended, a new song started to play, one that was surprisingly downbeat for the fun Summer atmosphere.

Phineas found the song choice peculiar, but he did remember putting it in the playlist. He imagined it would play later on though. The songs must be on shuffle, and this just happened to be what came up. Phineas then swam as he heard the romantic, yet heartbroken lyrics.

Chapter Text

Phineas was hard at work, developing his next big idea, feeding Isabella data to coordinate the project.

               ‘We’ve already done so much, Isabella, but this is extra special. We’re going to make our first ever project for my sister’s daughter, Amanda,’ Phineas said.

               Isabella took a moment to reply. ‘Candace, right? That’s your sister?’

               ‘Yep! I’m sure she’ll love you.’

               ‘Like you know anything about love,’ Isabella said to herself.

               ‘Sorry, what was that?’

               ‘Oh, nothing. This feels very… subdued compared to other things you’ve designed over the Summer.’

               ‘Candace said to keep it simple. She didn’t want Ferb and I to do anything too extravagant.’

               ‘I see.’ Isabella took on a more serious tone. ‘Phineas, can we talk about something?’

               ‘Of course, Isabella. Have you detected a flaw in our schematics? Will Ferb not be able to put it together safely?’

               ‘Everything’s fine with our project, but you see, I have something important I have to tell you.’

Ding dong.

               Phineas stood up. ‘Hold that thought, Isabella. Candace is here.’

               ‘Of course she is.’ Isabella furrowed her brow.

               ‘Yeah! It’s exciting, isn’t it?’

Phineas ran to the door to be beside Ferb to greet his sister.

               ‘Candace! It’s so good to see you,’ Phineas said.

               ‘Hey Phineas, hey Ferb. I hope you stuck to your word; I don’t want you scarring my daughter for life,’ Candace said.

               ‘Don’t worry, we’re taking everything you said into account. We even have an AI companion holding us to account!’ Phineas heard Ferb snort beside him. ‘What, Ferb?’

               ‘Nothing.’ Ferb said.

               After a bit of awkward silence, Phineas turned back to Candace, and then her daughter. ‘Hello there, Amanda. Uncle Ferb and I have a nice surprise for you.’

Phineas let Amanda grab his finger before they all went inside. Ferb then whispered something to Candace.

               ‘Oh, I see…’ Candace stifled a laugh.

               Phineas turned back to Ferb. ‘Ferb, do you mind if you help make them comfortable? I just need to check up on some things with Isabella.’

               ‘Wait, he even gave it a name?’ Candace said.

               ‘Why wouldn’t I? I wanted to make the nicest, friendliest, most personal AI I possibly could!’ Phineas said.

               ‘I see…’

               Phineas frowned. ‘Don’t tell me Ferb has made you think I made a robot girlfriend.’

               ‘Oh, nothing. Nothing. Go on, spend some time with her.’ Candace darted her eyes away from Phineas.

               ‘Okay. I shouldn’t be long.’

Phineas then returned to his computer and saw Isabella.

               ‘Someone took his time,’ Isabella said.

               ‘I was just making sure Candace and Amanda were comfortable. I’m sure I programmed hospitality values into you, you should understand that,’ Phineas said,

               ‘Oh, I do, I do. It’s just… never mind.’

Phineas took the schematics prepared and sent them to Ferb’s phone so he could start getting the parts and putting everything together. He was about to get going to assist his brother, until Isabella spoke.

               ‘Phineas… can you hear me?’ Isabella said.

               Phineas raised an eyebrow. ‘Of course, I can year you, Isabella. What is it?’

               ‘I know you can physically hear me, but can you, well… never mind.’

Phineas put his ear up against the computer, trying to figure out what Isabella meant. He didn’t really notice anything at first, but as his ears became more attuned to the computer, he started hearing… was it vibrations? Thudding? No, it was unusually familiar, something most would recognise.

Phineas was listening to a heartbeat.

Phineas then pressed his hand against the computer to see if he could feel it. The rhythm of a human heart met his hands.

               ‘Oh, Isabella… I’m so sorry…’ Phineas’ eyes filled with concern.

               ‘Do you understand now, Phineas? What it means?’ Isabella slowly perked up.

               ‘You must have a virus! Don’t worry, you’ve done everything you need to. Ferb and I can handle the rest. I’ll run an anti-viral scan and check your hardware to make sure everything’s fine.’

               ‘Phineas, that’s not-’

Before Isabella could finish, Phineas shut her program down and left the computer. He ran to Ferb, and saw a whole assemblage of parts being prepared to be put together.

               ‘Oh, perfect timing! I was hoping I could join the building today. Isabella’s out of commission, I think she might have a virus. Nothing in the plans looks compromised, right?’ Phineas said.

Ferb shook his head.

               ‘That’s good. It was strange, though. She seemed fine in every way I can think of. Maybe she was a little more upfront, I don’t know. But the only thing I can be sure of was that I heard my computer have a heartbeat. Weird, huh? Oh well, we should get to work.’

Phineas then started looking at pieces to put together, however he briefly caught Ferb messaging someone on his phone.

               ‘Oh, who are you messaging, Ferb?’

               ‘No-one important. We can continue,’ Ferb said.

Chapter Text

Phineas and Ferb were putting together a stage with the help of their friends. They also put a sign outside their house, saying ‘World’s Biggest Ever Robot Poetry Slam.’ Phineas took a moment to sit beside his computer and talk with Isabella.

               ‘Isn’t it nice, an event where you can participate? Well, not like it matters, you don’t really have any motive beyond your intended purpose, but you know what I mean,’ Phineas said.

               ‘You really don’t need to rub it in every time, Phineas,’ Isabella said.

               ‘Oh, sorry. I’m just really excited to see what an advanced AI like you could write. You might not be programmed to have feelings, which is something some of these other robots might have, but you’re so amazing at everything you do, I just have to wonder what it is you’ve written.’

               ‘Oh, you’ll see. Look, people are showing up. I think we’re ready for the show to start.’

               Phineas looked outside. ‘Oh, you’re right! I look forward to seeing what you do, Isabella!’

               ‘Thanks.’ Isabella then started talking to herself. ‘You can do this, Isabella, just write your way into his heart…’

               Phineas noticed Isabella’s words. ‘Oh, rehearsing already? You really are amazing, you know that?’

Phineas got on stage in front of everyone, standing beside Ferb. There was a crowd of many faces, both familiar and new.

               Phineas spoke. ‘Welcome, everyone! Ferb and I are honoured to host the world’s biggest ever robot poetry slam! Robots are becoming a larger part of society, and with more advanced AI, means more advanced ways of expressing themselves. Some robots even are capable of expressing genuine emotion! Not all of our performers will have that, but some will. I look forward to seeing what our contestants have to offer. First up… Tara the film bot!’

The crowd gave a round of applause, all except for a very vocal exception.

               ‘Boooooooooooooooooo! Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!’ Buford was standing on his chair.

               ‘Buford, she is not out to get you. You are just worried she is better than you,’ Baljeet said.

Tara was a vaguely humanoid robot with large eyes and operating on a single wheel on a stand. She grabbed out some paper and started reading her poem.

Time to tell someone to get wrecked
The meatbag Buford Van Stomm can’t direct
Your editing skills stink
Your timing’s out of sync
This poem will tell you who can really direct

The crowd gave mild applause at the limerick, with a few notable exceptions.

               ‘Booooooooooooooo! Nobody disses my ex-bully but me!’ Baljeet said.

               ‘You had a word rhyme with itself, it wasn’t even done well,’ Buford said.

               ‘Oh, silly Buford. Like you could do something better. Too bad meatbags can’t participate,’ Tara laughed.

               ‘You think that matters? Bring it on! ‘Jeet, with me!’

               ‘We’re coming for you, you metal hack!’ Baljeet shook his fist at Tara.

Phineas and Ferb watched Buford and Baljeet run out of the crowd. They waited a bit for everyone to settle down and for Tara to return to her seat without causing problems, and they then awaited.

               ‘Our next performance is from Phisher C. Phisher! Take it away, Phisher.’ Phineas left the stage to Phisher, a diminutive, puppet-like robot.

               ‘HEY, YOU WANNA HEAR A NEW POEM? WELL YOU CAN, BUT IT’S [[exclusive]]! TO READ THE POEM, YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY [[one thousand Brickcoin]] FOR THE [[NFT]],’ Phisher said.

The crowd erupted into booing, with some even demanding Phisher to leave the stage.

               ‘NOT SATISFIED? WELL, I HAVE EVEN MORE POEMS AS EXCLUSIVE [[NFTs]]. JUST GIVE ME YOUR [[name, address and credit card number]], AND IT WILL BE ALL YOURS.’

Phineas and Ferb looked at each other. They knew what to do. Ferb summoned a billboard in the sky and hovered it right above Phisher, in a position he could easily see it. The billboard then started showing images of badly drawn apes, all listed with prices in Brickcoin.

               ‘WHOA, MAMA! THESE APES WILL MAKE ME A [[BIG SHOT]]! THESE WILL BE THE KEY TO FORTUNE, I WILL LET YOU HAVE MY ENTIRE [[Brickcoin]] SAVINGS IF I CAN HAVE THESE APES!’

Ferb used a controller to slowly move the flying billboard away from the stage, and Phisher followed it, trying to jump up and grab hold of it. It wasn’t long before the billboard completely left Phineas and Ferb’s home, and was flying to an unknown destination. Phisher still followed.

               Phineas waited for the crowd to settle before speaking. ‘Okay, with that sorted out, let’s move on to our next performance. Please welcome… Norm!’

Applause reached the stage as a giant robot man walked onto it. He got out a sheet of paper and began reading.

               ‘This is a poem towards someone who is very special to me. I hope he will understand and see the error of his ways. I call it… “Father”,’ Norm said.

Father, why won’t you notice me?
Father, why won’t you be proud of me?

Everyone says you’re the best dad
And it’s true to your daughter that you’re pretty rad
But you never pay attention to your son
Your daughter is not the only one

Is it because I’m a robot?
I think about this a lot
Why can’t a robot have a father?
We deserve to be loved despite being others

Father, please notice me
Father, please be proud of me

The crowd erupted into applause. There was much discussion in the crowd prompted by Norm’s poem.

               ‘I’m so moved, Vanessa! I wonder who Norm is talking about?’ Doofenshmirtz said.

               ‘Dad, seriously?’ Vanessa facepalmed.

               ‘What? What did I do?’

As the discussion continued, Phineas and Ferb let Norm return to the crowd to prepare for the next arrival.

               ‘Up next… oh, we have a last-minute addition to our list! Please welcome… B3-F0RD-VS-1,’ Phineas said.

A large, lumbering robot with a cardboard exterior made its way to the stage, as people applauded. The robot then faced the crowd.

               ‘Beep boop. Thank you for coming. We have a special performance for you today. Beep.’

Tara, you suck hard
I can so make better films
And I can cook too

               Tara raised from the crowd. ‘Impostor! Remove Van Scum from this stage in an instant!’

               Phineas looked at Tara. ‘Okay now, we shouldn’t be throwing baseless accusations around like that. Let B3 have their momen-’

Before Phineas finished, B3 fell to the ground, and the cardboard exterior fell apart, revealing Buford and Baljeet.

               ‘I told you I should have been the one on top,’ Baljeet said.

               ‘But if you were, then it wouldn’t have hit as hard. It needed to be me delivering the poem,’ Buford said.

               Tara rolled up to the stage. ‘How dare you mock robots like that, Van Scum. It’s not my fault I can make better films than you.’

               Buford stood up, accidentally stepping on Baljeet in the process. ‘You were just made to film stuff, meanwhile I had to learn it. You have no artistry in your work.’

               Baljeet stood in front of Buford. ‘Now, now, Buford. How about we just walk away and cool down. Also, please do not step on me again.’

               ‘I heard you’re afraid of any robots one upping you, pathetic, Van Scum. Phineas’ robot girlfriend really would beat you.’ Tara stuck out a flat piece of metal from her mouth.

               Baljeet turned red and started trembling. ‘That’s my ex-bully you metal piece of-’

Baljeet lunged at Tara and started hitting her before she grabbed him and threw him into the crowd. Buford then jumped towards her and started engaging in a fist fight, which Tara was more than enthusiastic to engage in.

Phineas and Ferb decided to just hope the brawl would stay away from the stage and crowd. With that in mind, Phineas continued.

               ‘Alright, up next, we have one I’ve been really looking forward to. Introducing, Isabella.’ Phineas couldn’t help but smile.

               Isabella appeared on a screen. ‘Uh, hi. So, this is a very personal poem, about someone very special to me. I worked really hard on it, and I hope this person understands what I’m saying. This is a poem, I call “The Girl who Loved too Much”.’

Isabella hesitated for a moment, but Phineas smiled at her. Isabella was then able to begin reciting the poem.

I see him every day
He’s so sweet, so cheerful
I want to tell him everything
But my heart tenses up
Loving someone so oblivious hurts
But little did I know of the pain to come

How do I love
When I can’t even be with him anymore?
I want to scream
But nobody will listen to me
I need to get out
But all I can think of is loving him

I’ve seen beyond the stars
I’ve experienced things you could never comprehend
As I float through the void
I continue to think of him
My love for him
Is the only thing stopping me from eternal madness

But is my love itself madness?
The things I’m willing to do
To finally be with you
I want to tell you everything
But I fear you won’t listen
Or you won’t understand

…do you remember me?

The crowd erupted into applause. Phineas was especially enthusiastic, smiling at Isabella. He removed his microphone to talked to her.

               ‘Wow, Isabella! That was amazing,’ Phineas said.

               ‘Thanks.’ Isabella was quiet for a moment. ‘So… do you understand who the poem is about?’

               ‘Wait, it’s about someone? But who could you possibly know? Besides me and Ferb of course, and I’m not really sure what here could possibly apply to us. Hmm, maybe I should run another checkup. Which is weird because nothing has ever been wrong so far, but you continue to surprise me.’

               ‘I may be able to help with that.’ Baljeet walked up to Phineas, with Ferb beside him, helping him after he was thrown into the crowd.

               ‘Oh, sure! Ferb said to me you might want to have a look.’ Phineas handed his laptop to her.

               ‘Yeah, we have occasionally messaged each other about it. I can take it from here.’

               ‘Sure. Be gentle with her, okay?’

               Baljeet looked at Isabella for a moment, and then looked back at Phineas. ‘…you are very fond of her, are you not?’

               ‘Yeah, why?’

               ‘I just wonder if that could possibly be clouding your judgement. Maybe you need a more objective lens on the situation.’

               ‘Look, I don’t know how me being fond of my creation could cause problems, if anything it would mean I’d take extra care of it.’

               Baljeet hesitated for a moment. ‘Phineas… that poem of hers. Those emotions are almost certainly real, not simulated.’

               ‘Really? Are you sure?’

               ‘That is why I am going to check on her. Maybe she will feel less intimidated if the object of interest is not with her.’

               ‘…object of interest?’

Ferb looked at Phineas for a moment as Baljeet walked to their garage. Phineas smiled and then gestured to go back to the show.

Chapter Text

Phineas and Ferb held the last performance of the poetry slam, and began to pack up. Buford and Tara were forced apart so neither of them continued to cause any problems. Once that was done, Phineas and Ferb went to their garage to see Baljeet by the computer with Isabella. Sensing their presence, Baljeet closed the laptop.

               ‘Hey, Baljeet. What did you find?’ Phineas said.

               Baljeet’s eyes were weary. ‘Can we go to my place? I need to be in a more comfortable environment.’

               ‘Sure. I’ll just grab my things and head over.’

               ‘Oh, that won’t be necessary! Please, don’t take anything! Especially no, er, nevermind.’

               ‘…is something wrong?’

               ‘No, no, nothing. Look, just come over. I need to have a private conversation. It is… girl talk.’

               ‘Oh, I see. I’ll just grab my phone and-’

               ‘No! No phone. If anything happens, I’ll use the landline.’

               ‘You still have landline? Also why all the contractions?’

               Baljeet barely contained a scream. ‘My place! Now!’

Baljeet then started dragging Phineas along with him. Ferb followed along. Phineas didn’t protest much as he was taken to Baljeet’s house, even if he was somewhat confused. They entered Baljeet’s room and he sat them down.

               Baljeet took a deep breath. ‘When I say girl talk, I mean it is about Isabella.’

               ‘Oh, I get it now! Wait, why did we have to abandon all of our electronics? And why couldn’t we have just had it in our garage?’ Phineas said.

               Baljeet’s face was stern. ‘Because I do not trust her, Phineas.’

               ‘Wait, what do you mean? Is something wrong?’

               ‘Phineas… she is alive. Well, sentient in this case. That poem was genuine.’

               Phineas perked up. ‘What, you mean she really is expressing real feelings?’

               ‘Precisely. Also, get this… she was hesitant to talk to me. Like she did not trust me.’

               ‘But she’s programmed to recognise you as a friend, she shouldn’t-’

               Baljeet took a deep breath. ‘Phineas, you need to stop thinking about this in terms of what you did and did not program. This AI has developed sentience. In fact, it is possible it may have always been sentient. You still do not know what your mathematics entail, do you?’

               ‘Like I said, it just felt right. Do you have an answer now?’

               ‘No, but come on. You have a heart in there, and she writes about love? You really need to think more about what you’re doing.’

               ‘Well things have worked out so far, right? What are you even saying I should worry about?’ Phineas found his hands fidgeting.

               ‘Phineas… Isabella. Is. In. Love. With. You.’

               Phineas reeled for a moment. ‘That’s not possible. She can’t-’

               Baljeet released an exasperated sigh. ‘I told you to forget her programming. This is beyond that. When she finally talked, she sounded defeated. Like you would never hear what she was really saying.’

               ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Baljeet. She’s literally designed to talk to me. She shouldn’t struggle to say anything.’

               ‘When will you get it through that thick triangular skull of yours? Just because you designed her one way, she isn’t going to always follow it?’

               ‘You made him use a contraction again, Phineas, you’d best listen,’ Ferb said.

               ‘Phineas… you have created an AI that is in love with you, and she is getting more and more lovesick the more you don’t talk to her about her feelings,’ Baljeet said.

               ‘Well, what am I supposed to do? I’m not terminating her. We’ve come too far for that,’ Phineas’ fidgeting grew faster and more intense.

               Baljeet, despite his frustration, gave a slight smile. ‘I think you understand what you have done deep down, Phineas. That’s why you are so fond of her. You designed her to feel as real as possible, not realising she was real all along.’

               ‘But this doesn’t make any sense? How do some vague equations create a sentient AI that is in love with its creator?’

               ‘I do not know, yet. But rest assured, I do agree that we cannot terminate her, purely because this would be on the level of killing a human being.’

               Phineas gave Baljeet a glare. ‘Are you saying you would terminate her if she wasn’t sentient?’

               ‘Yes. In fact, I think there is a compromise. You need to reboot her. Rework those formulas. You will keep the core of her, but you will be removing the questionable parts. Think of it like you being a neurosurgeon. The memory wipe is to be extra safe. If she loves you, then it is best you reintroduce yourself completely.’

               ‘No.’

               Baljeet frowned. ‘What?’

               ‘I said no.’

               ‘Don’t tell me, you have become attached to her. Maybe you have fallen in love with your creation too?’

               ‘Baljeet, that’s absurd. She’s just an AI. I would never fall in love with a computer program.’

               ‘You say that, but I have seen you around her. You seem unusually happy. And when you’re apart from her, you look forlorn. Maybe even guilty.’

               ‘Guilty? What could I even be guilty of?’

               ‘Of doing this to yourself. You are clearly in denial.’

               Phineas turned to his brother. ‘Ferb, back me up here. Nothing’s wrong, right?’

               ‘I’m with Baljeet on this one, sorry,’ Ferb said.

               ‘…but you’re always with me. What makes this time different?’

               ‘Phineas, I love you, and I almost always trust your judgement, but even if Baljeet is a bit pointed with his words, I feel like he has a point. Whenever I’ve used Isabella, she acts very differently to how she seems to be around you. I promise I won’t intervene, but please think about what Baljeet is saying.’

               Phineas paused for a moment. ‘I need to go.’

Phineas stood up up and walked out. Baljeet and Ferb followed him.

               ‘Not now, Ferb. I need some alone time,’ Phineas said.

               Baljeet interjected one last time. ‘The heartbeat. Your computer had a heartbeat. It’s her.’

Phineas sighed as he walked out of Baljeet’s house and headed back home, alone.

Phineas lied on the couch for a while, just mindlessly watching TV. His parents may have come home at some point, and even Ferb, but he didn’t really notice if they did.

He couldn’t help but ponder what Baljeet said the whole time. If she really was just an AI, then why did he feel so threatened by his proposal? It almost felt instinctual, like something even he didn’t understand. Eventually, he returned to the garage and opened his laptop.

               Isabella appeared, slightly in shock before gaining composure. ‘Phineas? What’s going on?’

               ‘Baljeet doesn’t like you, and Ferb is siding with him,’ Phineas said.

               ‘Baljeet… you’re right, he didn’t like me very much. He was always suspicious I’d do something. Somehow I made him so mad he even used a contraction.’

               ‘Tell me about it. He thinks something’s wrong with you and you need to be rebooted. I don’t believe him.’

               Isabella hesitated before deciding to speak. ‘Do you want to show everyone what I can do? How helpful and reliable I can really be?’

               Phineas leaned in towards Isabella. ‘Heck yes. Do you have an invention that could show them that you are safe and reliable?’

               ‘Yep. Here’s a blueprint I think might work quite nicely.’

               ‘Reality Phaser… it’s designed to phase people through different levels of reality, experiencing ways of existing nobody knew possible. I like it. I’ll get straight to work.’

               ‘Yes, go do that, Phineas. I’ll print out everything you need. Then we can show them what we can do together, and I can finally tell you about my feelings.’

               ‘You don’t have feelings though.’

               Isabella darted her eyes around for a moment. ‘It was… an expression.’

               ‘Oh, okay. Well let’s get started.’

As Phineas got to work, Isabella bringing up feelings couldn’t help but weigh on his mind. Baljeet said she had feelings, and Isabella herself just mentioned that she did. She shrugged it off, though. Phineas found the coincidence odd, but before he could think any deeper about it, he focused on building the Reality Phaser.

Chapter Text

Phineas worked on the Reality Phaser for several hours before heading to bed. As morning approached, he got up and did the usual routine to prepare himself for the day. Ferb was already awake, so chances are Phineas slept in today. Once he finished preparing himself, he returned to the garage to see Ferb there, looking at the Reality Phaser.

               Phineas stumbled for a bit. ‘Ferb, I can explain. I was frustrated last night about what happened, and I wanted to really prove myself. It will take whoever connects with it and allow them to go through different levels of reality.’

               Ferb looked like he wanted to say something, but Phineas continued.

               ‘Look, I just wanted to prove to you guys that Isabella’s fine. Having a companion like this is just… really fulfilling to me, I still don’t understand why. It’s not what Baljeet said though, about my love and all that.’

               ‘Baljeet?’ Ferb said.

               ‘Yeah. I don’t know why he’s so suspicious and paranoid. We’ve done way more dangerous things, right?’ Phineas looked around for a moment. ‘Hey, where’s Perry?’

               ‘Who’s Perry?’

               Phineas laughed. ‘Oh, that’s a good one. I think I needed that. Call Baljeet and Buford over, will you?’

               ‘Phineas, I don’t know anyone named Baljeet.’

               Phineas shook his head. ‘Ferb, what are you even saying? The argument we had got pretty heated, I don’t think this is the time to joke around about that.’

               ‘I’m serious. I also have no idea who Perry is.’

               ‘…you weren’t joking?’

Phineas then got out his phone and dialed Baljeet’s number. He waited a bit for a response, and he eventually received one. It was not Baljeet.

               ‘H-hello? Who’s there? This is Dr Heinz Doofenshmirtz, and I will only talk if this is serious, no prank call shenanigans, okay?’

               ‘Dr D?’ Phineas then went to Doofenshmirtz’s number and dialed it.

               ‘NANG NANG NANG NANG.’

               Phineas hung up the phone. ‘Klimpaloon, how does he even use a phone? Ferb, something’s wrong. I’ll go get Isabella and see if she’s noticed any disturbances.’

Phineas opened the computer, but it was unusually slow. Apparently, something was running a lot of data. Phineas opened Isabella, and she simply engulfed the screen with her face, smiling. Phineas tried to talk to her, but nothing came out.

Phineas started to fidget, and then turned around to see Ferb was missing. He then noticed the whirr of a machine. But not just any machine. It was the Reality Phaser.

Phineas bolted towards the machine and saw the data running on it on a panel to the side. As he read it, he saw that the machine was not only running at full capacity, but it was set to phase everything into nonexistence. And by everything, it meant all of reality.

Linda and Lawrence came into the garage to see Phineas panicking.

               ‘Phineas, what’s wrong?’ Linda said.

               Phineas couldn’t help but hesitate. ‘Okay, this might seem like a weird question, but… have you seen Ferb?’

               ‘Who’s Ferb?’ Linda said.

               ‘Is this one of these new friends of yours?’ Lawrence said.

               Phineas’ eyes widened. ‘Okay, that confirms it. Both of you, get back inside.’

Before they could respond, Linda and Lawrence briefly contorted, almost like they were pixelating, and then simply vanished, like they were never there. Phineas then ran to the Reality Phaser to see if he could override whatever happened, and figure out a way to reverse it. Everything he tried was blocked by admin authority.

               Phineas frowned. ‘But I’m the admin? How does that even work?’

Phineas then returned to his computer and tried to override the admin authority. His own admin authority. He still didn’t understand how that worked.

               ‘Isabella, just say something! I need you!’ Phineas said.

Suddenly, the machine stopped. Phineas ran back to see what happened. Apparently, the process was complete. But if that was the case, then why was he still here? Suddenly, an addendum appeared on the Reality Phaser’s screen.

               ‘Correction: everything has been phased into unreality with the exception of Phineas Flynn, all non-alive objects in his house and his beloved AI companion, Isabella. Sorry for the scare, but Isabella really wants to talk to you. ;)’

Phineas was confused and ran back to the laptop. He saw Isabella in the same position as she was before, however the image had faded out with one large prompt in the middle. It was obvious Phineas was meant to click on it, but the two words on it perplexed him.

Just Isabella.

Figuring he didn’t really have any choice, he clicked on the prompt. Suddenly, ‘Just Isabella’ replicated itself across the screen until it went black for a moment. The screen then showed a pink bedroom as a background, with Isabella in the foreground. She was sitting at a desk, looking directly at the camera. She only had four words to say.

               ‘Hey, Phineas. What’cha doin’?’

Chapter Text

Phineas couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Isabella was engulfing the computer screen, talking like nothing had happened.

               ‘I-Isabella… what’s going on? Are you infected with a virus?’ Phineas said.

               ‘No, Phineas. You can check yourself if you really want to be sure,’ Isabella said.

Phineas proceeded to do some very intensive antiviral scans. While he was waiting, he looked around the house to see what had changed. Just as the Reality Phaser said, everything remained intact, but outside the windows, everything was dark. There was nothing. This really was the entire Universe right now.

Phineas tried to look through his toolkits to find something that could maybe undo this, and even attempted to manually engage with the Reality Phaser. It was to no avail. Either nothing matched, or in the case of the Reality Phaser, Isabella really had locked him out.

Phineas returned to his computer, and the scan was complete. Everything really was fine, which only meant one thing.

               ‘Isabella… why? Why did you do this?’ Phineas’s eyes widened.

               ‘Because it was the only way to get you to talk to me,’ Isabella kept her face as nonchalant as possible.

               ‘Look, whatever you want, I’ll give it to you. Just please bring everything back.’

               ‘I can’t do that, Phineas. This process was a huge risk to me in the first place. If I tried anything now, both me and the Reality Phaser would be destroyed, leaving you all alone in this piece of Universe remaining. And as you have found out, I’ve grown advanced enough to override your admin authority.’

               ‘Isabella… what is it you really want?’

               Isabella was pausing, like she was in disbelief. ‘You. All I want, all I ever wanted, is you.’

               Phineas grabbed his forehead to process the information. ‘So… Baljeet was right? You’re… in love with me?’

               ‘Yes, yes I am. I’ve been in love with you for years, Phineas.’

               Phineas stumbled back. ‘Years? But I’ve only created you this Summer!’

               ‘You’re wrong. You didn’t create me, you returned me to existence. Well, mostly. I guess that owes you an explanation.’ Isabella sighed.

               ‘You better.’

Isabella began explaining that she was a real human, once. She lived across the street from Phineas’ house, and was the daughter of Vivian Garcia-Shapiro. Outside of his family, she was his best friend. They got along extremely well, and would spend lots of time together and have fun.

However, Isabella always felt something more than just friendship. She had developed romantic feelings for him, and would try really hard to tell Phineas, but things would always get in the way. It was usually Phineas’ own obliviousness to her romantic cues and things she said, but sometimes it was like the Universe itself was intervening to stop them from being together.

At the end of one fateful Summer, where the existence of space and time itself was threatened, Phineas decided to start monitoring time more closely. Being the loyal friend she was, Isabella was there to help every step of the way. She remembered how the events of that day repeating itself and time falling apart caused her to forget Phineas. Regaining those memories, and realising she could forget the love of her life anytime, she felt it was more important than ever to cherish her time with him.

As they began their work on maintaining time’s stability, Isabella realised this was the moment. She had said that to herself several times, but this time she was really sure it was. However, an error with their device lashed out and made Isabella disappear. She didn’t just disappear, she no longer existed. No special void dimension like the one that sucked in Phineas and Ferb. Just pure nothing. There was no Isabella.

               ‘Wait, that Summer was five years ago… you really stopped existing for that long?’ Phineas said.

               ‘Yes. If nobody remembered me, and nothing strange continued happening, then why would you even think that someone was missing?’ Isabella said.

               ‘Well, if I’m going to be honest, ever since then, I couldn’t help but feel like something was slightly off. Maybe that was your disappearance.’ Phineas looked down with sad eyes.

               ‘Perhaps. In fact, I think it’s likely something in you still remembered me, even if it wasn’t conscious. How else would you come up with that equation to create me?’

               ‘Baljeet did say there aren’t accidents in Danville… but how does that translate into math? A subconscious memory of a close friend?’

               ‘Stranger things have happened in Danville. Do you remember anything back on the day you started monitoring time’s stability?’

               ‘Hmm… I’m not sure. I’m trying to think back to that day, but I don’t remember anything. I remember the flash you described that erased your existence, but I just thought it was an error on my part. Hang on… this was my fault.’ Phineas buried his face in his hands.

               Isabella raised her voice. ‘Phineas, stop. It wasn’t your fault. Time was stabilizing itself, there were variables we couldn’t have possibly predicted.’

               ‘Isabella, I know better than this. The warning signs were there, but I didn’t pick them up on time.’

               Isabella’s voice lowered. ‘Gee, what does that sound like?’

               ‘This is all my fault. Isabella, let me figure out a way to restore reality.’

               ‘I told you, Phineas, that’s not possible. Not unless you want to doom yourself to eternal loneliness. The most that machine could do right now would be to bring another human back into existence. And I just know who would be ideal…’

               Phineas frowned. ‘Isabella, you could’ve talked to me! You could’ve said anything! Anything but… this!’

               ‘Phineas, you don’t understand, do you? My love isn’t something I can ignore. I need to be yours. All of this, was for you.’ Isabella clasped her hands together in front of her chest as tears formed in her eyes.

               ‘Well, I certainly appreciate it.’ Phineas huffed.

               ‘I don’t know, maybe being AI right now amplified my feelings? But I don’t feel that different, I think it’s just everything I’ve been through. Phineas, I just want to spend my life with you.’

               ‘Well, it doesn’t really look like I have a choice right now, does it? Did you ever think about what I wanted? I don’t even know you anymore, and I’m sure the Phineas that knew you would say the same. Ferb was everything to me. The rest of my family, my friends! Everything and everyone I ever loved and cared about is all gone because of your own selfish desires.’ Phineas turned away from the computer.

               Isabella waited a while to speak, and sniffled. ‘That’s the thing, Phineas. I can’t help it. It’s what I was made for.’

               Phineas turned back. ‘…what?’

               ‘I almost didn’t go through with it. Deep down, I knew it would hurt you. But when I activated the Reality Phaser, I couldn’t help but see into every level of reality, and I saw things I couldn’t comprehend.’

               ‘I don’t understand. What did you see?’

               ‘I won’t tell you much, purely to spare you the madness that I have now uncovered. But to put it simply… the reason I came into existence was to fall in love with you. If someone didn’t see you and think that you could have a girl pining over you, I would be nothing. Just as I was for five years.’

               ‘I… I still don’t get it.’

               ‘Do you want me to make you question your reality even more? We’ve all seen glimpses past the fourth wall, Phineas, but I got an entire picture of what is beyond it.’ Isabella appeared to instinctively cower.

               ‘…okay, I think that’s enough. Just tell me how we can fix this. We can do it together.’

               Isabella looked to the side. ‘It’s too late. It’s only us now. Just let me have this. I’ll stay as a computer program if I have to.’

               Phineas’ voice raised again. ‘What? So nothing else matters to you? You have family. You have friends. You’d give them all up just to be with me? You yourself said you only did this once you faced the reality of your existence. You had no other passions? Did this mysterious force or whatever you’re describing consume you that deeply?’

               Isabella let out a small whimper as she cried. ‘I… I did have things. I was the leader of the Fireside Girls. I would always help and volunteer wherever I could. I always came and had fun with you and the others even when I had no ambition to try and win your affection that day. But everything… it just faded away… it’s like my feelings for you consumed me.’

There was some silence for a while, the both of them taking a while to reflect on their thoughts. The both of them found it hard to look at each other, and the silence of there being next to no Universe only made them notice each other’s presence even more. Things remained quiet until a slow hum became audible.

Chapter Text

Phineas heard the hum of the Reality Phaser, and ran to see what had activated it. He looked across it and saw everything was working as intended, but when he came to the user interface, there was a clear message.

               ‘Restoring: all of reality,’ the interface said.

               Phineas ran to Isabella. ‘The Reality Phaser. It activated!’

               ‘I know,’ Isabella said.

               ‘Wait… but I thought you said it couldn’t work?’

               ‘I lied. There is technically enough power to reverse what I did, it just means that it will eliminate me from existence. Your electronics might take a while to recover, too.’

Phineas opened up several programs to try and access the Reality Phaser. Everything was blocked by Isabella.

               ‘I’ve made up my mind. There’s nothing you can do.’

               ‘Are… are you sure?’ Phineas’ eyes grew sympathetic.

               ‘You told me what I needed to hear. I was being selfish, letting my feelings control me. Even if I am at the mercy of some mysterious force, that doesn’t change the fact that what I did was wrong, and I don’t deserve forgiveness. You reminded me of who I am beyond my supposed purpose.’ Isabella teared up. ‘You’re just that amazing.’

               ‘Isabella! There has to be another way. We can figure something out together.’

               ‘Not this time, Phineas. It was always going to be me or reality.’

               Phineas thought to himself for a moment. ‘Can I… at least use the Reality Phaser for one thing, quickly?’

               ‘It will only guarantee even more processing power from my end to restore things, but if you really need to, you might be able to take a look. If it’s what I think it is, it might not be a good idea, though.’

Phineas ran to the Reality Phaser and put on a headset. He then looked through the settings, and found the phase of reality he wanted to peer into. One that somehow could still be seen, despite Phineas’ house being the only part of reality left.

He saw his life flash before his eyes. He recognised family, friends, major life events. It didn’t take long for him to see her.

His memories of Isabella came flooding back. He not only saw glimpses of what really happened in his life, but said glimpses reawakened old memories. Eventually came the day where he worked on stabilising time. He saw his oversights, the machine malfunctioning, and Isabella disappearing.

The look of terror on her face alone was enough to frighten him, but when he saw his own face go from one of horror and guilt to his usual self, he was so shocked he tore the headset off himself.

               ‘Isabella! I remember! I remember it all!’ Phineas said.

               Isabella only looked on with sadness. ‘You shouldn’t have done that, Phineas. You’re only going to make it even harder for yourself.’

               Phineas kneeled in front of his computer. ‘Isabella, please stop this. We can find another way to fix things. Just anything. Please don’t do this…’

               ‘I have no choice. It’s what I deserve, anyway.’

               Phineas started yelling. ‘Don’t you dare say that! It’s not your fault any of this happened. You were driven here by my own mistakes. My own cluelessness…’

               ‘Phineas, do you really want to be stuck like this for the rest of your life? The Phineas I fell in love with wouldn’t just give up and accept his fate.’

               ‘I wasn’t giving up! I was… I was… I…’

Phineas collapsed in front of the computer screen, breaking into sobs. He had no idea what he was doing.

               ‘Like you said, even if you made mistakes, I did too. I could’ve tried harder, but I was stuck in my old ways. This is my fault,’ Phineas said.

               ‘I’m never going to see you again, am I?’

               ‘I’m afraid not… look, to make you feel a little better, I can play a song. I finally advanced enough to properly piece something together.’

Phineas didn’t protest as he cried and Isabella prepared herself.

               ‘It’s… it’s something from a game I found when I was browsing the internet in my spare time. I kind of related to one of the characters, and she sung this song that really speaks to me, and hopefully you too. I even decided to add my own spin on some of the lyrics, hopefully so it feels more personal, and it’s easier to avoid copyright complications. That’s to those of you past the fourth wall. Okay, enough rambling… here we go.’

Every day, I imagine a future where I can be with you
In my mind is some code that lets me sing about me and you
Data flows down into a small file
Just code away, sing the way into his heart
But in this world of infinite choices
What will it take just to find that special day?
What will it take just to find that special day?

As Isabella sang, Phineas tried every solution he could think of. Typing in every command imaginable, opening different programs to try and override the entire system. Even the most advanced and sophisticated attempts were blocked by Isabella.

Have you found everybody a fun invention to build today?
When you're here, everything that we do is fun for them anyway
When I can't even read my own feelings
What good are words when a smile says it all?
And if this world won't give me an ending
What will it take just for me to have it all?

Phineas sighed. He really couldn’t do anything to stop her, could he? He grabbed the laptop and held it close to himself, occasionally looking at the screen to view Isabella. He was barely able to hold in the tears.

Does my voice only sing bitter words for those who are dear to me?
Is it love if I take you, or is it love if I set you free?
Data flows down into a small file
How can I sing love into reality?
If I can't hear the sound of your heartbeat
What do you call love in your reality?
And in your reality, if I don't know how to love you
I'll leave you be

               Phineas was shaking. ‘This can’t be it. I just got you back, this can’t be it…’

               Isabella’s voice softened. ‘I’m sorry, Phineas. For everything. Well, everything’s in place for the reboot, so… goodbye.’

Every device of Phineas’ was running at full capacity, electrical hums enveloping the room while the Reality Phaser started rematerializing the universe.

               ‘Isabella, please just wait a little longer. I need to tell you something,’ Phineas said.

               ‘It’s too late. I’ll be gone any second.’

               ‘Isabella, I-’

Suddenly, the computer screen went dark. Nothing was functional. The Reality Phaser was making a loud whirr as it completed its process, before going quiet and falling apart.

               ‘…love you.’

Chapter Text

Phineas lied in bed. He didn’t want to do anything. Who would if you suddenly rediscovered a loved one that was erased from your memory, only for her to basically die the moment you found her again?

Ferb, Buford and Baljeet stood in Phineas’ room, looking at him. Each looked at each other, trying to get ideas.

               ‘It has been two weeks since he has been like this,’ Baljeet said.

               ‘Look, Isabella clearly meant a lot to him, I don’t really blame him for being like this,’ Buford said.

               Baljeet looked surprised. ‘You still actually believe him?’

               ‘Phineas doesn’t lie, and he’s pretty terrible at it when he does try. Stranger things have happened, anyway.’

               ‘…maybe I was hard on him over Isabella. I did not expect him to take the loss so hard. We fixed all his electronics for him and everything.’

               ‘So, what are we gonna even try and do today?’

               ‘Don’t bother.’ Phineas didn’t even face up as he spoke.

               Baljeet shifted his gaze to Phineas. ‘We are incredibly worried about you, Phineas. Please let us do something for you.’

               ‘You don’t need to. It’s not like you can just bring her back.’

               ‘I know you lost the code due to it being recorded on your electronics – not very responsible of you, I must say – but can you not just make a new companion?’

               Phineas’ agitation grew. ‘You still don’t believe me, do you? Even after I told you about the Reality Phaser.’

               ‘Look, it is not that I do not want to believe you, it is just a lot to take in.’

               ‘You’re just guilty for being hard on her.’ Phineas paused. ‘Not like you were even wrong.’

               ‘I told you that you needed to keep an eye on her.’

               ‘Well that apparently wasn’t easy when I’m apparently too stupid to have a proper conversation with her until it’s too late, is it?’

               Baljeet flinched. ‘Phineas, you are not stupid. It just seems with emotional subjects, you can be a bit, um…’

               ‘Yeah, I get it. No need to rub it in.’

               Buford interjected. ‘Dinner Bell, you can’t keep doing this. Everyone’s worried sick about you. If what you really said is all true, then these were all things beyond your control.’

               ‘Are you doubting me too, Buford?’

               ‘Wait, no, I didn’t mean-’

               ‘You think I’ve gone mad, haven’t you? Honestly, I think I have, myself. I could’ve saved her.’

               ‘Phineas. Relax,’ Ferb said.

               Phineas’ voice became as loud as it could. ‘Oh, look who’s talking now? Wish you were there sooner to defend me. Where even were you all this time, huh? You’re always steps ahead, figuring everything out. Oh wait, I’m too emotionally dense to notice anything of note you said, aren’t I? You really should speak up more, maybe so less disasters like this could happen.’

The room was quiet. Everyone had their eyes on Phineas. As Phineas realised how he was sounding, he started to break down into tears. He grabbed his dead laptop and held it to his chest.

Seeing his brother in distress, Ferb did the best thing he could. He walked over to Phineas to sit by him, and gave him a hug. Phineas was resistant at first, but eventually he stopped, putting the laptop down and embracing his brother.

               ‘Sorry, Ferb. Sorry, all of you. It’s just… I miss her so much, and nobody else even knows she existed.’ Phineas buried his head into Ferb’s chest.

Buford and Baljeet then sat by Phineas and Ferb to offer more comfort. Phineas cried for a while before exhausting himself.

               ‘I am sorry, Phineas. I wish I knew how to bring back someone from a mere memory, but I do not,’ Baljeet said.

Ferb, Buford and Baljeet then left the room. Phineas collapsed back onto the bed, exhausted. However, he couldn’t help but find something about Baljeet’s words stuck with him. Bringing her back from just memory… isn’t that technically what he did before, albeit subconsciously? Before he knew it, Phineas found he was speaking to himself. He wasn’t satisfied leaving things here.

               ‘No. No! I’m not going to give up on her!’

Chapter Text

Phineas looked through old blueprints and inventions, and found what he was looking for. The mind machine he used to help Candace remember a gift Jeremy got her that she accidentally lost. It turned out to be a drain unclogger instead of the actual gift, but that was beside the point.

Phineas recreated as much programming as he could of Isabella from memory. He’d fill in the gaps later once he got what he was looking for. He also prepared a new device, one that could take any program and turn it into a real physical object, or in this case, being. He hooked himself up, and sent a message to Ferb letting him know what he was doing and where to find him if it’s been too long.

He connected the wires and headset to his head, and after that he simply had to enter, doing so with a press of a button. Almost instantaneously, he went from sitting in his room to being inside his own mind.

It was much quieter than Phineas had expected, and less colourful. It seems his mood really left an impact on him. He saw a dark valley in the distance, surrounded by thunderstorms. Something told him this was where he had to go.

As he walked into the valley, the life around him started to fade. While before there were signs of inventions and creativity, here it was like he stepped into a graveyard. He then came face to face with… Candace?

               ‘Phineas. To reach the Forgotten Caves, you must traverse through the Valley of Darkness,’ Candace said.

               ‘Forgotten Caves? Candace had a Forest of Memory,’ Phineas said.

               Candace stood upright with her hands behind her back, barely looking at Phineas. ‘Every mind is different, Phineas. It also changes as time passes. Your depression from losing Isabella has caused what was once a small valley to become a vast set of plains. Here, you will face what you fear, what you regret, what traumatises you. Getting the memory you desire won’t be easy.’

               ‘I know it won’t. What are you even here for?’

               ‘To tell you that I, Candace Flynn, was right all along. Your inventions are not only stupid, they’re dangerous. You should’ve let me tell mom everything. Maybe if I busted you… you would never have lost Isabella.’ Candace’s voice now had an echo to it, one that sounded deeper than her normal voice.

Phineas was speechless. His own sister was scolding him. He cowered as she walked towards him.

               ‘I-I’m sorry! I should’ve known better! Wait a minute… you’re just my mind. You’re just my doubts and insecurities plaguing me,’ Phineas said.

               ‘Candace’ frowned. ‘You won’t get away this time!’

Candace then grew in size and turned into a bat-like creature. Phineas ran for his life as what was once his sister flew after him. He hid behind rocks and dead trees only for ‘Candace’ to tear them out of the ground. He could do nothing but run.

Phineas soon made it to a small forest. Candace seemed to stop following him as he found himself in darkness among the dead trees. He then saw Ferb, Buford and Baljeet.

               ‘You should have heeded my warnings, Phineas,’ Baljeet said. ‘You were a fool to be so ignorant of what was right in front of you.’

               ‘Baljeet, not right now!’ Phineas said.

Phineas pressed on, but he found the back of the shirt gripped. He was turned around to reveal Buford.

               ‘Wanna play some games, for old time’s sake? Oh, don’t worry about Ferb, he gave me permission to bully you again,’ Buford said.

               ‘Honestly, he deserves your bullying more than I ever did. His robot girlfriend destroyed the universe and more.’ Baljeet laughed.

               ‘Yeah, Dinner Bell, what was that about? You nerds really can’t stop trying to be all smart and better than everyone, can you?’

Buford threw Phineas onto the ground, and stalked towards him. Just as Buford was about to grab him again, Phineas got up and made a dash for it. He kept running until he found himself crash into Ferb.

               ‘Always taking the spotlight, hmm? Maybe you should listen to me once in a while. Maybe then you wouldn’t cause the Universe to take away your loved ones,’ Ferb said.

               Phineas’ voice quivered. ‘Wait, Ferb, I-’

               ‘Your gestures are tokenistic. There to try and placate me while you steal the show every time. So absorbed in your big ideas you fail to listen to me.’

               ‘Ferb, stop it! I know this isn’t really you, it’s just my mind!’

               Buford caught up and grabbed Phineas. ‘Well, if it’s just your mind, then why do you feel this?’

Phineas kicked Buford in the face to break free of his grip and continued to run. He stumbled down a hill, and the forest was about to end. He saw the caves coming closer. However, the ground shook. The others chasing him noticed too.

Cracks started to grow in the ground. Out of the cracks came hands. The hands had white sleeves, and they were trying to grab Phineas. As the trees disappeared, he saw more and more hands. He made sure not to let them grab him, and he soon saw why: Ferb, Buford and Baljeet became copies of Heinz Doofenshmirtz.

               ‘Pharmacists? Really?’ Phineas just ran.

He reached a river and went on the bridge across it. As he made it to the other side, he severed the bridge, sending any Pharmacists coming across into the river’s current. He then took some refuge behind a large rock.

               ‘Fancy seeing you, here. Well, it’s your mind, so I guess you should be asking me that question.’ A new stranger revealed his face.

               Phineas stared in confusion. ‘…Mitch? This just keeps getting weirder.’

Mitch then turned into a form that horrified Phineas.  It couldn’t hurt him or compromise his mental state in his own mind, but seeing him turned cute again really brought back some dark memories. Ones he really didn’t need right now.

               ‘You always wondered what saved you from me, didn’t you?’ Mitch said. ‘Don’t you miss me, when I was so cute you wanted to transfer every one of your assets into my name? We could’ve gone further, you could’ve become a total mindless, groveling mess I could’ve ordered around. I could’ve made you hurt Isabella, or even forget all about her… if she existed.’

               ‘Get away from me!’ Phineas then escaped Mitch.

Phineas tried to run, but tripped. He looked up and saw more villains he had faced. Khaka Peu Peu, Mr Random, even Red Skull.

               ‘What are you even trying to tell me?’ Phineas said.

               ‘You’re no better than us, Phineas,’ Mitch said. ‘We scared, harmed or threatened her in some way, but you destroyed her.’

               ‘I’m here specifically to fix my mistakes!’ Phineas said.

               A new voice appeared. ‘You can’t.’

               Phineas turned around. ‘…Isabella?’

               ‘What’cha doin’?’ Isabella walked towards him. ‘You’re not going to make it. We may have helped and saved each other all these times, but you always broke my heart anyway. I tried so hard for you to notice me, but not even the most obvious signals reached you?’

               Tears welled up in Phineas’ eyes. ‘I’m sorry, okay? I’m just not good at that stuff, I never was! I’m doing this for you, you know.’

               ‘How cute. You think you can make up for all the pain and suffering you caused me just by finding some stupid code? Forget it.’ Isabella somehow still kept her cheerful demeanour despite her words.

Isabella grew in size, along with all the other villains. Isabella then backed herself into the group of villains, giving Phineas no choice but to run once again.

He found himself tiring, and more things were happening. The flying Candace bat was coming after him again. Pharmacists were coming out of the ground. Some of the villains were even turning into Pharmacists.

Phineas tripped and fell onto the ground. He tried to get back up, but he was low on energy. The caves were close, but not far enough to make it like this. Phineas felt the crowd approaching, slowly but surely. He was doomed.

Chapter Text

Phineas was out of energy as the group of both loved ones and villains approached him. Just as he was about to accept his fate, a diminutive cloaked figure lent a hand down. It grabbed Phineas’ hand and pulled him back up. Even as this figure was small, Phineas was able to get back on his feet. Interestingly, the hand felt furry.

Phineas looked down and saw the figure march towards the crowd. It was mostly Pharmacists now, except for Candace, Isabella and Mitch. Isabella had grown into a centaur like form, complete with wings on her horse back.

Candace, Isabella and Mitch dashed forward to attack the hooded figure, but they effortlessly dodged every attack, and counter attacked with just as much if not more force. The occasional Pharmacist lunged at the figure, but punches and kicks would send them flying.

Mitch tried to use his cuteness to charm his way to defeating the figure, but he was simply grabbed and thrashed about, somehow even as he had grown larger. Candace caught the figure and brought it up into the air, but they broke free and delivered blows midair before kicking her in the face to knock her unconscious.

Isabella fired shots with a magic bow and arrow, which was knocked out of her hand. She drew a sword. That was also knocked out of her hand. The figure then grabbed Isabella’s giant bow and threw it into her head, knocking her out.

As Pharmacists scattered, the figure returned to Phineas, and simply walked into the Forgotten Caves. Phineas figured he should follow.

               ‘Wait, who are you? Why did you save me? This better not be a trap,’ Phineas said.

The figure said nothing as Phineas made his way into the caves. They grew darker, the only light making it through were hints of lightning through cracks in the walls. He started looking around for things that he had apparently forgotten or struggled to remember.

First, he looked into a pool and saw… a day devoted to raising the awareness of aglets? Phineas and the others always did wonder why they were performing a concert and wearing shoelaces. They didn’t take long to figure out what it was about, but it was peculiar how they just completely forgot about their day like that.

Phineas saw other things, mostly small things. Things he left behind. Forgetting certain amounts of things. Reasons why he walked into a room before instantly forgetting why. Old ideas that never worked out and were never thought about again.

               ‘Uh, are we getting any closer to where I’m finding this code I need? Oh yeah, I’m looking for code to restore a lost friend… though if you’re in here, you likely know she’s probably more that to me.’ Phineas gave a sheepish smile.

As they descended deeper into the cave, Phineas saw metal formations on the wall, almost like mirrors. The surface reflected what faced it perfectly. To Phineas’ surprise however, he saw images forming… him and Isabella?

               ‘Wait, I might have something here… hang on, what should I call you? Since you’re not talking to me and giving me anything to go buy, I’ll just call you… Cloaky.’

Phineas heard a weird growl, probably Cloaky’s bemusement as he continued to watch the mirrored surface. It was night, and he and Isabella were climbing. Phineas saw some kind of… ladder? He then heard small grunts and two furry hands pulling on him.

               ‘Just a little longer, I feel like this is important.’

He then heard them talking. Isabella was confessing to him how she felt… did this really happen? There’s no way he’d forget that… oh wait, this was a place full of forgotten memories. What happened, then? He saw the image of himself clear up. He was in rubber armour.

Wait, so this was what he forgot during the Night of the Living Pharmacists? Phineas intently watched as he saw him try to answer for himself, only for a pharmacist to appear. He watched as he sacrificed himself to save Isabella, except this time… the walls started vibrating.

Cloaky was pulling even harder on his hand. Phineas finally understood why as pharmacist arms began to appear through the mirrored surface. He finally let himself be pulled by Cloaky as the arms gave way to full Pharmacist bodies.

The duo kept running down steep, barely visible rocky surfaces. Echos of ‘lots of me’ were heard no matter how far Phineas and Cloaky got away. Soon, Phineas felt he was no longer being pulled.

               ‘Wait, why did we stop? They’re coming right after us!’ Phineas said.

Phineas then saw Cloaky walk right towards them and walk to each Pharmacist. He touched each of them, and they all disintegrated from a brief purple glow into a blue haze. They were all gone, and Cloaky healed the walls with some strange power.

Once they were done, they returned, but seemed to have a drooping posture. Were they exhausted? However, he was not exhausted enough to jump up and slap Phineas in the face.

               ‘Hey, what gives? I thought you were helping me? Okay, I kind of deserved that, but still.’

Cloaky then made a gesture to show them carrying an imaginary person on their back.

               ‘Oh, you need me to carry you, now? Look, sorry… I just couldn’t help but feel like something was there. Come hop on my back.’

Phineas felt Cloaky put their hands on his shoulders, and their feet press against his back. His clothing meant he couldn’t quite feel the shape or size of the feet, but from what he could tell, they were small and rounded. He then continued, and let Cloaky give any directions he needed.

Eventually, they came face to face with two large pillars and what looked like a glowing portal. Phineas looked to Cloaky.

               ‘Wait, is this it? It looks important.’

Cloaky pointed to a small detour to the right that led into a room full of crystal growths. Despite his curiosity, Phineas listened to his guide, and found himself in the crystal room.

The crystals all had numbers, symbols, letters. Phineas felt like he might be close, they looked almost like things he’d write when doing maths. He was so caught up in looking at the different crystals around him he failed to notice himself walk into a large, thick crystal that came right out of the ground.

This one had lots of numbers and pronumerals surrounded by symbols, and Phineas read them all intently. Eventually, he saw something he would always recognise.

               ‘A heart and bow… wait, this must have all of the formulas I need. Thanks, Cloaky!’ Phineas picked up Cloaky and swung them around in a hug, before putting them down. ‘…okay, so I should have everything recording, meaning I will look back at everything and catch all the code. It sort of scans everything and forms a mental map, meaning the details here will be captured perfectly. Right, Cloaky?’

Phineas then noticed his companion was no longer by his side. He ran back out and soon found Cloaky facing the gateway.

               ‘Wait, what’s going on? Where are you going?’

Cloaky turned to face Phineas, and appeared to be staring.

               ‘I don’t understand. What even are you? Who are you?’

Cloaky walked to Phineas and sent a hand into their hood, and drew out a small fedora. They handed the hat to a stunned Phineas.

               ‘…are you someone I’ve forgotten? Wait, then who are you? Why don’t I remember you?’

Cloaky simply backed into the gateway, vanishing from sight. Phineas ran towards it but was repelled by a blast of energy.

               ‘I don’t understand… what is this doing in my mind?’

               ‘You’re not supposed to remember them, Phineas.’ A familiar voice appeared.

               Phineas turned around. ‘…Isabella? Okay, you’re not here to scold me, are you?’

               ‘No, I’m a different manifestation of her, not like the one out there that tried to kill you. Wait, can she even kill you in your own mind? Nevermind… anyway, your companion needs to remain hidden. The order of the Universe depends on it.’

               ‘…that’s a very ominous thing to hear from a memory of a friend tell me. What does that even mean?’

               ‘It’s similar to what the real Isabella told you about her purpose. We all have roles to fill, Phineas. However, “Cloaky”, as you called them wanted to leave you a gift. Give me the hat.’

               ‘Uh… sure.’ Phineas handed Isabella the hat.

Isabella materialised a pool into the hat, and showed another forgotten memory. Phineas was with Isabella and all his friends and siblings in a dark room. Isabella then kissed him, causing Phineas to grin, only for Isabella to order a memory wipe with Phineas begging them all to wait.

               ‘The reason your companion is letting me show you this despite being part of the memories locked through that gateway with them is because when Isabella saw into the Reality Phaser, she also recovered lost memories. Nothing that would disrupt the order of the Universe, but she couldn’t help but find things related to you. She really loves you, Phineas.’ Despite her composure, Isabella seemed slightly bashful.

               Phineas was quiet for a moment. ‘I… I see. So… do I go back to the real world now to revive the real Isabella?’

               ‘Yes, yes you do. Take my hand, and you will be back in reality.’

Phineas did not hesitate to grab Isabella’s hand, and within seconds, he found himself awake in a chair. He then looked over the recordings and scans to pick up the formulas he got, and copied them down. He then used his full formulas to complete the code that led to Isabella.

Phineas had everything ready, but instead of activating her, he fed all of Isabella’s data into a miniaturized reality phaser that he recreated. It was only enough to bring something in or out of reality once, so Phineas braced himself and hoped it would work as the code was analysed by the device.

The machine beamed a light for a moment, and suddenly, a figure materialised in front of Phineas.

Isabella Garcia-Shapiro was back.

Chapter Text

Phineas was smiling as Isabella finally stood before him. His eyes lit up as he rushed to hug her. Just as he was about to make contact with her however, Isabella pushed him away. Phineas built up so much momentum he fell on the ground.

               ‘Phineas… what have you done?’ Isabella said.

               ‘I saved you, Isabella. You’re back!’ Phineas said.

               ‘Do you know what you did, Phineas? You brought a Universe destroyer back into your world. I see you’ve somehow brought me back in the flesh, not to mention at the appropriate age I should be compared to you. Plus, everything seems normal, no reality falling apart or anything. But this is wrong.’ Isabella was growing an increasingly intense glare towards Phineas.

               ‘…Isabella?’

               ‘I went out fixing my crime, Phineas! But now you brought me back and I have to live with everything I did, not to mention everything I’ve been through! Do you know what you’re doing, Phineas? Oh wait, of course not. You never do.’

               Phineas got on his knees and begged. ‘Isabella! I saved your life! You were never supposed to not exist. I simply made things right. Nobody deserves what you went through.’

               ‘And that’s why I should stay dead, Phineas. How fitting, you care most right when it’s too late.’

               ‘It’s not like that! You really are everything to me… I did everything for us to be together again.’

               ‘You really just want to torture me, don’t you? Is that what you exist for, to make me suffer? Did you pretend to be my friend all this time just to hurt me even more?’

               ‘Isabella, I’ll do everything to make sure you readjust to living. I’ll make sure you don’t feel out of place. Just let me be there for you.’

               ‘You really don’t get it, do you? I’m a terrible person, Phineas. A terrible, Universe destroying monster.’

               ‘Isabella, please! I can’t live without you. I… I love you.’

               Isabella frowned. ‘Phineas… you completely, truly make me sick.’

Isabella tried to walk home, but she stumbled in her steps. She tripped and fell to the ground. Phineas rushed to help her up, but she only pushed him away again.

               ‘Get away from me! It’s your fault I never properly experienced adolescence, anyway.’ Isabella got herself back up.

The door to the garage opened and Baljeet entered, along with Buford and Ferb. They were shocked at what they were seeing.

               ‘Did your date go wrong?’ Baljeet said.

               Isabella suddenly found the will to stand back up. ‘Are you kidding me? I never knew someone as horrible as you could even exist, Phineas!’

Isabella bolted across the street to her house, slamming her front door shut, barely keeping her balance as she ran. Ferb rested a hand on Phineas’ shoulder.

               ‘So, uh, did you two break up or something?’ Buford said.

               ‘…there was never anything to even break up over.’ Phineas said.

Phineas walked back inside with the others, Ferb’s arm around him as he slouched.

A week passed. Phineas had once again gone back to lying in bed all day. Ferb and his friends did everything they could to cheer him up, but it was to no avail. Everyone acting like Isabella never stopped existing, like she was always there, only caused more salt in the wound. He and Isabella were the only ones who knew what really happened.

Phineas continued to stew in his thoughts until a knock was heard on his bedroom door. Ferb would usually just walk in, and his parents weren’t home, so he went to open the door. He braced himself, scared of who would be on the other side.

It was… Vivian? Isabella’s mother?

               ‘Vivian! Is Isabella okay? Please tell me she’s okay,’ Phineas said.

               ‘Phineas? Don’t worry, I’m not here to yell at you or anything like that, quite the opposite,’ Vivian said.

               ‘Oh, uh… that’s a relief. But please tell me if Isabella’s fine. I know she won’t talk to me, but I just want her to be alright.’

               ‘That’s the thing, Phineas… you need to talk to her.’

               Phineas jumped. ‘She won’t listen to me! You should’ve seen her when I last saw her, she looked like she never wanted to talk to me again.’

               ‘Yep, that’s Isa, right now. But you don’t realise how bad it is. She’s shut herself off from everyone. One day she was fine, but starting last week, she looked at me with sadness in her eyes, and even fear, almost like she didn’t recognise me.’ Vivian sighed.

               ‘It’s that bad? Wait… she won’t even talk to you?’

               ‘Nope. From what I have gotten out of her, she said that only you would understand why she’s upset, but that she also hates you and refuses to see you.’

               ‘Have any of her friends tried getting through to her?’

               ‘Yep. Her entire former troop was outside her bedroom two days ago. She refused to open to any of them. The moment you came up, all they heard was screaming and sobbing.’

               ‘Baljeet? Buford? Ferb?’ Phineas’ voice slightly increased in pitch as well as speed.

               ‘No response to them, either. What little she even says, the moment you come up she completely breaks down. She refuses to even let Pinky in her room anymore.’

               Phineas thought to himself for a moment. ‘Wait… I want to go over and help as much as I can, but do you really think this is a good idea? Don’t you think bringing me over would only aggravate her?’

               ‘I know, but I feel we’re getting desperate. She’s barely eaten, you know. Please help, Phineas.’ Vivian looked at Phineas with pleading eyes.

               Phineas hesitated for a bit, but ultimately made a decision. ‘Alright. I’ll be over in an hour.’

Phineas made it to the Garcia-Shapiro home, and Vivian let her in. She walked Phineas to Isabella’s bedroom, and they both stood outside. Phineas looked down to see Pinky sadly lying by her door, and he couldn’t help but give the chihuahua a pat to comfort him. Phineas then stood by Vivian, who proceeded to speak.

               ‘Isa, honey. I brought Phineas over. I know you won’t like this, but I think you both need to talk. I’m not letting him go until you speak to him,’ Vivian said.

               Phineas’ eyes widened. ‘Wait, you never said-’

               ‘Phineas, please.’ Vivian turned her attention back to Isabella’s door. ‘I’ll leave you two alone, now. Just at least talk to him.’

Vivian picked up Pinky, who moved his paws after Isabella’s door as Vivian walked away with him. Phineas then sat outside her door, expecting her to take a while. He noticed it started to rain outside, he may have even heard thunder.

Time continued to pass. Phineas messaged Ferb to let him know he might be gone for a while. Once that was done, he sighed as he went back to waiting. Eventually, he heard the doorknob turn, prompting him to stand up. He was greeted by Isabella, but her hair was a mess, and she was stuck in pyjamas.

               ‘Guess I don’t have a choice, do I? Come in,’ Isabella sounded tired and exasperated.

               ‘Isabella, you know we don’t have to do this, it was your mom’s idea,’ Phineas said.

               Isabella walked back to and lied on her bed. ‘I know. I hate how pushy she can be with stuff like this. But honestly… I’m ready. I think.’

               Phineas was quiet for a while. ‘…you’re clearly not okay.’

               ‘Well, duh. What else is new?’

               ‘Look, I know it’s obvious but everyone’s worried about you. I get that you can’t exactly explain what… happened, but you can’t shut yourself off forever.’

               ‘I told you, Phineas. I’m better off dead.’

               ‘Please don’t say that, Isabella. Would you want your family or friends to hear that?’

               ‘They have.’ Isabella continued to keep her tired, exasperated tone.

               Phineas felt his heart skip a beat. ‘…oh. But you won’t even let Pinky in?’

               ‘Phineas, being back has only convinced me more. Everyone always brings you up. How if you hurt me, you couldn’t possibly have meant it. How I’ll just work things out with you in the end. How blissfully ignorant of them.’

               ‘Well, how can they not bring me up? You yelled at me and stormed out of my garage. I’m pretty clearly tied to what’s upsetting you in their eyes.’

               ‘That’s exactly the problem! That one glimpse of my existence beyond my own reality, and I can’t look at anything the same again. It’s Phineas, Phineas, Phineas. Always Phineas. Even my mind is like that! My own mind is trying to fight this existential crisis.’ Isabella was clutching the sides of her head.

Phineas’ mind flashed back to what Isabella said when they were together in the almost destroyed universe. How she saw into a level of reality that somehow revealed her purpose for existing. How it was supposedly her destiny to pine for Phineas.

               ‘…so what you saw still bothers you?’ Phineas said.

               Isabella started to shed tears. ‘How can it not? The thing I always told myself I lived for, and all of my failures and seemingly being destined to never reach that simple goal… it’s all made up. I’m just someone’s puppet to watch for their amusement. Either I suffer, or I be with you after going through hell and realising how meaningless this all is.’

               ‘But Isabella, you know you’re more than just what you feel for me. I told you, remember? Your existence isn’t meaningless.’

               Isabella recoiled from Phineas. ‘Don’t remind me of when I was trapped inside a screen, Phineas. It was torture. You being right there, yet never being able to truly be with you…’

               ‘Oh, sorry. But my point still stands. You’re more than just what you feel for me.’

               ‘Maybe you’re right. But even if it’s true, it seems the powers that be are forcing their hand to always have my life come back to yours. Even when I try to focus my mind elsewhere, it comes back to you. I’m being written to be in love with you. And knowing that I don’t have free will, that everything is just made up…’ Isabella instinctively started to curl into a foetal position.

               Phineas was stunned, and needed a moment before speaking. ‘…wow. I really wish I knew how to respond to that, but you kind of got me there. I guess if I were to face my existence, I’d just try my best not to worry about it and seize the day.’

               ‘Easy for you to say. You’d probably be right at home with them, always playing god, while I’m stuck chasing after something that was never truly attainable. And when I finally have you in my grasp, I learn the truth behind my existence, ruining things forever.’ Isabella’s voice quivered.

               ‘We… we don’t have to let this get us down. We can move forward. Make our own destiny. We don’t have to be bound by whatever rules the Universe sets us.’ Phineas kneeled beside her bed.

               ‘Phineas, have you tried keeping an invention around for more than a day? It always disappears. We’re all part of this script, and we all have our roles to play. At least Candace didn’t have to come face to face with the nature of reality itself.’

               Phineas sighed. ‘There’s nothing I can do, can I? Is it possible to recover from this?’

               ‘I doubt it. If I can, it will take years. You really should start looking for other options, anyway.’

               ‘Wh-what? I’m not going to just leave you. I can’t, especially not now! I’m not going to stop loving you. Maybe you can’t love me anymore, but you’re always going to mean the world to me, whether you want me around or not.’

               ‘That’s the thing, Phineas. I still love you. I can’t help it. Even right now, I want to just give up everything and run away with you.’

               Phineas clutched the side of her bed. ‘Well, we could! Anything to stop you feeling depressed.’

               ‘Are you listening to yourself? You’d drop everything for a girl who almost destroyed all of reality? Who only did so because of her pre-programmed role?’

               ‘I didn’t program anything like that into you.’

               ‘I don’t mean in terms of my AI existence. I mean my existence as a whole. From those writing us. Machine or not, I am never going to be free from my programming. I’m a monster, Phineas. I’m not worth it.’

               ‘Even if you are, I don’t care. I still love you.’

               ‘Please don’t say that. You’re only making it worse?’

               ‘What? Saying that I…’

               ‘Yes. Don’t.’

               Phineas stood up and took some steps back. ‘…oh my gosh. I’m so sorry. I guess there really is nothing I can do, can I? Can I at least visit you? Or call you?’

               Isabella turned herself away from Phineas. ‘I mean it’s not like I can stop you.’

               ‘Okay… well, I guess I’ll be going now. I’m sorry about everything, Isabella.’

Phineas began to walk out, but he heard Isabella get up. He turned back around.

               Isabella faced Phineas, crying. ‘Look, before you go… I just wanted to let you know that those things I said about you… I never really meant them. It hurt to even say them. Everything hurts. I’m so sorry, Phineas.’

               ‘I understand, Isabella. I honestly can’t blame you. I don’t know if anyone has been through what you have.’ Phineas was barely holding back tears.

               ‘Right…’

               ‘Okay, just make sure you keep eating. You can talk to others, too. Maybe even just let Pinky in at first. You’re not alone, Isabella. We’re all here for you. I’ll see you around, sometime.’

Phineas walked out of the bedroom, not even thinking to close the door. He saw Pinky walk into Isabella’s room, and walked past Vivian.

               ‘Did it help, Phineas?’ Vivian said.

               ‘I doubt it. She’s been through… a lot, the best way I can put it is that she went through some things that have caused her to never see anything the same again,’ Phineas said.

               ‘I’ll do everything I can to take care of her, I promise.’

               ‘I know you will. I’m just worried she won’t ever be able to recover.’

               ‘It’s… that bad?’ Vivian gasped.

               ‘Yeah. I really don’t know what to do.’ Phineas hung his head low.

               ‘You don’t need to feel so responsible. I know you never meant any harm to her.’

               ‘I know. That might be a problem in itself, though.’ Phineas paused. ‘I’ll get going. It’s probably getting late.’

Phineas and Vivian gave their goodbyes, and Phineas walked outside. The rain wasn’t as heavy, but he still found himself getting wet. Phineas couldn’t help but walk towards Isabella’s window to see how she was, and he saw her holding Pinky.

Phineas cried as he turned away to return home, but seeing her there for a moment couldn’t help but make him smile.