Shiro faints, you fainting with her

Chapter by Nenen

You expected Shiro to panic, to scream at you. To deny your existence or just plain ignore you. What you didn't expect was to start feeling lightheaded and for Shiro to just start falling to her couch. Oh, she's passing out, so you must b…

Next thing you know, someone is shaking you. You hear a voice but can't quite make it out. "Nnghh…" you try to shake off the drowsiness. What happened last? Oh yeah, Shiro passed out, and you passed out with her. So… are you on her couch? Who is speaking then? You try to listen better.

"Hey… up…" You start opening your eyes to a blurry image. “..wa…” You blinked a few times to get a better image. You see… Shiro? What? Wait, how was she moving you? “Oh! You woke up. Good. So… um…” Shiro appears to be looking for words to say. “Mmm… Here, let me help you.” They extend a paw and you take it. It is by doing so that you notice your hand is a green paw as well. As Shiro helps you get up you take notice that you look like you’re Shiro, or rather a reflection or copy of them. Looking around you see you’re in what appears to be a house. It’s… mostly empty, it has a few things like a table, a couch and a mirror. There appears to be a transition to what appears to be a stage midway through the house. The stage is very well lit and it has fancy curtains, decorations, costumes and magic knicknacks. “I’m sorry but… I have to ask. Are you… are you, Shirou?” You look at Shiro for a bit. You have no idea how you two met, but if you can talk to her then you’ll take the chance.

“Yes. I’m Shirou. Nice to meet you, Shiro.” You smile at her.

“You’re real… I-I, ah, you, I, how…” You smile sheepishly at Shiro. “How long… have you been here?”

“Ummm… since yesterday?” Shiro seems to recall something when you say that. Her face looks troubled. “... so… where are we?”

“Uh? Oh. I… I don’t know. I… kind of passed out when I saw you in the TV.”

“Hehehe… yeah… my bad. I just… you were crying and I didn’t want to see you give up when I know you can do this.”

“How?” Uh? “How would you know? How did you make that recording, made that video, did magic? How… how did you control my body?” Oh. Yeah, you better explain that.

“Well, after I… appeared, I discovered I could control your body if you weren’t conscious. So when you fell asleep on your bed, I took control and started thinking of how to help you.” You walk around a bit, looking at the stage and all its wonders. “I saw how much you love magic, how much you wished to be able to do it and… I wanted to help you in some way. I didn’t know how at first. I thought that maybe helping you do something else would be the way to do it, but then I felt it. I felt your magic.”

“But I… can’t do magic.” You shake your head.

“Shiro, you’ve always been able to do magic. Is just that you haven’t realized it. Come with me for a bit.” You grab her paw and take her to the mirror. You see your reflections there, two Meowscarada’s who look exactly the same. “Ah, I should probably do this to differentiate us.” You take out the hair ties letting your hair fall down freely. Shiro looks at you with an expression you can’t figure out. “Shiro? Something wrong?”

“N-no, nothing. Just… not used to seeing myself like that.” You nod, then look in the mirror again, grabbing your mask.

“Say, do you realize you have this on your face? Like, at any point of the day, do you remember that you have this mask on?”

“Huh? Umm… not really? Is just part of me so… I kind of forget about it. Why?”

“Because your magic is just like that. You always had it, you’ve always felt it. So you don’t realize it is there.” She looks at you confused, then her eyes widen. You nod at her. “I wasn’t aware of it before I took control of your body, so when I did and… felt it, I wanted to figure out what it was. I read your notebooks about magic and decided to try the paper trick. I placed it on my paws and wanted it to disappear. When I opened them and didn’t see it I just thought that it fell somewhere and that it was just that. But then, a phrase resounded in my mind.”

“Always believe in yourself.” You both say at the same time. You nod at Shiro.

“I… wanted to try. If I could figure out how to do magic, then I would be able to help you do magic yourself. I could tell you what I felt, how I did it. I tried a recording, but you didn’t believe it, so…”

“When I fell asleep on the couch, you took control then?” You nod. “How long?”

“You were tired, and I felt tired as well because of that so… I took the video and then… relaxed I guess. Went to your bed and fell asleep. When I woke up the next morning I realized what I had done and decided to place you where you were after making the notes. To try and not scare you but… guess it didn’t work out.” You scratch the back of your head. “I’m sorry Shiro. I shouldn’t have left those notes or the video if it was going to scare you that much.” You look at the floor. It was your fault that she got so terrified. Maybe you should have tried to simply talk to her, gave her an order to feel her magic or something. “I’m sorry Shiro.”

“... that video. That last thing that you said, do you really… believe I can?” You look at her in the eyes and nod.

“I do. Not only do I believe it Shiro. I know you can do it! I can feel your magic within your body, I’ve used it a few times, to practice that trick and show it to you. It's just… I don't know how to show it to you. How to express what this feeling is.”

“Mmm… maybe you could take control while I’m aware?” You blink.

“What?”

“I mean, you have done it while I’m asleep, but have you tried it while I’m awake? That way I could maybe feel what you’re doing.” That… could work. But…

“Are you sure? I could lock you in your mind forever and take your body for myself or something. How can you trust me like this?”

“Because… you believe in me. The same way that Mama believed in me. Even now you are warning me against this so… I think if you truly wanted to stay in control you could have. But you didn't, so… yeah. I… want to believe in you.” Shiro… “And thanks. For believing in me.” You nod and smile at her.

“Of course! Always. I’ll always believe in you Shiro, because-”

“Because you’re the other me, from the other side of the looking glass. Right?” You blink and laugh at that.

“Yes. I’m your other self.” Okay. Having Shiro awake while you’re in control. How do you do that? You feel like if you were to take control her mind would fall asleep. Then maybe a command? “I’m going to try something.” You don’t know where you are, but you have a feeling this must be inside her mind or something. Otherwise how could you speak to her like this? Assuming that’s the case then maybe… you can just say that and it will work. “Shiro, while I’m in control of your body you’ll be aware, just like I’m aware while you’re in control. And we’ll be able to speak to each other, either by thought or through reflections.” You finish and take a deep breath.

“Did you need to say all that?” You shrug.

“Not sure, but I felt it would help. So now we should… um… wake up? I think this is your mind, somehow.”

“Well it would make sense, since we’re both here.” It is then that the place starts to become bright. Too bright. You try to cover your eyes and call out to Shiro when everything fills with pure white. Next thing you know you’re on her couch, in her living room, with you in control.

“Shiro?” You call for her. “Shiro, can you hear me? Are you awake?”

“Yeah. I… this feels weird.” You look at the TV and indeed, you see Shiro there in your reflection. “I can feel everything, but can’t really move. It's… honestly kind of scary.” You were about to apologize when she spoke again. “I know you were going to apologize, so don’t. I want to trust you so… maybe just, let me be in control after you show me my magic?” You nod and smile at her.

“Of course. Now, let me get this ready.” You get up and pick up the paper she had dropped. Then you place it on a table and get ready. Turning the paper both ways, holding it between your paws. Then, you concentrate. You close your eyes and concentrate on that feeling that you are sure is her magic. You move it, you direct that flow towards your palms, to the paper. And tell it to disappear. When you separate your palms the paper is gone. Good, now the other part. You hold out your palms and close them, then will the magic to go there and make the paper reappear. You open your palms, and the paper is there indeed. You smile brightly. “Presto!” Hehe, it’s kinda fun to say that. “That is how I did it. Were you able to feel it, Shiro? Your magic?”

“I… I think so. I felt something move, something that I didn’t realize was there at all. It is like you said, like my mask. I never realized it was there because I always had it.” You nod, and sit down to try and give Shiro control of her body.

“Okay, I’m going to try and swap us. Ready?”

“Yeah.” You concentrate, and will yourself to fall back and for Shiro to go forward. Next thing you’re aware of is that your body moves on its own. It worked. “Shirou?”

“I’m here! I’m glad it worked.” You feel Shiro smile. “So, ready to do some magic?”

“Yeah! I’m all fired up now!” Shiro raises her arms high and you giggle a bit. Hopefully she is able to do it this time.

Suggestions:

•Shiro does the trick, but had to put a lot of effort to use her magic.

•Shiro does the trick, but her magic acted a bit too much with a little nudge.

•Shiro did the trick, she was able to perfectly use her magic.

•Something else.