Mister Nibs and Mouse
copyright 2011 Faeriemage
Sometimes the most ordinary people are extraordinary. Sometimes they aren't even people at all.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:I apologize for the shortness of this chapter. It is all the story that needed to be told in this chapter however.

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I was awakened the next morning by the smell of fresh blueberry pancakes. I smiled as I remember getting these any time I was sick. . .as a child. My smile went away.

I hadn't gotten them in bed since the first time I visited "Dr. Jacobs."

"Is this supposed to get into my good graces, Mom?"

"No, this is to let you know I remember. These were your favorite, and a comfort food for you. I thought. . .you never wanted them any more after you visited that doctor. You changed so much, Abbie."

My Mom was crying, holding the tray of pancakes and boysenberry syrup. My stomach rumbled. One little taste wouldn't. . .

"I'll just take them. . ."

"No, you can leave them, if you want. I mean, I am hungry after all."

"Maybe we could talk while you eat?"

"Mom, I know from your actions over the past twenty-six years that you meant me no harm. I know you love me. Right now I don't care. My heart is the part of me that's railing against this. I don't feel loved."

"I'm sorry, baby. I'm so sorry," she was crying as she left and all I could think was 'good.'

I began to eat my pancakes, but they tasted like ash in my mouth. I had achieved no victories here. All I had done was alienate the only person who really understood what was going on with me.

I was so conflicted. Did I just leave? Did I just tell her I didn't care about all that?

I felt a warm body leap into my lap and I pulled it to my chest and absentmindedly stroked his ears. I needed the comfort of another being right now, and I didn't care if that being was Mr. Nibs. He didn't know it yet but he'd actually done me a greater service than anyone else in my life at the moment.

He'd opened the door whereby my body, mind, and soul were one.

Didn't mean I trusted him either.

I didn't much trust anyone right now.

'Can't breathe.'

"So, Mr. Nibs. Where have you been?"

'Oh, here and there. Learning that certain people are not to be trusted'

"Like I don't trust you."

'That's warranted considering what you know.
'

"New revelations for me?" I said with more venom than I'd intended.

'I guess it can wait. We're only in the beginning of a war for dominance after all. Heck the last one lasted almost fifty years and spawned some of the longest lived stories in the history of the human race, but you know. Take your time.'

"What are you talking about?"

'Only the fate of reality.'

"Stop talking nonsense, Mr. Nibs." Nothing happened. I tried again, "Mr. Nibs."

'It was never my true name, Mouse.' I felt laughter in my mind.

"What's so funny?"

'I just remembered why. . .I named the boy Marlin originally. Problem was he had no idea what a Marlin was, and the vowels kept getting mixed up.'

"Is there actually a hierarchy of these names or are you making all this up as you go?"

'Of course there's a hierarchy. Dog and Mouse at the bottom. Then sea fish. Then lizards. Then Birds. Then other land mammals. Then sea mammals. Then cats.

"So, it is actually saying someone is beneath a whale or a cat to call them Human?"

'Crap, you weren't supposed to catch onto that. Most familiars are too humanocentric to even realize that.'

"Ok, so, in these groups, there is no hierarchy?"

'Of course not. How much of a pain in the butt would that be?'

"They're names, got it."

I just sat there rubbing his head as he purred, that is until he started to nuzzle my breasts.

"Hey, watch that!"

'Sorry. Wasn't really realizing where I was for the moment.'

"Uh, huh."

'Getting scratched is almost as good as sex for a cat. I was completely in the moment and not really aware of my surroundings.'

"Oh, gross." I dumped him on the floor and went to the bathroom to wash my hands. I suddenly felt so accidentally violated.

'But it's a natural physiological response!'

"I am not having sex, in any form, with my cat.

'I'm your cat? I feel so honored.'

"Wait, I thought all you cat's felt that you were above humans. That you couldn't be owned?"

'So much to learn about cats, Mouse. There's a difference between belonging and ownership.'

"Oh, really."

'Of course. With belonging, you accept joint responsibility for me. With ownership you are saying you define me.'

"Like when I say someone is my boyfriend?"

'Don't you mean to say girlfriend?'

"No, I meant boyfriend."

'Oookay, well yes, it is like that. You don't own another person. You accept responsibility with them for their future. You are admitting your reliance one on another.'

"I'm still not having sex with you."

'Not even a little sckritch?'

"No."

'A minor rub?'

"Fine, as long as you don't nuzzle my breasts again."

I began to rub his neck, and realized that he'd distracted me from the entire reason I'd started holding him in the first place.

"Thanks, Mr. Nibs."

'For what?'

"For distracting me from my sucky life."

'That's what cats are for. But with your mention of boyfriends, I thought you were settling in nicely to being a girl.'

"Oh, being a girl is perfect for me. I never knew I always wanted to be a girl. No, it's everything in my life that I thought I knew that I don't want."

'Want to talk about it?'

"What for? Why would I want to talk about the betrayals of everyone I know, including you, with you?"

'Sometimes talking to someone about your problems doesn't make them seem so bad.'

"My Mom and dad sent me to a fake shrink who used magic and hypnosis to erase my entire life before the age of 8. They also had a new persona implanted there so that I would think I was a boy.

"They erased my first kiss. They erased every memory I had of my grandmother. And if that wasn't enough. . .actually that's about it. They erased me.

"Killing me would have been better."

'Really? You'd prefer to be dead than a seventeen year old girl?'

"But I'm not seventeen."

'Are you a witch, or aren't you?'

"I'm a witch."

'Then you're seventeen.'

"Huh?"

'A witch is one who defines the constants of reality, Mouse. You define birthdays, and loves. You define race and gender. You choose what everyone else perceives.'

"How can this be? They're supposed to be evil? Aren't they?"

'The witches lost last time, Mouse. Of course they were cast in a bad light by the winning side. Wizards only avoided it because of the strength of the ideal that was Arthur's Camelot.'

"I don't understand."

'Camelot as an example of perfect order has been upheld through wars, and concerted efforts by chaos to tear it down. Even attempts to destroy it as an ideal have failed. I mean all Le Morte d'Arthur did was keep the expand the fame of Arthur.'

"How did. . ."

'Simple, it impugned the manhood of Arthur suggesting that one of his nights had to service his wife for her to be satisfied.'

I blushed to my boots.

"Ok, this is insane. How come I'm reacting this way. I've said worse."

'You redefined your reality, Mouse. When you accepted your name, and your birth date, you changed your history.'

"I almost lost myself to that change."

'Which is why amateurs should not do magic. Remember yourself. Your personality has changed. Not all of it, but parts of it. Keep hold of who you were and you should regain it. Don't forget yourself.'

"How powerful is my definition of reality?" I said getting a small smile.

'For most witches? It might cover a week or two in time and their immediate surroundings.'

"I didn't ask for most witches."

'You have the ability to rewrite all of time.'

"Shit."
I sat there and let that sink in for a moment. I could redefine reality itself.

"You're mother is that powerful too, isn't she."

'Mother is not mine. She is your opposite.'

"My opposite?"

'Your rival. Your nemesis. Your opponent.'

"You keep disuading me from this. Am I powerful enough to. . ."

'STOP THINKING THAT!'

-You can read my thoughts.-

'Of course I can, especially with they're this loud. Do not consider what you are thinking. Do not contemplate it. Do not fantasize about it.'

"But, you're my cat. I just want. . ."

'You shouldn't want it.'

"You put the idea in my mind. It will not just go away, Mr. Nibs."

'STOP!!!!!!!'

"I CAN"T!"

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I heard a scream, and the lights went out. Why didn't Mouse simply listen to me?

I was so tried, but there was something important that I needed to do. Something I had to remember.

I stretched. . .and something felt wrong. So wrong. The carpet just didn't feel right. It felt so rough. I opened my eyes and took a look at my hairless arms.

"What in the. . .Abbie, what in the hell did you do, girl!"

"You just called me Abbie, Mr. Nibs."

I was speechless. I sat up on my rump and looked at where Abbie was hiding her head in her arms. She was blushing as well.

"What? I'm just naked."

"Look at yourself in the mirror, you silly cat!"

"You self centered, ignorant, adolescent, human girl. What in the hell did you do to me?!"