SHADOW.

It tore off completely. Shiro had immediately fallen unconscious as a shattered energy surrounded him. No matter how many people there were, this was a choice he wanted to make. Out of his own rash decision, he had done this. Kami had quickly grabbed the talisman, clutching onto it tightly. 

"The talisman..." Kami glared at it, dismissing it into his pocket as he looked down at Shiro, "I need to go. Sorry for leaving at a time like this." He closed his eyes, disappearing in a flash of light. Nobody had time to speak. But then again, that was his kind of nature. To go off and disappear to do something that he deemed more important in the moment. Roya had an annoyed look on her face, carrying Shiro's unconscious body. 

"Yo, Cera, you can spend your time teaching the little girl while you're MIA. You're really good at English, aren't you?" Roya looked back at Cera, who looked at the girl, nodding in response. He signaled for the girl to walk inside of the house, and by chance, her head tilted over to the open door, and she walked in, which Roya followed after her. 

***

"It's nice to see you again, Shiroooo!!" The woman that previously appeared in his dreams was looking down at him, his eyes fluttering awake as she held her hand out. 

"Oh, it's you again." Shiro stared with a blank face. Like he didn't care. The woman looked at him, picking him up with her own essence, leaving him levitating. Shiro panicked for a little bit until his brain connected the dots, allowing him to take a breath out. 

"Don't be rude!! You're lucky I'm not a mean person, otherwise I would've obliterated you from the inside out ages ago." The woman looked at him, pouting her lips. Shiro looked at her, sighing. With a glance at her, he was quickly sat on the ground. 

"Sorry...Just not in the right headspace right now..." He sighed, holding his hands in his face. The woman looked down at him, looking around at the headspace they were in just now. It seemed fine, so it didn't click in her head until she realized....He wasn't okay. As soon as she understood, she quickly kneeled down to his level. 

"So, you've realized my words by now. That's good!" She spoke as she tapped his head gently. Shiro glanced at her before looking around, "There's not really much to this place, is there? Surely you must feel at least a bit lonely." Shiro felt something. He wanted to return her kindness. 

"Well, since you care so much, I'll show you what I do while in your headspace!!" She smiled, holding his hand as they seemed to warp through time and space itself. Shiro's eyes widened as he had fallen into a numb state. The woman smirked looking at his eyes, which weren't able to process everything. With a burst of speed, they had both blipped out of the tunnel, landing in what seemed to be an icy field. The skies were clear with a powerful breeze of wind. The woman looked down at Shiro, gently smacking his face as he snapped back to reality, barely being able to stand up. 

"Don't stress yourself. You just travelled through space and time for....the first time." She smiled as she looked over at the 3 chairs and table that laid in front of them. With a lack of fear, she applied a force to her fingertips, allowing her to pick up Shiro easily by his back. Now, he didn't have to waste energy, and she wouldn't have to carry his weight everywhere. In both situations, it was a win-win. 

"I brought you here, Shiro, because I want you to learn. There's so much that you don't know about yourself and your problems. Like that fractured soul of yours that emits that putrid scent. You're clashing with yourself. You want to save everybody, but you can't. You don't have the power. You don't have the IDENTITY. When you ripped the talisman off your head, it told me all that I needed to know." She spoke as she gently dropped him, turning around as her shadow casted over him. 

Shiro looked up at her with a sense of fear. He didn't know what she was going to do. He didn't know what he was going to do. He clenched his fist, slamming it on the ice, 

"I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING!! NO MATTER HOW HARD I TRY, I'VE ALWAYS FELT LOST!! EVEN WHILE FIGHTING, I'M NOT ABLE TO ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING. And then...I think..It's just my fault. It's my fault that I'm so weak. I have this- STUPID fractured part of me that doesn't want to work...ALL I WANT TO DO IS BE ABLE TO SAVE THE PEOPLE THAT I CARE ABOUT AND THE PEOPLE THAT MY FRIENDS CARE ABOUT!! IS THAT SO WRONG?" 

Shiro looked up at the woman, standing up as his hand slowly reached out to her shoulder, holding onto it. Holding his face down, his lips quivered. With constant breaths, she watched tears drop onto the glaciated platform. 

The woman held his cheeks. 

With a slight lift of his face, she looked at his eyes; full of tears that descended down his face. Wiping his tears, she looked at him, rubbing her fingers through his hair, messy from all the fighting. 

"This fractured soul will need some fixing, huh." She looked, still holding his face, maintaining eye contact with him. One hand had dropped from the face, holding onto Shiro's chest. 

"Shiro, Shiro, Shiro." The woman blankly spoke. Shiro looked confused before he felt a rushing feeling in his body. He felt each fragment of his soul begin to form together as his body glowed white. The woman simply looked at him, smiling. She was proud. She heard everything she wanted to hear. Somebody with no power, wanting to save everybody, despite how useless they were? In her mind, that was the strongest. 

"Promise me this...that If you save everybody...." She spoke as she held her hand out, "That you'll save me too..." The woman spoke before a shadow loomed behind Shiro. 

"It's about time we met."