Blackness.

Complete, total, blackness.

Smothering, silent, blackness.

And suddenly, a birdsong.

Fianna's eyes flew open, half expecting to see a screen in front of her with a moving picture on it imitating nature, the scientists' way of trying to cheer them up. Instead, a real bird was fluttering from tree to tree--a vibrant red bird, plump, with a crest of feathers that seemed entirely out of place in this green, green world.

Her sister stirred beside her, but she didn't focus on Fiona until she noticed her own green eyes and fluffy head fur on the body next to her. Fianna's eyes widened, and she blinked, trying to understand for a second, but failing.

Fiona opened her eyes completely and Fianna saw a bolt of shock flash into her own eyes--her green eyes, not Fiona's! "Who--what--" her sister spluttered, breaking the silence that had suddenly descended on them in absence of the red-feathered bird. Fianna blinked Fiona's droopy head fur out of her eyes, unaccustomed to the feeling of fur lying flat on her forehead.

"I don't know," breathed Fianna, "but it's soooo cool! I've always wondered what it was like to be you!" She bounced around, flexing her claws in and out and taking deep, refreshing mouthfuls of air. "And we're free! Free, Fiona! It's so green, and there's moss, and soft leaves, and pine needles, and, and, and--"

"And we have no idea where we are, and we passed out for no reason, and I AM YOU AND YOU ARE ME AND WE'RE. NOT. OKAY!" Fiona roared. "Get sense into your brain for once, you cheery nincompoop!"

Fianna blinked, hurt. "We could explore," she offered tentatively, with half a purr rising in her throat. She shook out her fur—it still had bits of leaf in it—and gazed hopefully at Fiona. "And maybe find out where we are!"

"First we need to figure out how this happened," her sister hissed, fur rising along her spine. "Somehow the scientists switched our bodies—so I'm in Fianna's body, and you're in Fiona's body. I'm you, and you're me." She began pacing, paws crunching through leaves, and glanced up at the thick canopy of trees that formed a block between the cloudy sky and the forest floor.

"Okay," Fianna agreed placidly. "Hey, does it feel weird to be me?"

"Yes!" Fiona tossed her head, trying to get Fianna's head fur to fall down. "It's like I have a bouncy frog on my head, and it won't sit still!"

Delightedly rejoicing that her sister was off the topic of boring things like scientists—oh. "Fiona. . . . How are we going to feed ourselves? We've never hunted before, and, and, I don't know how!"

"We'll just have to figure it out," Fiona remarked grimly. "We're going to have to figure a lot of things out."

brought to you by leopard who really is sorry for writing such short chapters and absolutely loves writing Switched.