A/n: As always, Spirited Away belongs to the amazing Studio Ghibli, and the genius Hayao Miyazaki. Also, I'm not Japanese, so apologies for any mix-up in languages.
Haku broke his promise and never arrives.
Chihiro forgets him soon enough.
But never quite completely. She studies hard and defies her parents' expectations of a good marriage and grandsons. She becomes an environmentalist, tracking the trail of pollution across Japan. She fiercely lobbies the government to save the trees, to save rivers straining under the yoke of chemicals. She plays an instrumental role in ensuring the clean-up of the Fukushima disaster. With all the tenacity and determination of her childhood years, she protects spirits she never remembered.
Years later, a celebrity in her own right, she dies. But at her deathbed, she does not see the husband she never married, or the children she never had.
Instead, she remembers a bathhouse she worked at when she was ten. An old witch wise with kindness and experience and her fearsome trickster twin. A thin woman with an unexpected soft side, a generous man with six extra arms. An oversized baby with a stubborn streak a mile long. A spirit of no identity, shy and harmless on its own.
And last but not least, a boy with the name of a river and the eyes of a dragon. A promise unfulfilled.
Chihiro falls into a dream, where she is ten years old, and trudging along a pathway that seems familiar somehow.
Her ten-year-old self runs happily in the forest, greeting the moss covered statues as friends. They watch as she flies by, silent and knowing. She enters the black tunnel without any hesitation: she knows nothing there can harm her. She barely stops to admire the stained-glass window of the room with chapel seats before running into the open. She doesn't look back, because there is nothing for her in that life.
Strangely enough, it is night time, so she has to squeeze onto the boat which will take her to town. The spirits all gaze at her, and in one swift, fluid motion, part way for her to sit down.
"Thank you, sirs." she says.
She is the first out of the boat. She runs past the restaurants, past the place where her parents were turned into pigs, and at last, she arrives at the bridge.
Haku is waiting for her there. He looks the same as ever, with his white tunic and blue pants, but there is a difference. He seems more confident, more sure of himself. More wise and older too.
She runs to the bridge and holds his hands in hers. They gaze at each other, tears falling down freely.
"Haku-san."
"Chihiro-san."
"You never came for me," Chihiro says, but it is without rebuke. Some things weren't meant to be.
Haku shook his head. "I'm sorry. My river is long gone, and I have no physical anchor in the human world. But you saved a great many from my fate."
They walk together, past the bathhouse.
"Shouldn't we visit Kamaji? And Lin?" Chihiro asks, curious.
Haku shakes his head. "You'll see."
They walk past the busy bathhouse, which has spirits of all shapes and sizes going in and out, as always. Chihiro instinctively knows that this is the last time she will see it, which gives her a sort of bittersweet feeling.
"Wait," she says. She turns and stares at it. It looks the same as ever, green and red with that regal look to it. She spots Yubaba's office, but does not fear it: Yubaba can never hurt her or take her identity away again. She eyes the room where she slept at, where she stared across the water, wondering if she could ever escape.
The lights of the bathhouse are all switched on, a beam to all those in need. One could mistake it for a lighthouse from afar.
Some things should never change, Chihiro thinks. She commits this image to memory, the bathhouse that would stay that way forever until the gates of death close, and turns to Haku.
She walks away from the bathhouse, secure in the knowledge that she need never look back.
They walk to the train station. It is just the same, with the tracks submerged in water.
On the platform stand Zeniba, Kamajii, No-face and a much older Boh.
Chihiro smiles at them. "What are you all doing here?"
"We're here to send you off, of course."
"Where?" Chihiro asks.
"Where does the train go?" Kamajii asks. From somewhere in his body, his second right hand takes a train ticket. "For you, Haku."
"How about me?" Chihiro asks.
Kamajii chuckles. "You already have one, child."
Chihiro looks down at her right hand and is surprised to see one of the precious train tickets tucked in her hand. When did it appear in her hand?
"Kamajii-san, why aren't you in the bathhouse?" For Kamajii will never leave the bathhouse when there is work to be done and soot sprites to take care of.
"For you, Chihiro-san, the bathhouse can wait."
Looking around, Chihiro asks, "Where is Lin-san?"
Haku replies, "She took the train already, a few years back. A customer gave her a ticket."
"Chihiro-san, you haven't said anything to me!" Boh pouts.
Chihiro smiles. "You've grown so much! How's your mother?"
Boh declares, "She's trying to control me, but she won't for long. I'll seek my fortune out in the human world after this. I only stayed to say goodbye to you."
"Thank you, Boh-san." Chihiro says, touched.
Zeniba clucks. "The train will be here soon enough. Whatever you want to say, say it fast."
No-face edges forward. It presses a bracelet into Chihiro's hand, almost identical to her hair tie.
"Thank you. I'll always remember you." Chihiro says. She thinks she understands No-face. It is lonely, and missing half of its soul. "I hope you'll find yourself one day."
No-face just grunts in gratitude.
Zeniba pulls her into a hug. "Don't forget us, and," glaring at Haku, "Young man, make sure you take care of her."
Haku bows and replies, "I think Chihiro-san will take care of me instead."
"Obasan," Chihiro asks. "Won't you ever ride the train?"
Zeniba sighs. "I'll like to, but who would take care of my sister? I'll go when my sister does."
Chihiro knows that this will mean that Zeniba won't go until the gates of death close, whenever that is. "I'll wait for you, Obasan. At the end of the track."
Boh shouts, "Look, the train is arriving!"
Chihiro turns to look at the train, slowly making its way to the train stops in front of them, Haku turns to her. "I'm sorry you had to wait so long, Chihiro-san."
Chihiro shakes her head. "Just as long as we're together ."
Haku nods, and holds his hand up in an invitation.
Chihiro grips his hand, and waves at the gang that have gathered to send her off. "Goodbye! I won't forget you!"
Kamajii calls out, "Send my regards to Lin-san!"
Chihiro nods in assent, and together, she and Haku mount the train. The train rides slowly off, taking them to their destination, that great unknown adventure.
And know this, reader: this is not the end, nor is it the beginning of the end. It is, however, the end of the beginning.