Unkind Mankind
Disclaimer: I do not own Spirited Away.
I'm just going to make it easy and count the prologue as Chapter 1.
Chapter 2 - Numb
Numbness. It's all I feel, and all I am. I am surrounded by a dark chasm of shadows. The shadows consume me, yet the shadows welcome me; I am one with the shadows. The rigid claws of black nothingness beckon me deeper down into the darkness.
"Chihiro." The voice calls again. The voice is soothing to my ears. I find this voice comforting in all this unfamiliarity that surrounds me. I try to reach out to the voice, try to reach out to something familiar.
I break through a seemingly invisible barrier. 'I'm free.', or so I thought.
~o~o~O~o~o~
Somewhere in an unknown land to most, a young man gasps for desperate breaths of air, seemingly to have just woken from a nightmare.
The young man's face is plastered with sweaty strands of emerald green hair, his matching eyes unfocused, though staring across at his bed sheets. A pale hand shakily runs through his shoulder-length mass, attempting to calm himself.
A sudden thought hits him.
With his heart racing, the young man dashes out of his bedroom, down a hall and into an elevator. Pulling the lever hastily in an upwards direction, he impatiently paces the carpeted floor, hands behind his back and head bent downward.
When the elevator reaches the topmost floor of the building and the doors open, the young man dashes out and heads towards a specific set of double doors. Not bothering using the knocker, the young man pushes open the doors with both hands. Again he races down a few more hallways, eventually ending up at an office.
An old woman with an overly large head and wart just above her obscenely large nose looks up at the disheveled young man.
"What are you doing up at this hour? And what happened to you? You're a mess!" The old woman boomed.
"I haven't the time for this, Yubaba." The young man replied, a sort of fire within his emerald eyes. The old woman, Yubaba, seems to have gotten the message. The matter was obviously serious, or so she hoped.
"What is it, Haku?" Yubaba questioned the young man, now a more serious tone in her voice than before.
"It's Chihiro, I think she might be in danger." Haku replied, attempting to keep a calm tone. Yubaba, however, didn't find the conversation to be so serious anymore. Instead, she laughed. The old woman laughed as if her voice box were replaced by that of a witch.
There were always times when Haku would try to trick her into letting him find Chihiro, an apparent 'friend' of his. And so, the old crone thought this as another plan of trickery of his.
"I'm being serious, Yubaba. I can feel it." When Haku had said those words though, Yubaba took note of the complete and utter seriousness in his tone. This time, there was no winey or depressed tone in his voice. In fact, it was pure seriousness and determination, among other certain emotions, but she would dwell on those later.
Yubaba frowned.
"Are you sure?" Haku was starting to get impatient now. He raised his voice a little.
"Of course I'm sure! Every piece of my being is screaming at me to help her!" He composed himself once more. "I have to find her."
"And how are you going to get to the Human World?" This issue was another matter.
"I'll find a way, there's always a way." He paused. "I'll even visit your sister if it's necessary." Yubaba cackled once more.
"My sister! You would go see her just to see a petty human again! Ha! Like she'd ever help you! You stole her precious golden seal!" She mimicked those last three words as if she were pretending to be someone else, or rather, her sister.
"She forgave me." Haku muttered in reply.
"What?"
"I said," He spoke up. "She forgave me. Zeniba said she would forgive me if I looked after Chihiro. I need to keep my promise, both of them. I have to help her." Haku's determination hadn't died down in the least, although he seemed to have been remembering something, or a specific memory.
"I see." Yubaba paused. "Wait, both promises? What's the other one?"
"The most important promise I could ever have, and I need to keep it." Was all Haku had said. He said nothing more; he just left the room, leaving a confused Yubaba to her thoughts.
Minutes later, Haku was pacing around his bedroom, hands behind his back, head facing downward once more.
'I have to think of something, anything!' He thought. 'I have to see Chihiro again.' Haku sighed. 'I guess I'm going to have to go see Zeniba about it.' With that, Haku ran over to his balcony, and with swift movements stood on top of the railing. He then dived down, into the cool evening air.
In the distance, an elegant white dragon with an emerald mane flew down the train tracks and towards the slowly rising sun.
~o~o~O~o~o~
"Haku! What are you doing here? It's so early!" An old woman identical to Yubaba, wart and all, had opened her front door to find a wind-blown, disheveled Haku standing at her door. He was panting slightly, and the old woman took note of his distressed state. Her attire consisted of a light pink dressing gown; she obviously wasn't expecting company so early in the morning.
"Zeniba, its Chihiro. I think she might be in danger." The young man stated, trying to compose himself a little. Zeniba, the old woman, only nodded and opened the door wider so that Haku may enter.
"I see. I'll get my golden seal. Take a seat, dear." With that Zeniba disappeared into a hallway. Haku walked over to a rectangular dining table and sat at one of the seats. His foot tapped impatiently and uncontrollably.
Within a minute Zeniba returned with her most prized golden seal in her wrinkled hands. She sat down at the opposite side of the table to Haku, placing the golden seal on the surface.
"You should recognise this. After all, you did steal it from me." The look of guilt spread across the young man's face, making the old woman cackle.
"Calm down, boy! I forgave you years ago." Hearing these words, Haku visibly calmed a little.
"Now, let's see how Chihiro is doing." The woman placed her wrinkled hands in front of the precious object. She looked Haku in the eyes.
"Before she left here eleven years ago, No Face and I gave her a gift. We gave her a hairband with a protective spell on it." She paused. "Problem is the spell only works once. But, I have also placed a tracking spell on it, so I can keep an eye on her, see if she's okay."
"How? Can I see her?" Haku cut in, almost slamming both hands on the table as he abruptly stood up, his eyes desperate.
"Calm down now, dear." Haku sat down once more. "To answer your question, yes. You can see her, in a way. Just watch."
Now, Zeniba stared into the golden object, before closing her eyes in concentration. She then chanted some foreign words Haku had never heard of, and the seal started to glow. A pale blue light emitted from the golden seal. Haku was almost mesmerized by the light.
Then, about a foot above the seal, the same blue light glowed in the shape of a roughly drawn sphere. For a moment, Haku sat there, in anticipation; until an image within the sphere began to appear.
The young man sat there shocked at the sight he saw. Although, he didn't see Chihiro anywhere.
The image he saw was of a group of people crying. One of them, however, did catch his attention. A woman with caramel blonde hair, and teary hazel eyes was on the ground, kneeling and sobbing uncontrollably. This was not what caught his attention though. What caught his attention was the fact that she was calling out someone's name; Chihiro's name.
The image started flickering, and then disappeared, along with the blue glow. The golden seal lay lifeless on the table.
The room stood silent for a few minutes, before Haku muttered.
"What was that?"
"…"
Haku stood up once more, knocking the chair over with the force; his hands slammed on the wooden surface.
"What was that!? That wasn't Chihiro! And who was that woman calling Chihiro's name!?" Haku screamed. "Tell me Zeniba! I need to know if she's okay!"
Zeniba only sat there, her chin resting on her entwined hands, seemingly in deep thought. After a moment, she finally looked up at the distressed young man.
"We need to get you to the Human World." The old woman stated.
The next ten minutes found Haku impatiently pacing the floor once more, Zeniba still sitting in the same place she was in previously.
"What if-" Zeniba started, Haku perking. "No, that won't work." After a moment, Zeniba was struck with another idea. She looked up at the pacing man. "Haku, do you remember where your river is?" That said, within moments the man was replaced with a dragon, literally flying out the door.
Zeniba sighed.
"I'm afraid you may be too late, Haku."
~o~o~O~o~o~
A/N: Well, what do you think about the second chapter? Good? Bad? Review and let me know!
Thanks to the one reviewer that I got in the prologue chapter, Swansae515! I've brought another chapter, as you've requested. Hope you enjoyed!