Author's Note: So once again, I've kept you all waiting much longer than I intended to, for which I apologize. Busy. So busy. That's all I'll say for now. Anyway, I don't want to bore you any longer, so here's the chapter…
~~~
Haku closed his eyes as the being raised a gentle hand and pressed it softly against his forehead.
The feeling that washed over him was unlike anything he'd ever experienced before. It flowed through him into the deepest parts of his very being, melting into his soul, making him feel more alive than he'd ever been before. It was like tiny pulses of electricity were being conducted through his veins. He felt every inch of his body, every fiber, with an intense clarity, and became acutely aware of even the smallest details that made him who he was. It was euphoric, impossibly liberating, impossibly real.
It remained that wait for several suspended seconds, frozen in time. And then the pain hit. His fall from ecstasy was made all the more gruesome by its juxtaposition to the joy he'd felt only moments before. A searing pain tugged at his heart, like a hand cruelly gripping his very core, searching, prodding, tearing him apart. He'd never felt so vulnerable, or so exposed. He made to struggle against it, to cry out and scream, but was subdued an instant later. The pain ended as abruptly as it had manifested. An unnatural calm fell over his body, a body that had just experienced the extremes of both elation and torture. It was strange, the numb, muted feeling. He felt hollow. And then something inside him stirred, softly at first, but steadily gaining strength as its presence slowly formed inside him. Finally, realization hit him. He'd found it; that one thing that had been hidden inside him for so long. It had been uncovered, brought to the surface and he was made whole again.
An inaudible gasp burst from his lungs. His head reeled, and he staggered for several moments, trying to control himself in the face of this incredible discovery. His entire body grew limp and he fell to the ground, face first into the shallow waters of the chamber. He lay that way for some time, until he finally found the strength to arch his neck backwards, lifting his face from the pool. Tiny beads of water slipped off his forehead, falling gracefully back into the pool from whence they had come, returning to their rightful place with miniscule splashes. And with them went Haku's anxiety, his weakness, his pain. He was washed clean, renewed.
Breathing heavily, he pushed himself back up to his feet, standing before the enigma that was the ruler of the lands of chaos once more. He bowed his head deeply, unsure of what to say, or of how to thank the monarch for the unbelievable gift he'd been given.
The being spoke, "Your strength has been restored, your powers returned. You have all you need to end your journey now."
Haku raised his vibrant green eyes to those of the being and they exchanged a brief look. He glanced to the left of the throne, where the sapling had been only seconds ago, before his powers had been restored. In its place stood a much larger tree. It shone with the same airy light as before, but was stronger, larger now, with iridescent leaves sprouting from every one of its numerous sturdy branches. It was beautiful. He realized now that his first impression had been wrong, that the sapling hadn't been ordinary or dull; it had been just as magnificent as the full-grown tree that it had become, he just hadn't seen its potential. He smiled minutely.
To the right was the mirror, though unlike the tree, it was exactly the same as it had been before in appearance. He took several slow steps to the side, until finally he was standing directly in front of it, his reflection staring back. The reflection of himself in his true form, in that of a dragon, a water spirit. He inhaled sharply in shock, and reached a tentative hand forward, pressing it against the cool glass. With a disbelieving smile on his face, he turned back to the enthroned being.
"Thank you," he said simply and quietly, nearly out of breath, "thank you. You don't realize what a great service you have done for me."
"I gave you back what was yours to begin with. Nothing more," the creature replied, the same neutral, emotionless expression still in place.
"Still, I thank you," he bent down to one knee and bowed his head again. "And now, I shall leave your world in peace, hopefully that I may return to you the goodwill you have bestowed upon me. I swear that my journey to leave your realm will be swift, and I will make full use of the abilities you have restored to me."
"That is well. But a final word before you leave, water spirit. The one you love is in danger. She has precious little time left." And with that, the being waved a hand in the air, and the world around Haku began to fade away once more. "Good-bye, I doubt we will ever meet again."
"Wait! Wait! Help, what do you mean?" Haku cried, but it was too late, the room, the mirror, the tree, and the ruler of the lands of chaos had all vanished, and Haku found himself standing at the edge of the realm, staring into the golden wall once more. He didn't question how the being had known about Chihiro nor did he question the validity of the statement; there wasn't time for that.
For the first time in years, he transformed. The dragon inside him awakened once more.
~~~
"Shen," Chihiro breathed, scrambling backwards in her panic and surprise. She stumbled over a branch and fell roughly to the ground, scratching her legs and drawing blood in the process. She turned an alarmed face towards the intruder. "Go away," she whimpered, her voice leaving her lips in a frightened whimper, not at all in the authoritative and commanding way she'd meant it to come out.
The young man standing over her laughed callously. "But I've only just arrived, love. And I've missed you so," he said dramatically, with feigned innocence. His mouth formed into a mock pout, and he dropped to one knee, crouching down next to her. His arrogant smile quickly vanished, and he stared hard at her for several long moments. Neither of them spoke, Chihiro barely even dared to breath. Shen held her gaze with his icy eyes, peering at her with such powerful intensity that she found it impossible to break the connection, to turn away. It terrified her. Finally, he spoke again, far more seriously this time, his voice entirely devoid of the usual traces of cynicism and sarcasm. There was an almost…softness and vulnerability to it. "Come with me, Chihiro. Come with me. Your friends, the river spirit, all of them have gone. But I'm still here. Come with me, away from this," he spoke gently in what was really a very soothing timbre. But she could sense something else, subtle though it was, lacing his tone as well. Desperation. A panicked light flickered in his eyes, a fear, a hopelessness that she'd never seen there before. He reached a hand out and placed it against the side of her face, touching her cheek with the tips of his fingers, in much the same way Haku had done in the past. Her eyes widened in surprise at the gesture, and she sputtered in surprise.
"You're crazy," she finally managed to spit out, shaking her head slowly and regarding him with fear. She hated the way his skin felt against hers, the coarse texture to it, the entirely wrong feeling of it. But she was frozen, she couldn't move, couldn't push him away. "Stop. Why, why do you keep following me? Just leave me alone," she pleaded through laborious swallows of air.
"Don't you understand?" Shen asked, hints of madness growing increasingly obvious in his manner. He was speaking rapidly, fervently, like a man driven beyond his limits. "It's perfect. You, the human girl, brought here by fate, brought here to the Spirit World. And I, the banished wind spirit, wronged by the gods, sentenced to eternity in this miserable place, exiled from my home, my rightful place, back in the Human World. Your world. You're a gift, a gift for me. A delicate little parcel from the realm of the humans, the last remaining piece of that world left available to me. A reminder, a keepsake, of sorts. See? You see now, don't you? It's only fair; it's only fair that you stay with me! The gods had no right to take me away from the Human World, but now, now I have you! I've beaten them, I've won! Even the most powerful of the gods couldn't keep me from what is rightfully mine!" he cried triumphantly.
He placed his free hand on Chihiro's arm and grabbed it firmly, at the same time adjusting the hand on her face so that now he was gripping her roughly under the chin as well. She squirmed and shouted in protest, kicking at him, the harshness of his actions snapped her back to reality, freeing her from her frozen state. She succeeded in throwing him off of her and retreated several steps, but he just as quickly caught her again, restraining her with his powerful arms. They were both standing now, Shen with his arms wrapped tightly around her waist in a secure hold, so that when he spoke, he needed only to whisper due to the closeness of their positions.
"I won't let anyone take you away. Not the gods, and certainly not that river spirit. You're my prize to be won, and I will have you," he murmured.
"Haku will kill you," Chihiro replied vehemently in a voice no louder than the one Shen had used, yet brimming with conviction and hatred.
"He's not coming back, he's left you," Shen said slowly, letting each word fully impact the girl. And it worked. Those few short phrases ripped at her like daggers, tearing away slowly, painfully. Her feelings began rushing back, all the pain she'd experienced when she'd found out that he'd gone…
"You're wrong," she responded, though her demeanor lacked the certainty that had been there before and her voice wavered with the promise of a fresh wave of tears.
"Am I? No matter, even if by some chance he does return for you, he won't get you back. I won't let him have you."
"You won't be able to defeat Haku and you know it. Even when he was wounded, he still bested you in battle. You don't have the strength to kill him."
"Perhaps you're right…well then, I guess I'll just have to kill you instead, should it come to that. After all, I can't let the little river god steal you away from me, now can I? No, he won't beat me this time. Either way, he's already lost."
~~~
Lin was still wearing a look of concern and apprehension. "I think…maybe we should go back. I mean, I know she's upset and wants to be alone, but still, she needs us, she needs to know that we're there for her and that we'll stand by her." The girl threw one of the many tiny pebbles she'd picked up along their trail earlier, carelessly casting it off to the side.
"I know you're worried, Lin, but we just need to give the dear girl her space. You remember the way she exploded when you tried to comfort her. She doesn't want us there right now," Zeniba answered calmly, though a part of her agreed with Lin.
"I know you're right, but…oh, I don't know what to think anymore. Fine, we'll give her a while longer, just not too much longer."
~~~
The slender, glistening form of the dragon burst through the golden barrier that separated the Spirit World from the lands of chaos. Shimmering wisps of the misty material trailed after him, clinging to his tail before finally dissipating as he made his departure from the Sphere of Chaos. Haku let out the dragon equivalent to a sigh, thankful to be back in his own world, and back in the body he had missed so dearly. He executed a graceful turn in the air, craning his neck to get one final glance of the lands of chaos. Thank you he thought to himself once more, hoping that somehow the mystifying being he'd met there could hear his heart's words.
With that, he let out a tremendous roar of joy, closing his jade eyes. It felt so right to be in dragon form again. He could feel his power, his speed, all of his body's potential. Although it had been many years since he'd used this form, it all immediately came back to him, as if it had just been yesterday that he'd transformed.
He sped off, shooting up into the clouds, erupting through the first hazy layer of white with a sense of rapture. He took a moment to observe his surroundings. A sea of puffy white clouds lay below him, and countless more filled the sky over his head. He loved areas like this, places of pure blue, calm sky nestled gently between patches of mist. He always felt safe there. He resisted the urge to stay that way, soaring happily across the sky, dancing and weaving amongst the clouds. There would be time for that later. Now, he needed to find Chihiro.
~~~
Author's Note: Okay, so I'm not really happy about having to end this chapter so early, but I think that even though this chapter is short, it's pretty important. Haku has his powers back, and Shen's attraction to Chihiro is explained more clearly here. Those things will both be really important in the next chapter or two, so…yeah. And while I don't know when I'll have time to get the next chapter out (it could be a while…) the next chapter will definitely be a looonnnnggg one, and lots of loose ends should be tied up in it. That's my hope, at least. Well, stay tuned, and thanks so much to all of you for your patience and support!