Hey everybody! I got really nice feedback on the kiss…::glows:: yay! Thankees thankees!!!!! I hope you like this one…no kissing in it, though. But it'll give you something to ponder until my next posting…
Just a note…I DO plan to finish this fic. So even if it seems like I'm not posting right away, don't think I'm givin up on this fic! It's come a long way…sighs.
Okey dokey! On with the fic!
Disclaimer: I don't own spirited away or CCS…YET! MUAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
*/ lalala /* = flashback
'lalala'-thinking
* * * with italics- Dreaming
~ ~ ~ - in Gnimaerd (either Ananda or Aiden)
"lalala"-out loud
Chapter 17: Treachery in the LibraryThere was a bright light, and when it cleared her first thought was that in front of them was a gigantic library. Or at least, that was what Chihiro thought once the bright light went away. She couldn't really tell how big the library was, because right in front of them was a very tall bookcase that stretched as far as Chihiro and Haku could see, in both directions like one long wall. But she could see the ceiling, and it looked like it went on farther in front of them. The ceiling was very high up, and had old and musty molding on it that you usually saw in New York lofts.
The floor was plain marble; alternating squares of rosy pink and cold white, occasionally crossed by aged red carpeting. And music was playing from somewhere; it was soft and hid between the books, unnoticed. It was classical, or something like it.
"Well then, I guess it's a library," Chihiro said, stating the obvious. "Or at least, there's a really big bookshelf that someone forgot to move."
Haku said, "Maybe we should go. This place looks big…and we could get lost." He turned around and saw that the door was closed behind them, apparently locked. Haku approached it, but before he could try to open the door, a little tinny voice said, "Look at a book you must, yes. You should read something."
Before he could respond, Haku heard Chihiro give an exclamation of surprise. "Look Haku!"
Chihiro was holding a book that she'd pulled out from the shelf. Haku noted that the books on the bookshelf were stacked at least four deep, and most were covered in a thick coating of dust.
"It's a book we're reading in school," she said. "Animal Farm…" Chihiro put it back on the shelf and walked over to the left. She picked up another one, a thick leather bound volume, and read, "Encyclopedia Britannica." Chihiro moved along and started reading titles. "The Hobbit…something in Russian, I think…I don't know this language, looks like Hebrew or something…The Beautiful Universe…"
Haku asked her, "Are those all books from the Human World?"
"Yes…I think so. Some are in different languages, but I think they're all from Earth." She peered at more titles. "In fact, I think all of these books on the shelf are from Earth. Maybe they have books from your world in some other bookshelf…"
Kohaku frowned. "But how would we get to any other shelves…this one seems to expand for forever…"
"It probably ends somewhere. It has to. Let's see." With that Chihiro took off at a run down the right side, sprinting down the aisle. The wall on their right was plain off-white, with no pictures. Once again, Haku followed. There didn't seem to be anything dangerous in here…just that really long bookcase.
After what seemed like hours of running, the two came to a stop. "I wouldn't be surprised if it did go on forever," Chihiro panted. "This is in Aiden's House, anyway." A thought came to Chihiro. "Aiden's House…" she mused, "he knows more than he lets on…maybe we can find some answers in this library."
"How are we going to get anywhere, with this bookcase in the way?" Haku asked, not expecting an answer.
Chihiro only looked thoughtfully down both directions. She said slowly, "In the Human World, there's a movie called 'Labyrinth'. It's about this big maze…but the first wall seems to go on forever, like this one does. Except the girl in the story didn't realize that there were openings, and she didn't see one. We could have walked right by one."
She put her hands against the bookcase and moved down the line. Haku went in the other direction, following her lead, testing the bookcase. Solid, solid, solid, knocked a book over, solid, the bookcase crumbled, s---
"Chihiro!" Kohaku shouted. She ran over and they both peered down at the big pile of dust in front of him. A section of the bookcases had just turned into dust. Chihiro picked up the book Haku knocked over. The title read, The Gate. They looked at each other, smiled, and walked through the gate.
Now here was a library to be envied of.
Giant bookcases (that somehow had not been visible past the First Row of Shelves) with ladders all the way up were everywhere, as if randomly strewn by a bored librarian. There were shelves upon shelves of books, all shapes and sizes and colors. Every here and there would be a clearing containing fat poufs in deep purple and green, with little rose shade lamps nearby---more for decoration than for light.
As Chihiro and Haku kept looking, they noticed far away, at the other end of the library, there were levels. There was a corkscrew staircase that led up to another floor of books, lamps, and poufs. And then they saw other staircases reaching to other levels of the grand library.
"He must have every book ever published!" Chihiro breathed in awe.
"Amazing…" Haku said softly.
Chihiro started walking down one of the rows. "Well, let's see if we can find anything. Clues and such."
"Chihiro," Haku said, "maybe we shouldn't split up. The library is very big, and we could easily get lost inside."
Chihiro replied over her shoulder, "Yes, but we have a better chance of finding something important if we split up. Double the area covered." Kohaku suddenly ran up to her. Chihiro turned around and looked at him. He fingered the Rose in his pocket, but after a moment's thought decided that the time wasn't right.
Instead, Haku weaved a tiny spell with his slim fingers over Chihiro's head. For a moment it was visible, like lace, and then it disappeared. "What was that?" she asked.
"Protection. Just…be careful." He gave her a quick hug, and before Chihiro could speak he went off in the other direction.
Chihiro stared, blushing, and called out after him, "You be careful too…"
- - -
There was a bright light…
Aiden appeared silently, and his eyes widened when he came upon the intertwined forms of Sakura and Syaoran. He also saw that one of the pendants was glowing. For a sliver of a second, Aiden felt a strange emotion come over him, though he didn't know what it was. It was almost as if…
Aiden brushed away the thought and put a sly grin on his face. "Ahem."
Sakura and Syaoran hastily broke apart, both a very bright red. The light faded before Sakura could see which one was glowing. The two pendants lay still; amethyst and ruby.
There was an awkward silence.
"We were just---"
"It's not what it---"
"Where are Chihiro and Haku? Gone to get a room?" Aiden chuckled.
Sakura said, "Well, we forgot something back at Zeniba's house. So they went to go get it…but they've been gone for quite a bit…"
Aiden frowned. He held up a small and plain bag and said, "Is this what you forgot? I came to pick it up on my way back from Gnimaerd."
"How did you know it was there?" Syaoran said.
"Ergh…so exactly how long have they been gone?" he asked, deliberately changing the subject. Sakura and Syaoran exchanged glances.
Sakura answered, "We're not sure…"
"I could locate them…it's my House, anyway." Aiden closed his eyes, like someone doing a hard math problem mentally. "Ah…the Library. Well, they should have a nice time in there." Sakura detected sarcasm.
"What do you mean? And how did they get there if they were going to Zeniba's door?"
Aiden held up his hands. "How should I know? The doors like changing around. They try and confuse me, or they just like to move about. But my Library…it's hard to get out once you get in. It's easy to get lost inside. Unless they haven't gotten past the first wall…"
"Let's go and get them, then." Sakura said, picking up her necklace. Aiden reached forward and grabbed Chihiro's. To Sakura and Syaoran's astonishment, it glowed! Even Aiden had a slightly surprised look on his face.
He mused, "I wonder why…?"
"Let's go." Syaoran said, holding his sword.
- - -
Chihiro was climbing one of the staircases. So far, she had found out nothing related to anything Aiden had been talking about. She only hoped that Haku would be doing better than she was.
If it hadn't been for the music softly playing throughout the library, Chihiro would have been freaked out by the silence. The only sound besides the music was her footsteps (cushioned by the musty red carpeting) and her breathing.
"About time," she muttered, upon reaching the top of the staircase. She proceeded to go down a random aisle in this section of the library, but something else caught Chihiro's eye. The red carpeting branched off from where she was standing to wrap around the big bookcases. But at the very end of the room area that she had climbed to, by the left wall, the carpet there was a dusty white (that looked more like yellow).
Chihiro walked over to that carpeting, and peered down the aisle. There were books here too. But it felt like the books here were emanating silence. She kept walking.
Seized with an impulse, Chihiro grabbed a book whose title she couldn't read beneath the layers of dust, and opened it. On opening, it crumbled with a whisper of regret. Looking behind her, Chihiro noticed that her footprints stood out in the carpet carpeted with grime.
'No one has been in this area of the library for a long time…' Chihiro thought. She walked further down the aisle. After a few minutes (she didn't bother to look at the books; she didn't even know why she was bothering to walk down the aisle) Chihiro came near to the end. There was a bookshelf ladder that seemed to go up for at least 20 feet. She hesitated, and then climbed up.
A flash of light caught her eye, and Chihiro looked to her left. Something had caught the light, and Chihiro saw that it was a mirror. It looked ancient and filthy and disgusting. She kept climbing.
By the time her muscles had started to seize up slightly, Chihiro reached the top of the bookcase. Trying not to look down, she gazed at the titles in front of her. Chihiro reached out to try to clear the dust away from one of the books, and it crumbled as well; dust wafted down below. She moved the ladder over (it was on wheels) and saw that each of the books crumbled as she touched it.
It only took a few seconds to reach the end of the shelf. Chihiro touched the last book, too, but to her surprise it did not fall apart. Immediately, her heart beating faster, Chihiro took it off the shelf and looked at it. The title was indiscernible. Or maybe…
The letters moved around and changed shape, until Chihiro was looking at familiar letters. But they were all wrong…it said 'Yrotsih fo yrotsih etelpmoc eht'. 'And that doesn't mean anything…' Chihiro thought.
A sudden idea came to her. Chihiro tucked the book underneath her arm and hurriedly climbed down the long ladder. Halfway down, Chihiro heard a muffled sound that went 'poffang'. For a moment, she was afraid that the ladder had broken, and practically ran down the ladder. But on her way down, Chihiro realized that it had sounded far away, like something had exploded on the complete opposite end of the Library. Whatever it was, it'd have to wait.
She jumped off of the ladder with a few feet to go, and ignored the jarring of her ankles. Chihiro ran to the mirror and rubbed it clean with her hand, and held up the book. She read the title. "The Complete History of History". Heart beating furiously, Chihiro turned the page. It was a table of contents.
There was another 'poffang', only it sounded a bit closer to where Chihiro was. Like it was halfway through the Library. Chihiro turned around and looked out of the aisle. It was awfully long…but to the right (she was on the left wall of the 'little' alcove) was another aisle leading straight to the right wall. The library outside seemed undisturbed.
'So I can go out that way if something blocks that exit…' a shiver ran down Chihiro's spine. Why would she be thinking of running away from something?
Feeling jumpy, Chihiro turned back to the reflection and skimmed the table of contents. One heading caught her eye: 'On the Physical Embodiment of Ananda'. Another one was 'On the Creation of Different Worlds, or When the---' (here the word was smudged) '—was Very Bored'.
Chihiro heard another sound, like someone was climbing the staircase that led to the room where she was. She froze, and with slightly shaking hands (there were footsteps coming closer to her), closed the book. She wished it were smaller, so she could fit it in her pocket. To Chihiro's surprise, it did. Pushing away any questions, Chihiro shoved it in her pocket and looked up.
She saw someone reflected in the mirror, standing at the opposite end of the bookcase-hallway. Chihiro squinted, and sighed with relief.
"Haku?"
He smiled at her, oddly.
- - -
Sakura, Syaoran, and Aiden stood before the First Wall.
"You see, I installed this just for fun. To anyone, from anywhere, there will be books from their world, all in this first row. Of course, they will wonder how to get past this wall and into My Library…but there is only one way. Chihiro and Haku must have stumbled on it by accident. Otherwise it's pretty hard to get in."
Sakura asked, "Why wouldn't you want people to get inside?"
"There are some things in here that aren't books." Aiden led them down the path to the right. Then he stopped, and took out a book. The bookcase dissolved into dust, and they stepped into the Library.
"Wow!" Sakura gasped. Syaoran raised his eyebrows. Aiden however, frowned.
"Something isn't right," he said softly. "Something has gotten out."
Sakura asked nervously, "What do you mean?" She looked around and noticed Syaoran was fingering his sword's hilt.
Before Aiden could answer, they heard footsteps. Coming towards them. Aiden stiffened and Sakura reached out for Syaoran's hand. But it was just Kohaku, walking down one of the aisles.
Sakura sighed in relief, letting go of Syaoran's hand.
"Where's Chihiro?" Syaoran asked, looking around. Aiden said nothing, only stared oddly at Haku.
Suddenly Sakura said, "Kohaku! Are you hurt?" She pointed at his sleeve, and they saw blood on it.
He answered coolly, "No, I'm not."
Aiden was frowning by now. Sakura faltered. "But then…"
Someone yelled, "GET AWAY FROM HIM! STAY AWAY! IT'S A TRAP!"
"Chihiro?" Everyone turned around, and saw Chihiro standing by one of the bookcases. She was pale and trembling, and Sakura saw that she was bleeding from a nasty looking cut on her forehead and her shirt was torn.
"RUN!" she panted out, and ran forward. She was limping. There was a terrible shriek, and Sakura felt herself screaming as they turned around and saw some sort of shadow rushing towards them---
Aiden raised his hands and shouted something---
Bookcases fell over, books scattering and pages flying---
Chihiro thought wildly, 'The music's stopped!'
Syaoran was holding Meracus—
There was a clear dome overhead, and there was another horrible scream. A few pages of paper wafted down onto the fallen bookshelves, and silence reigned.
"Chihiro, are you ok?" Chihiro had run over to Sakura, limping, and had collapsed on to her knees during the chaos. Syaoran stood nearby, holding out Meracus and warily looking around. Aiden was nowhere to be found.
"I'm ok…" Chihiro answered.
Sakura asked, "What happened?"
Chihiro took a few deep breaths to calm herself. Her hands were shaking, and she was breathing fast.
"We found ourselves in here. Haku and I were able to get in the library…and then I thought that we might find something about the necklaces or something in here, since there are so many books. And we decided to split up. Then I was in one of the alcoves, and I heard these weird noises, like they were coming from across the library. And then there were footsteps coming close to me, and I put the book away—"
"What book?" Sakura asked.
Chihiro held it out. "It's backwards. If found it on the highest shelf, at the end of the bookcase. I thought it might have some answers. But anyway, I was looking at it with a mirror, and then I heard the footsteps, and I saw Haku in the mirror, and I thought, well that's ok. But he was smiling odd…and then he just…lunged forwards…"
Chihiro took a few more breaths. "And I ran down the other aisle, and he came crashing through one of the bookcases, and there were books everywhere…and paper. Haku turned into his dragon form, and almost got me…cut me here…and ripped my shirt. But I ran down the stairs and tripped…think I sprained my ankle…he was chasing me…but then he stopped and turned back into his human form. Maybe he knew you guys were in here. And so I walked around to try and warn you."
Sakura held her hands and wiped the cut on her forehead. Chihiro asked suddenly, "Where's Aiden?"
Syaoran said, "He left this dome above us. A protective shield." He was looking through it, for any sign of Aiden or Kohaku. But it was all still.
"So did you guys find out anything about the necklaces?" Chihiro asked.
Sakura and Syaoran cast embarrassed glances at each other, both a bright red. "Ah…well…one of them did glow…"
"When? Which one?"
"Eh…I'm not sure."
Chihiro said, "Do you have them with you?"
Sakura, glad for the distraction, took out both of the necklaces. Sakura's amethyst one was dull, but Chihiro's pendant was glowing in Sakura's hands. Chihiro gasped. "How…"
Sakura blushed again, and whispered to Chihiro what had happened. Chihiro giggled, and whispered back, "Good for you! I've been waiting for ages…"
Through the dome, Aiden's voice came suddenly. "I'm back." He had appeared, and was carrying Kohaku. "Could you let me in? I fixed the dome so that it would only come off if you told it to. Just in case something happened. I've gotten Haku."
Sakura grinned, and opened her mouth to speak. But Chihiro said, "How do we know you're not like Haku? Something took over him. How can we trust you?"
"Ask me something, then. Each of you. Something only I would know."
Sakura said, "What's your favorite color?"
"But I didn't tell you that!"
"I know. Just checking."
Syaoran asked, "What is this sword's name?"
Aiden smiled, and answered, "Meracus. You named it." Syaoran gave Chihiro a look that said plainly, 'this has got to be him, just let him in already'. But Chihiro shook her head. She had an odd look on her face.
"I know a question that only Aiden knows the answer to," she whispered.
He said, "But only I knew the answers to those questions."
"No, Syaoran knew his answer. And we knew Sakura's answer."
Aiden said, slightly perplexed, "But if you don't know the answer, then how will you know if it's right?"
Chihiro smiled. There was a silence, and they waited for her to ask her question. Then, Chihiro spoke.
"Do you love Ananda?"
Sakura and Syaoran both stared at her, mouths agape. Aiden, however, stared at Chihiro. Then, he said softly, with a small smile, "Yeah, I guess I do."
Chihiro smiled. "Ok, let him in." the dome vanished, and Aiden walked forward. She noticed gold chains binding Haku, and frowned. Before she could say anything, Sakura spoke up.
"I forgot to mention it…your necklace glows for Aiden too!"
Chihiro looked at him, and picked up the necklace. "It should work for me then, since it works for everyone else. Maybe something triggered it to work or something." But the necklace stayed dim. She picked up the other one, but it was dark as well. Sakura reached over and touched it again, and nothing happened.
"You try it." Sakura held it out to Aiden.
He picked it up, and it glowed, and a purple-pink glow shone out of it. "I have no idea why it's lighting up like this…"
Chihiro was silent, staring hard at the necklaces, like she was trying to piece something together. "Let me." Chihiro held out her hand for Sakura's pendant. 'I wish it would glow…' she thought. 'I just hope we can figure this out before Ananda gets any worse. Oh, I hope all of the people back home are ok too, wherever they are. I…' her thoughts faded as the necklace in Chihiro's hands began to glow. "Oh!"
"Hey, you made it work!" Sakura leaned over and looked at it. Chihiro looked like she was thinking harder than ever. Syaoran stepped forward abruptly, and held out Meracus, unsheathed.
He said, "Take it. It may…well, just hold it." Chihiro, bewildered, took it, and began to think once more. She closed her eyes, and racked her brain.
"Chihiro, what is it?" Sakura asked. Aiden watched in silence.
Chihiro didn't answer. She was too busy trying to figure it out. They noticed that the necklace was growing gradually brighter and brighter…
Chihiro almost had it. She looked up, and met Sakura's slightly worried gaze. "I think I have it…" she whispered. Chihiro looked back down at the necklace, and at Aiden holding the ruby one, still glowing.
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thanks to all of the reviewers! I love you guys! Please drop a review, and I will love you forever!
Today's food shall be…ho hum. I'm in the mood for chips! (and I mean French fries as in chips). I love chips…they're SO good. I also love accents, especially Australian and British ^.^
Oh yes, and I'm doing a poll (for those that read HP) : which ship is better, HG/RW or HG/HP?
Do tell ^.^
Ja, silent H