Spirited Away II: Return to the Spirit Realm

Chapter 12

A few days have passed since Chihiro's arrival at the Imperial Palace.

Haku proved himself to be an excellent general and the Royal Army was impressive in the eyes of many.

Yet, that was the only good thing that actually happened.

The Lady received boxes of letters daily from her subjects; all of them asking for assistance on various problems caused by the Dark Spirit. The frigid weather reached such a point that the earth was fruitless and wouldn't grow anymore crops. As you can imagine, this caused a great shortage of food and the problem presented itself to the Lady as unexpectedly as a smack. The percentage of abduction grew, and eventually the troops were assigned to protect the citizens from the vicious kidnappers.

And, just to top things off, it began to snow - a factor that proved that the Dark Spirit's forces were getting stronger, if not increasing.

This afternoon in particular was frigidly cold. The Lady, with her chin in her palms and her elbows propped up in the window-sill, sighed wistfully at the area around the Imperial Palace. The breath-taking vista was replaced by barren and lifeless mountains with a thick coating of snow, that looked quite lonely without their evergreen wood companion. The bit of sea in the distance looked more gray than blue. Sighing again, the spirit queen spun on her heel and looked at the fire. It rose in miniature orange tongues from the pit weakly; looking as if the tiniest breeze could quench it. The Lady furrowed her eyebrows angrily. No wonder it was so cold! She made a circular movement with her flicked wrist and the almost-quenched fire jumped to life, burning the remains of the firewood eagerly.

"If only I could solve this disaster with a flick of my wrist," the Lady mused, smiling faintly.

The problem did have a solution, of course. Unfortunately, there was no way escaping the deadly consequences for the human girl and several times the spirit queen caught herself wishing that Chihiro never did come to her. Though it has been only a few days, the Lady found herself liking - and, in some areas, respecting - the human girl. Letting her die would be more heart breaking than the spirit queen ever thought it would be.

Of course, "heart wrenching" would be a ridiculous understatement for Chihiro's close friends and family. An image of a completely flabbergasted and heartbroken Haku popped into the Lady's mind and she hissed quietly from the bitter sting of guilt. Unexpectedly, Haku captivated her thoughts and her heart sunk.

"My dear son ... why did fate have to be so cruel to you?" she whispered at an inaudible level. "You were stolen from home at infancy. Suffered destruction of your river. Worked for some wicked witch, who nearly destroyed you. Then, you had to watch someone dear to you leave you for what you could be forever." The Lady stiffened. "And I am planning to kill that one dear to you...!"

The Lady could feel conscious nip at the back of her mind, whispering out its warnings angrily. Guilt rising within her at a dangerously fast pace. But the other part of the Lady, the more sensible part of her, screamed for the good of the Spirit Realm. "Yes, Kohaku will be heartbroken," it agreed. "But what will be of your kingdom - including your son - if Chihiro won't kill the Dark Spirit? Will anybody be notheartbroken, then?"

"Whose obligation is it to protect your kingdom? Why should Chihiro die for a world that isn't her own?" conscious protested.

The spirit queen sat there, feelings of uncertainty and lack of self-confidence blooming inside of her. She was completely torn. It was wrong, she knew, to take Chihiro's life and that would leave the girl's parents and her own son heartbroken; but at the other hand, no human killing the Dark Spirit equals the enormous sacrifice of the Spirit Realm.

If only there was another solution to the catastrophe ... if only!

"Oh darling, if only you were here. If only I could speak to you," the Lady whispered as she lifted her eyes to meet the ivory-colored ceiling. She remembered the wise Lord who would, even at the toughest of times, have the strong sense of self-confidence. Who would clasp the Lady's hand and, a small smile brightening his handsome features, say that everything would be all right as long as they had each other and as long as the kingdom was fine.

It was then that the gears in the Lady's brain clicked and her face brightened up with new hope. Jumping up from her chair, she dashed out of her room and down the halls. Such an act, of course, was considered highly undignified; there was an unspoken rule you had to leave your room in proper attire, not in nightgowns. Seeing the Lady run down the halls in nightly attire, with her tear-stained face and disheveled blue mane, would undoubtedly raise inquiring eyebrows from the witnesses. Yet, she couldn't care less.

Only one thing mattered now.

The Lady didn't pause for a second to regain her breath or to wipe her eyes until she reached her destination. The unwelcoming sight of the abandoned basement in the dim light greeted her and the Lady couldn't suppress a disgusted shudder. Trying her best to ignore the filthy conditions - and a rather loud squeak that suspiciously sounded like a mouse's - she went over and picked up a large, red hardcover book titled Catalogue.

"If it isn't here, then I honestly don't know what to do!" she muttered, flipping through the pages.

For during his life-time, the Lord was fascinated with science. "I can sit and watch the grass grow for all eternity," he would say. His hobby was to be a scientist; he would conduct complex experiments in the privacy of his underground laboratory on numerous occasions. Therefore, the Catalogue - or, rather, the record-book of the Lord's experiments - was enormous and the Lady spend an entire hour in the depths of her book with no result. Dread was consuming her and she was beginning to think that her husband never did bring the subject up when she saw, in the page's bottom right hand corner, an experiment's title that read: Temporary Transformation From Spiritual To Human Body.

The Catalogue slipped from the Lady's slender fingers and fell to the floor with a loud, protesting thud. She just stood there, ignoring the fallen Catalogue as if turned into stone, with a wide smile plastered on her face. She felt herself drown into her emotions and she felt the great urge to let them all out, one way or another; yet, the only thing she did was grin and murmur, "Now Chihiro won't have to die."

A painful fear tugged, and her brain reminded her sharply of the consequences.

The Lady picked up the Catalogue, tears streaming down her face. One of her hands released the book and clutched her chest. The initial overwhelming feeling of triumph and joy was replaced by one of dread. The Lady knew that she had some mere days - two weeks at the most - to live. She'd never get to see her kingdom replenish and her residents happy. She'd never get to see her dear son become a lord and she would, most definitely, never see her grandchildren.

The Lady had no idea how long she has been crying; it could have been twenty minutes, ten minutes, or five. But while she was crying her heartache out, the shrill sound of the clock announcing the next hour reached her ears. The spirit queen stood up sharply and, placing the Catalogue on the table, ran upstairs eagerly. Despite the bittersweet feelings that stirred the tears in her eyes, she managed to smile faintly. I will be able to carry out my duty respectfully, she thought. Though I will die, I will die with honor.