This is a Howl's Moving Castel AU story, I hope you enjoy! The first chapter takes place a few days before the events of the movie, and the plot has changed some, hence the AU-ness.
霧の天使: Angel of the Fog
Chapter 1: Something Wicked This Way Comes
"Howl look! The White Raven is back!" Markl shouted running over to one of the balconies of the moving castle. The raven squawked when Markl ran up to it, and it shifted slightly along the railing until it got a good grip, then chirping happily at him. Markl laughed as the raven used its pinkish beak to move some of his hair around, effectively messing it up worse than how it usually was.
Howl looked up from what he was doing at his table to look over at Markl and the white bird, a small smile on his face.
"So it is," he said in his usual careful and quiet voice, he got up gracefully and made his way over. The raven cocked its head at him, letting out a small noise, when he finally made his way over to stand next to Markl.
Howl noticed something tied to the raven's leg and frowned slightly in confusion before the small smile appeared on his face again, "Oh? Whatever could that be?" he asked sarcastically, knowing exactly what it was.
He actually grinned as the white raven stuck out its leg to show the small parcel tied to it. It was tied rather tight and Howl quickly removed it and made his way over to the cupboards in the corner of the room; the raven immediately voiced its appreciation and hopped onto Howl's forearm.
Markl frowned from behind them, "Aww, poor raven, your girlfriend tied that letter on awfully tight Howl, that wasn't nice…" He giggled when the raven nodded its head once and turned its head to glare softly at Howl, puffing up as though it was his fault. It was now on Howl's shoulder so it had been glaring at him straight in the face.
Howl just gave it a small nervous smile, "Sorry about that," he apologized to the raven.
The raven just huffed and smoothed out its feathers, no longer looking at Howl.
Howl turned back to the cupboards and opened the one on the left, it was full of shiny nick-knacks and tools and the raven's eyes immediately lit up as it scanned the shelves of potential nest ornaments.
"Take your pick," Howl said, "I would usually just give your pay and let you be on your way, but I do feel a bit bad at your harsh treatment…I wonder what made Martha so upset…?"
The raven let out a happy sound crawled down Howl's arm to his wrist, so that it could inspect the various little shinnies. It tilted its head in concentration, its blue eyes flicking this way and that until it finally landed on a pretty little silver chain. The chain had a small red teardrop charm on it, similar to the ones Howl had for his earrings. The raven nodded its head at the chain, and Howl blinked at it in surprise.
Howl picked up the small chain in the hand that the raven was perched on, causing the raven to fly off and land near the hearth where a small fire was burning. He hummed as he inspected the chain carefully.
The white raven ignored him, rather instead tilting its head and looking between the, smaller than usual, fire and the small, precariously placed stack of chopped wood that lay nearby. The raven perked up as a scheme had apparently hatched within its mind…no pun intended, if there even is one.
Two eyes appeared within the flames of the fire and they blinked at the raven, two small strings of flames parted from the rest, as though they were arms. The fire's eyes narrowed as the white bird hopped over to small stack of wood.
It hopped onto the top of the wood and sank its talons into the soft inner meat of the wood.
"Hey, what're you doing with my wood?" the fire demanded, "You better not be trying to steal it again!"
The raven flapped its wings strongly, causing the fire to raise its 'arms' above its head in order to try and block the wind. The raven rose into the air and carried the small block of wood over the fire.
The fire immediately freaked out, "Howl, Howl, Howl! It's trying to kill me again! Help!"
Howl looked up to see the raven release its hold on the wood and drop it on top of the fire, he chuckled as the fire let out a muffled "Woomph!" The raven hovered there for a few seconds before gliding over to Howl's shoulder.
"Oh relax Calcifer, she was only trying to give you some wood, your were looking a little low today, I was just about to give you some wood myself; so, thank you raven." He said petting the raven's head with his now free right hand, the letter now in his pocket.
The fire, Calcifer, just grumbled and stuffed the block of wood into his "mouth."
"How do you know it's even a 'she'?" he demanded irritated.
The raven turned its head to glare at Calcifer, letting out a small hiss; Calcifer immediately hid behind the grating of the hearth.
Howl chuckled and pet the raven's head again to calm it, "Oh please," he laughed, "a man, no matter what the species, would never, willingly, work for me, isn't that right?" he asked the raven the last part, to which it nodded, "See?" Howl asked smugly.
Markl looked up from his desk, as he had moved there after Howl had taken the raven over to the cupboards, "Hey!" he exclaimed, "What about me?! I work for you!"
Howl smiled down at him, leaning forward so that he was almost at Markl's level causing Markl to lean back, "Why yes, but you are not yet a 'man,' so that doesn't count." He chuckled as Markl pouted, "Now get back to your studies while I show our guest out."
Markl let out a small, "yeah, okay…" as Howl made his way over to his door, he paused to set the raven down on top of the left wall that stood as the wall of the stairway, "Oh yes," he said pulling out a small red parcel and tying it to the raven's leg, "Give that to your master, so that they know the little chain is for you okay?" The raven nodded it's head once and flew down to the doorknob below them, "Oh and before sure to come back in a few days for Martha's letter okay?" he called as he flicked his hand once, the light of the door switching to green, and then once towards the door to open it.
The raven chirped twice and flew out the door and into the fog outside, the door closing behind it.
"Now," Howl said to himself, pulling out the pink letter from his pocket, "Let's see…"
The raven flew out of the fog and over wide, green field where a small cottage stood and a man was herding his flock of sheep as usual.
The wind picked up and the raven flew up into the sky and above some clouds, being careful to avoid the numerous airships there were flying about as well. A few of the men on the airships cried out at the sight of her, "Hey look guys! A white raven!" one shouted.
"I wonder who it belongs to?"
"Yeah! Maybe its Howl's!" they all laughed at that and the raven continued to fly by them, ignoring them for the most part.
Soon a town came into view and the raven flew down into the streets, and over a bridge right as a train went by. The raven squawked as it flew out of the smoke, its feathers now covered in black soot making it look exactly like its fellow ravens.
The white raven landed on a windowsill and attempted to shake itself of the soot, but none came off. After a few minutes of trying to clean itself, and making no progress, the raven finally gave up and flew towards a small two-story building. The sign above the door reading "Hatter's."
The raven flew over the building and into a small courtyard where a skinny tree stood. The raven flew down into the top of the tree where there was a large nest, completely full with various small jewels and baubles, and some shiny, colorful string. The raven tugged the parcel off its leg and tucked it in between a large shard of a mirror and a small red pincushion.
Turning towards the mirror, the raven glared at its reflection, a pair of blue eyes and black feathers was all that it saw. With what seemed like a sigh the raven tilted its head up and flew out of the tree, making its way around the building until it came to a double-paned glass window.
It peered in and saw a young woman in a lavender dress working diligently on some hats in a small workshop. The raven pecked on the window loudly and the young woman inside jumped.
"Oh!" she exclaimed and quickly opened the window and allowing the raven inside, "Oh Kiri!" she gasped, "Your filthy!"
The raven merely huffed at her, preening its feathers again.
A middle-aged woman in a blue dress came in looking around, "What is it Sophie what--oh dear! Sophie what has your crow been doing?!"
The raven, Kiri, glared at the woman momentarily before going back to cleaning its feathers.
Sophie turned to the woman, "She must have been flying over a train, and now she's all covered in soot!"
The woman scowled at Kiri as she began preening under her wings, a small puff of soot coming off of her as she moved, "Well clean her up Sophie for goodness sake, she making a mess on your work table!"
The woman then turned and marched out of the workshop, a few girls outside of the room giggled as she left.
Sophie sighed and turned back to Kiri, "Well, we better get you cleaned up then, your leaving little soot-prints all over my table," she said as she held out her hand for the raven to hop onto.
About an hour later Sophie came out of the hat shop's small bathroom, her lavender dress covered in small smudges of soot. She held the door open and a damp Kiri flew out after her, her feathers now practically glowing with cleanliness. She landed on Sophie's shoulder and ran her beak through Sophie's brown hair, causing Sophie to let out a small giggle.
"Well I'm glad your happy!" she laughed, "Because now I've got to go get clean, and then I'm going to bed, it's already dark outside."
Kiri chirped and rubbed her head against Sophie's cheek before flying off her shoulder and over to the window. Sophie followed her and opened it, "Goodnight Kiri," she said as the white raven hopped outside, "pleasant dreams!"
Kiri chirped back to her and flew off, away from Hatter's and towards the clock tower of the town. Off in the distance thunder rumbled and Kiri quickly flew onto a small covered ledge right as it started to pour. How it could suddenly start to rain like this in such a temperate climate was astounding, especially with how much it was raining right now.
Kiri was so focused on staring out at the pouring rain that she didn't notice the large black blob forming behind her until it suddenly grabbed at her. She squawked in surprise and flew away from the clock tower, and down in to the city where cars were driving, and a few people ran around trying to get home and out of the rain.
She was soaked in seconds and desperately searched for a place to land, the bakery came into sight and the open back doorway caught her eye. She quickly flew towards it, but it suddenly slammed shut and she reared back, staring at in shock.
Just as she began to turn to try and find another way in, a small cage landed right on top of her, pinning her down to the ground. She squawked and cawed as she noticed a pair of blob men come out of the wall behind her, one held a bag and the other a rope and she knew immediately what they meant to do to her.
She flailed about and managed to knock over the cage, but she only managed to fly out of it and straight into the bag of the first blob man, the second quickly tied it and Kiri blacked out.
Kiri woke up later in a, far too small, cage and tensed, but she didn't try to escape, not that she could, something was keeping her paralyzed.
She heard a deep feminine chuckle behind her and shivered at the maliciousness practically flowing from it.
"I see your awake little birdie," an older woman's voice said from behind her and flinched as a lamp was suddenly lit and the cage spun around to face the speaker.
Kiri's blue eyes dilated, it was a witch, and not just any witch either, it was the Witch of the Waste!
"I have come to learn that you have been transferring letters between Howl and that little insignificant excuse for a girl he calls Martha." The witch's expression changed as she talked, changing from a small coy smile into a disgusted scowl, by the time she finished her statement she was practically growling.
Kiri flinched and tried, desperately, to push herself up against the wall of the cage behind her to get away.
The witch noticed this and cleared her throat, her expression going back to her coy smile, "Anyway, I figured that I would take advantage of this situation and so I sent the girl a letter of my own, just a day ago in fact."
Kiri's eyes widened at what the witch was hinting at, "By now," the witch continued, "that little whore will have found a new man to take advantage of and has sent Howl her apologizes and resign-ment from their relationship," the witch cackled at this, and Kiri hissed angrily at her.
Not to say that Kiri had particularly liked Martha, she was a bit of a brat, rich and snobby and expecting others to bend over backwards for her, but not even Martha deserved to be controlled like the Witch of the Waste was doing to her; plus, she had made Howl happy, and Howl was a good friend of Kiri's, no doubt he was drowning in self pity over a letter that she had delivered.
Kiri hissed again, louder this time, though more at herself than at the witch. However, the noise still caught the witch's attention and she turned back to the white raven with a scowl, "But that wasn't enough for me," she muttered in admittance.
"I want Howl's heart for myself, I want him to love me just as much as all of those petty women that faun after him!" she was grinning wickedly and suddenly slammed her hands down on either side of the cage Kiiri was in, causing her to squawk loudly, "And you," she exclaimed. "are going to tell me where he is!"
Kiri frowned at her in confusion, her fear temporarily abated, how could Kiri tell her? She couldn't speak in human-tongue, and even if she could she wouldn't reveal such personal information as Howl's whereabouts. Kiri shuddered at the thoughts of what the witch might do to Howl if she ever caught him, she would probably rape him or something!
Kiri shook her head defiantly, and the witch only smirked, "Oh don't worry my dear, I know your secret, I'll turn you back into to normal if you help me, see? I'll even give you back your voice so you can tell me!" she waved her hand at Kiri and was about to cast the spell when suddenly a small explosion sounded behind them, and the witch whirled around.
On the floor lay a broken bottle, the ground around it charred and burning slightly, the witch glanced up to see a large rat crouching in the place of the bottle. She screamed and reeled back, knocking over Kiri's cage and flinging her hand at it. The bottle to the rat's immediate right exploded and the rat made a break for a hole in the wall. She continued to shoot spells at the rat and didn't notice Kiri making climbing out of the cage and heading towards the open window on the room, or the lightning and thunder that was growing ever closer.
The rat darted into the hole right before the Witch of the Waste could hit it and she huffed, turning back to where Kiri was only to see her take off and fly out the window.
"Oh no you don't!" the witch cried running towards the window and shooting a spell at Kiri to try and stop her, but just then a lightning bolt fell from the sky and struck the fleeing raven. Both spell and lightning clashed at the same point and caused a small explosion sending Kiri down and into a river she just so happened to be flying over.
"Damn," the witch cursed, grabbing a small lamp and opening it, "find that bird, and bring her back to me, alive. I still need to know where Howl is." The inky blob men splashed out of the lamp and made their way out the window, swarming the river in an attempt at finding the raven, not realizing that the water's strong current had already dragged Kiri a good mile away.
The witch scowled out into the rain, there was something strange going on and she knew it, it never rained like this at this time of year. There was another witch or wizard messing with the weather and if he or she was going to get in her way of capturing Howl's heart, they would die, that she promised.
Okay, chapter one, yay! That's all for now, I gotta go do some work so, yeah, you all should go do what little…eh readers do okay? Good! Bye now!