Skye's Moving Castle
Chapter 1
A/N: Hellos peoples! So I came up with this idea, when I had been watching Howl's Moving Castle for the millionth time (I really love the movie but I can't find the book *sad face*). Afterwards I had sat down to write another chapter for my other fanfic 'All's Fair in Love and War' when this idea popped into my head. Originally, this was supposed to be a Wizard and Molly story but I then realized that it wouldn't exactly work 'cuz I couldn't exactly see Gale with Howl's personality. So after thinking it through I finally came up with Skye so…
Skye will be Howl.
Jill will be Sophie.
I'm going to try and change things up a bit and not go exactly by the movie, but if I stray too far please let me know, okay?
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or Howl's Moving Castle.
**()**
"Are you almost done?" Lumina whined. She sat on the fence that kept my cows and sheep from getting into my crops.
"Almost," I said, not even looking up from the row of eggplants I was harvesting.
"Hurry up! You're taking forever."
Nami crossed her arms and huffed. "Well you know if you helped, it would go a lot faster."
"Me?" She looked slightly stricken. "But I just got my nails done."
Celia rolled her eyes. "Here, you can at least carry the basket." She handed Lumina the harvest basket before turning to me. "Jill, we're done with our rows."
I nodded. "Okay, so am I." I walked over to Lumina and ignoring her protests, dumped the eggplants into the basket. We then headed for my home.
Since Nami, Lumina, and Celia had finished their chores early (or more like Nami and Celia did since Lumina had a butler to do hers) they had offered to help out on my farm. I was extremely grateful since this was my first year of farming. Unfortunately my father had died last summer leaving me as the owner of his farm. Not only that, but this was autumn so I had to stock up on food, so I had planted extra rows of crops.
Once inside my house, the girls made themselves comfortable on my couch while I sat and carefully sorted the eggplants.
I didn't really like the vegetable, but they were very filling. And once grilled and stored in the fridge, they would last for months. Also, Mother and my sister Claire were particularly fond of them, so I always made them a dish that had the plant in them for their birthdays (which were conveniently in the fall).
"Oh my gosh! Look at this!" Lumina squealed. She wrenched the remote out of Nami's hand turning the volume way up.
On the screen was a building you'd never seen before. It looked like a giant had squished together a hundred or so old rusty houses together into one big lump. Black smoke belched from a couple dozen chimneys and to top it all off, the house was walking, yes, walking, across a field on four spindly legs.
"In other news," A reporter droned on in the background. "Skye's castle was seen a mere five miles from Mineral Town today."
Nami snatched back the remote and hit the mute button. "Five miles? Skye's never been this close before!"
"I can't believe!" Lumina and Celia shrieked.
I sighed shaking my head. I knew that those three were going to start gossiping any minute now.
"Did you hear about the girl from Harmonica town?" Nami asked.
"No, what?" Lumina leaned forward in anticipation.
"They say that Skye lured her back to his castle, where he ripped her heart out and ate it!"
"Oh, don't talk like that!" Yelped Celia, hiding her face in her hands. "Now I don't even want to go outside!"
"Don't worry, you're safe." Lumina teased. "Skye only goes after pretty girls."
This got them laughing. Meanwhile, I just sigh again, before taking half of the eggplants and store them in the fridge. I then take the other half and put that in the shipping bin outside. The girls followed me out.
"Hey Jill, do you want to come with us to get a bite to eat at the Inn?" Celia asked.
"No thanks," I shake my head. "I'm planning on going to visit Claire in Mineral Town."
"Well alright then; just be careful, you never know just how close Skye will get to town." She said.
"I will." I promise.
I waited until they were out of sight before heading back inside to grab a jacket. On my way out, I stopped to look at myself in the mirror.
I don't have to worry about Skye anyways, I'm not pretty enough. I thought glumly.
It was true. My hair was neither curly nor straight; it was just a brown fuzzy mess that I kept back in a ponytail. My eyes were a dull brown and my lips were too thin. My forehead was too big in my opinion. Some people like to argue and say I was quiet pretty, but I know that they were just trying to boost my self -esteem.
I hurried down the path that led to the small town. It wasn't much of a town. It only had an Inn, a bar, and a Doctor's Office with a couple of houses making it more of a village. I crossed the bridge and passed through Vesta's farm. Vesta and Marlin stood outside the shop. I waved to them, but didn't stop to chat. If I hurried, I could get to Mineral Town, visit with Claire for a while and make it back before dark.
The walk to Mineral Town takes about thirty minutes through the forest. Along the way, I carefully searched the side of road looking for herbs and berries, because as I said before, I was trying to stock up for winter.
Clump. Clomp. Clump. Clomp. What was that sound? It seemed like a hundred men were marching down the road. In fact, that's just what it was. Soldiers to be precise. They must have come off the dock in the village.
But who were they? I studied the emblems carefully stitched onto the shoulder of their uniforms. A multicolored bell standing in front of a tree lined in silver thread. Those men were from Castanet! But what were they doing here?
I waited patiently for them to pass. Two of the stopped and let their comrades pass leaving them behind.
"Look what we got here, Toby." One said as they walked slowly towards me. "We seem to have found ourselves a little mouse."
Toby chuckled while the other man reached out and touched my cheek. "Are you lost little mouse?"
I batted his hand away. "No, I'm on my way to visit my sister."
"You see Chase? You scare every girl away with you weird eyes." Toby snickered.
"At least they can see my eyes, unlike you Toby!" He once again reached out to touch my cheek.
I knocked it away again. "Leave me alone!" I snapped.
"There you are." I nearly jumped as I felt someone wrap their arm around my shoulder. "I've been looking for you everywhere."
"Hey! Can't you see that we're busy?" Chase glared at the newcomer.
"Oh really? I think you were just leaving." He raised a hand and flicked it lazily. Immediately, the soldiers stiffened, turned, and marched away silently.
"Sorry about that." I looked up at my rescuer and squeaked in surprise. "They're not all bad. You just have to know the right ones."
He had shoulder length silver hair and blue eyes. He wore a grey cheetah print jacket with dark purple pants.
"Where to?" He asked holding out his arm. "I'll be you're escort today."
"Just to the inn, where my sister works." I took his arm. Strangely enough, I felt safe with him, somehow.
He smiled and leaned down and whispered in my ear. "Don't be alarmed, but I'm being followed."
With that, we strolled down the path as if this was a normal thing, which it wasn't. For the first few minutes, I could only keep glancing at the man's face, which had no emotion on it what so ever. It wasn't until we had reached the town that I realized that we were in fact being followed.
I cautiously peeked behind me, hoping that it wasn't more soldiers, but what I saw was much worse. The best that I can describe them is that they looked like a dozen men that had black ooze dumped all over them. But they were defiantly not men.
"This way!" The man dragged me into an alley and we ran, me huffing and puffing and him, as if he were simple walking.
We rounded a corner and came to a dead end. I thought that was the end for us, but he simply wrapped his arm around my waist, leaping into the air until we floated ten feet above the buildings.
"Straighten your legs and start walking." He advised.
I did as he said and was surprised when we moved over an invisible platform.
"See? You're a natural." He chuckled.
I blushed. It wasn't long before we reached the Inn and he helped me land on the second floor balcony.
"Wait here a while and I'll draw them off, alright?"
I smiled nervously. "Okay."
"That's my girl." He leaped lightly backwards ant into the street.
Franticly, I ran to the railing, searching for his body, crushed into the pavement, but he has truly gone. In a daze, I rested my head in my arms.
"Jill?" I turned to see my blonde hair, blue eyed sister running towards me. "Oh Jill, someone just told me that you floated down on to the balcony with some strange man!" She hugged me tight.
I hugged back. "Claire, I'm fine."
She looked at me suspiously before grabbing my hand. "Come on we need to talk."
She led me back to her room where we sat on her bed and I told her everything that happened. At each word my sister's eyes grew wider and wider.
"Jill you have to be more careful." She said once I was done. "What if that had been Skye? He would of eaten you heart for sure!"
"Don't be silly," I replied. "He only goes after pretty girls. He wouldn't waste his time on me."
"Don't give me that!" She glared at me. "And what about those soldiers? You do realize what's going on right?"
"No, what?" I asked.
"The Sunshine Islands claim that we've stolen their prince and have declared war on us until they get him back. We've enlisted the help of the islands of Castanet to help defend our borders, so we're going to see more of them every day."
I nodded, taking this all in before standing up. "I have to go now, Claire."
She grabbed my hand. "Wait, Jill, are you happy?"
I frowned. "What?"
"I just wanted to know if you were happy running that farm by yourself."
"I am." I assured her. "After all, it's what Father would have wanted."
"I don't care what he would've wanted, I'm asking you."
I shake off her grip. "Bye Claire."
"Do something for yourself for once, Jill." She called after me as I shut the door firmly behind me.
**()**
The trip back home was thankfully uneventful. Even still, I kept looking behind me, checking for more soldiers or those strange shadow men.
I also couldn't stop thinking about the mysterious man. I knew of course, that he was a wizard, but could he really be Skye? No. He seemed too nice… then again how would anyone really what Skye was like?
I was glad when I finally made it back home. Night had fallen quickly and seeing the light on inside gave it a welcoming look.
Once inside, I carefully locked the door behind me. The events today had left me extremely cautious and I didn't want to take any chances. My stomach began to rumble so I stepped into my kitchen and rummaged through the fridge looking for the ingredients for Herb Fish.
To be perfectly honest with you, I don't know why I didn't hear my door open or closed; you could've easily heard it down on the beach normally. All I know is that when I turned around, there was a strange lady standing in the middle of the room, causing me to drop the ingredients.
She had long curly blonde hair that fell to her waist and reddish-purplish eyes. She wore a dark purple knee-length dress and a black cloak. But worst of all was that she was glaring at me as if I had called her every foul-mouth name that I could think of.
"Um… excuse me? Are you lost?" I asked nervously. I could've sworn I locked the door behind me.
"What a pity… Your father worked so hard on this farm only for you to slowly let it go to waste." She smirked." You are a failure."
Okay so I admit is, I might not be as good at farming as my Father was, but I wasn't that bad.
"I'm going to have to ask you to leave now. Here's the door." I march over to it and yank it open, gesturing for her to get out.
The woman's smirk turned into a snarl. "Is that any way to talk the Witch Princess?"
"The Witch Princess?" I gasped.
She rushed at me and passed right through me. I turned to face her standing in the doorway.
She smirked again. "The best part about that spell is that you can't tell anyone about it. Ta-ta." She gave a little wave before steeping backward and disappearing into the darkness.
The door slammed shut and with a snick was locked again. I stood there motionless for a couple of seconds.
It was just a dream. A figment of your imagination. I told myself.
Slowly, I shuffled back to the kitchen.
Just a dream.
I bent over to pick up the spilled ingredients and froze. Those weren't my hands. They were too wrinkled and knarled to be mine.
It's just a dream. Go to bed and in the morning when you wake up, everything will be fine.
But of course, I don't listen to myself and I walked over to my vanity table. At first, I can't bare look at myself in the mirror and instead stare down at the hands that aren't mine. That couldn't possibly be mine. Slowly my eyes travel up until I'm staring at the old lady that is me.
A/N: So what do you think? Sorry to all of you who are Chase or Toby fans. I only made them 'bad guys' for this one little chapter. Don't hurt me please. X0 Unfortunately due to parent problems I can only update this every other Saturday. Also in this story Waffle Town and Harmonica Town are part of the same country called Castanet. What do you think of the emblem for Castanet? Please review!