Authors notes: Okay so this is my first fan-fiction, I felt there was not enough relationship/romance/hardship/angst stories of Michael and Howl going that were very long and you could lose yourself to so thought that I would go ahead and do it! Hope you enjoy, don't forget to review, and if you like I will keep on writing till you tell me to stop! !A warning to all; This story at points will contain slash (Michael/Howl) at points, if that's not your thing I respect that and maybe this story is not for you!

(I do not own Howls moving castle or its characters, I wish I did but I don't, I came up with this story line but that is all! Full credit goes to the amazing and wonderful Diana Wynne Jones)

…...

Time had been kind to Howl, he had not aged a day in many years. Some including Michael, thought this was mostly definitely due to his wizardly ways, but life it self had not been kind to Howl. It had been almost two years since Sophie Hatter first barged herself into his castle and his life, leaving a path of destruction, confusion and heart ache in her wake. Three long slow days had passed since Sophie left the flying castle and Howl with it, over the course of the three days the castle had ceased to fly, with Howls heart in pieces Calcifer struggled to find the power to keep the castle above the ground, instead it feebly floated above the ground brushing the longer strands of grass in its path, bending flowers and weeds alike.

Time had also been kind to Michael, soon approaching his seventeenth birthday he had matured beyond his years, and even more so within the last three days, looking after a man like Howl tended to do that no matter the length of time. Michael had looked after Howl plenty of times before, but now was different, Howl needed more than looking after physically, he needed looking after mentally now.

…...

Michael opened cupboard after cupboard with no luck, they were bare and he knew it, all that was left to eat in the large blue tiled kitchen was a single small egg and half a loaf of green mold spotted bread, which no doubt had been there since the tiled kitchen had grown from the tiny out-cove of the old kitchenette during the moving castles transformation into the flying castle.

An idea hit Michael suddenly as he rolled the small chicken egg across the cluttered tabletop, he could scramble the egg and add enlargement powder to it like Sophie did with Howls jacket! There would be more than enough for Howl, Calcifer and himself, but Calcifer could eat a lot of anything you gave him.

"That's the egg shortage solved, but what to do about the bread?" Michael spoke his thoughts aloud, mostly to himself, his silky, wind chime voice rang out in the empty room and down the connecting passages. He sat for several moments till he heard a faint crackle growing louder and louder, looking up from the scraps of food he had managed to scrape together, he say Calcifer

"Try this, you could do with the practice, I'm starving..." Calcifer bobbed a little way in front of the door to the hall, his voice mocking and smug as a book slammed against Michael's chest, falling open upon the table to a page headed, 'Time curls, Time twists, Time blocks and Time loops; A Beginners look.' Michael scanned the page quickly reading the brief descriptions of each spell and its uses before settling on the spell for a 'Time twist'.

The description read "A spell for converting and reverting objects or persons to a previous memorable state of said object or person, (* To be noted that this spell differs to a 'time curl' in that they can restored to a specific time or state where as a 'curl' can reset a state or time of for-mentioned objects or persons to a randomised or unpredictable point in state or time) Time manipulation is a task not to be taken lightly, but if you have completed sections C through H, you are ready. To use said spell, chalk a dot on the bottom of a clock of your choosing (* coo coo and grandfather clocks tend to work more efficiently in my experience base, but any clock at hand will suffice) and also a parallel dot on the floor encased within a medium sized circle. Pass object or persons through the gap between markings a total of three times, willing said object or persons into a time or state you can remember it in. If said objects or persons change correctly, congratulations and well done! If not, there is no shame in failure, try try and try again, no one..."

Michael let out a long groan tucking a dark brown ringlet behind his ear, huffed and joked to the room aloud "How patronising!...". He then searched into his pocket for the piece of chalk he had made a conscious effort to kept there since he had first started working for Howl and smiled to himself when his thin fingers met the cold powdery chalk he knew now as a friend.

The tall young boy crossed the kitchen and out of the door into the living-room with Calcifer in tow, bread in hand and over to the clock in the corner of the room. He marked the symbols on both the clock and the ground, set his mind on the loaf and back to when he and Sophie had picked it up fresh from the bakers stall on the corner of Porthaven market.

Passing the loaf through the void between the chalk marks, Michael could feel a hot breeze on his face beginning to cut in and scrape itself over him, leaving a burning numb where it had trailed and leaving no trace, he screwed his eyes shut trying to keep his mind on the task at hand. He felt the loaf grow cold in his hands, then burning hot then slowly levelling off, leaving a newly refreshed and springy white loaf of bread, mold free, in his hands.

The boy busied himself over the next twenty minuets by scrambling the single lonely egg and adding the enlargement powder from a small paper square sparingly into the mix, remembering the state and size of Howl's jacket when Sophie had finished with it. The mixture bubbled and frothed and began to rise in the bowl till it was almost to the brim. He poured it sloppily into the large saucepan over the small stove, a nice break for Calcifer not having to lower his head, and left it to hiss and bubble happily, being moved about the pan by a self operating wooden spoon as he cut the bread. He would have to look after Howl now.

…...

Howl was not sure what time it was nor did he want to, it would only the time since Sophie left seem that much longer and that much harder to cope with. One thing he was sure of was the Michael was doing something unbearably loud down stairs but he had no strength to investigate furtherer.

His heart felt like at any moment it would fall right through him, the bed and the floor landing in the grate of the fireplace below where he wished Sophie had left it. Not only that, his stomach felt like it would leave right through the roof it was so light from not being able to eating a full meal in days, he wanted to, but couldn't.

Pondering his state and situation he lost himself, for how long he did not know, his mind clouded with Sophie, stars and freedom. It was only till he heard his door open that he saw for the first time the back of his eyelids and realised he had dipped into sleep. He opened his tired blurry eyes, blinking unsuccessfully to regain his vision, looking to the door for some clue to who had entered. His heart skipped a beat.

A tall slim woman had entered, graceful and dainty carrying a laden tray of food he now hungered for, egg and toast. Sophie was back, she had come back to him, she still loved him, his heart pounded in his ears.

The blurry Sophie knelt by his bed side, still beautiful, pressing a cool soft hand upon his forehead, her long brown hair brushed against his arm, shock waves across the skin it touched, a smell of wild flowers drifted from each curl, she spoke what he thought were sweet words of comfort and concern, lost in a sea of confusion his ears were submerged in. It was then his heart ceased to beat loudly in his ears, and stopped altogether. Sophie had short sliver hair.

He turned to the dark, beautiful mystery woman knelt beside him, tending to him, caring for him, someone cared. He tried with all he had to focus on her face but all he could see were brief glimpses, he found her somewhat familiar full pink lips and was transfixed. He reached a hand through his carers hair, feeling its soft texture savouring the feel. He brushed his hand clumsily across her smooth face, resting a finger on her soft warm plump lips. She talk against the finger, warm air rushing past it, he let out a small upset moan as she lifted her hand from his head and took his hand from her face, Howl intertwined his finders with hers, their hands slotted into each other perfectly and Howl knew it, she tried to prise Howls fingers away from her own but he clung as hard as he could to her, he didn't want to he alone again, ever again.

…...

Michael pushed Howl's bedroom door open tray first and hoped over the growing pile of old worn clothing and dirty dishes and looks up to find a shocking sight, His heart stopped. Howl was looking up at him, looking like death itself, something was wrong.

He hurried to Howl's side and knelt by him, fire met his hand when he placed it upon Howl's forehead who groaned and moaned whenever contact with him was lost. Michael tucked his new wavy and curly hair behind his ear to stop it tangling with Howl, an accident that occurred that morning when he had picked up the wrong bottle in the shower which turned his normally straight hair, curly and bouncy and even longer and darker.

"Master Howl?... Its Michael, can you hear me?...Master Howl?" He tried his best to sooth the now shivering Howl. "Howl, its all going be okay, don't worry I'm here. Calcifer Will know what to do, we will get you better Howl, I Promise!"

Howl looked hard into Michael's face, the fevers hold setting in fast, mumbling half lost words. He reached a hand up into Michael's hair, sending shock waves down his spine, he felt Howls shaking hand on his face, caressing his cheek, goosebumps raised over his body. Howl stopped at the boys lips and placing his finger lightly over them, trembling.

"Howl, no. Come on now," He reached his hand up from Howl's forehead, which was met with a whimper, and took Howls hand in his own bringing it off from his face. The feverish wizard retaliated by intertwining their fingers in a vice like grip that Michael could not undo despite his best efforts. Howl's voice was weak and strained as he spoke words that chilled Michael and cease his efforts to prise Howl's fingers from his own.

"Don't leave me... please? I don't want to be alone. Not again. Stay, I beg..." The wizards wet, blood shot eyes met Michaels, bring a shared tear to his eye too.

…...

Authors Closing Notes; Well that was a start of something- I hope that's what you think too, and if you want to find out review it, any comment welcome! More chapters coming soon, If you want that is.

Thanks for reading! xoxoxo