Heyy readers! I'm Mimiij (duh) and I'm new here. I hope y'all like my first story. Howl's Moving Castle was one of my firsts animes that I ever seen (the first of all was Spirited Away) and I totally live Howl and Sophie! They're so cute together, I stary fangirling every time I read a fanfiction about them /o This story is based by It's movie, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, not the book, by Diana Wynne Jones. I wish I'd read the book but I didn't find It in my country T-T
Btw, my first language isn't english so I'm really sorry if there's any gramatical mistake! Pm me so I can repair It :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Howl's Moving Castle.
And now, enjoy the fanfic! ^-^
Chapter 1: Bad Warlocks At New York City
"Entertainment
Show them what you do with me.
When everyone here knows better.
What I once refused to be
Is everything they long
Together
I'd rather be alone."
("Entertainment", by Phoenix.)
I was sleeping, no, I was dreaming!, when my iPhone started to play my playlist. This means that It is 7 AM. Oh, no. Time to wake up. The first music, "Every Breath You Take", by The Police, is just so calm and cute that I don't even tried to stop It. And yeah, I stayed in my bed, just listening. I was almost sleeping again when "Entertainment", by Phoenix, start playing. And I just can't stay in my bed doing nothing while this song plays.
Finally, I stand up. I went to my bathroom and started combing my hair, but when the chorus of the song came, I stopped what I was doing and just sing with the band. I wish my life was as the people in the songs, It would be really more easy for me. Not just to earn more money to pay my apartment but to find my "true love". If you pay attention, musics just talk about a broken heart, a true love, money or how the night is cool for going out. If my life were like this (except for the broken heart, I can live without It) I would be the happiest girl in the world! Sometimes I think that being a eighteen-years-old-girl without a boyfriend is a nightmare. I want someone to complete my heart, to make me feel not more alone...
Because of that I normally like songs that the lyrics say that you don't need to love someone to be happy. Sometime's true. Sometime's not.
My parents splited up when I was eleven, and since then I was right that true love didn't existed. If my parents love didn't worked, how could mine work? And plus: one year later, my father died, leaving just mum, me, my two little sisters and his hat store. So then, when I completed thirteen, I already started working in my father's shop. The best thing of is that we almost don't have clients. Talking seriously, no one uses hats for at least one hundred years, so we normally have three client per month. So, as me and my mum are the only people there, I pick up my iPhone and begin to listen to songs really loud. But every job has it disadvantages. The disadvantage of my job? 1) I don't earn enough money, 2) I have to wake up at 7 AM. Ugh. And while I'm working at my father's shop, my other sisters, Lettie, is working at a bakery and Martha, is having wizardry lessons.
It's rare for we to see a warlock here in New York. By name, I just know two: Howl Jenkins and the Witch of the Waste. Of course there's more warlocks in the world, maybe twenty five or a little bit more. Yeah, It's really rare to talk or see a warlock. But I, personally, want to keep away from those NYC warlocks, 'cause they have a bad reputation. People say that Howl's the biggest heartbreaker in the nine worlds of Chrestomanci, and the Witch of the Waste is, well... If a witch's artistic name have's "Witch" in the middle, It means that this witch isn't the good one. Like, we know that she's a witch, so why do her name needs to do emphasis on It?
No one sees the Witch of the Waste for fifty years.
Martha is my youngest sister, and, fortunately, she was born with a gift. She's one of the last people that came from a totally human family and was born with powers. Now that she's fourteen, she'd went to a powerfull warlock house for improve her skills. I find that cool, but I hope that she, when grow up, don't be like Howl or the Witch of the Waste. And, most of all, I miss her.
I'm the only of my sisters without a future. Really! Lettie is the prettiest of us, and she'll find a great husband soon. Martha'll be a succesfull witch and she'll be invited to parties, she'll give autographs, she certainly will have a nice husband, she'll be famous! And the ugly Sophie here will never find someone that love her or will get a cool job. I'll stay here, in our father's shop, probably for a pretty long time. That's the disadvantage of being the older: nothing good will ever come to me.
I sat down at the nearest chair. My mom was up stairs, trying to find a pink hat that she can't remember where she put. In the balcon in front the chair there was a People's Magazine with the following title: "Howl, The Heartbreaker and Misterious Wizard.". Okay then. I prefer one hundred times to read books, but as I was bored I started reading It. The magazine wasn't that bad, but most of what It's saying is rumours or lies, not affirmations. There was saying that Howl's named like this because his great-great-great-great grandfather's had this name, so his name's a tribute to his great-great-great grandfather... And It says that the actual Howl lives in what they call "Moving Castle", but nobody has ever seen It. The magazine also interviewed families that have pretty daughters but they're all missing. The strange fact is that all these girls were in love with Howl.
Hum, weird. When I saw the magazine's subject, I didn't thought that Howl was literally a heartbreaker.
And, in the end, there was a drawing of how Howl should be. Long blonde hair, big and handsome blue eyes, earrings, perfect nose and mouth, thine chin. Of course that they have exaggerated his face a bit, but even if there's somes imperfection, he would still perfect. Is not surprising that those girls were in love. But I would never fall in love with someone that I don't know, excepting maybe for my book characters. The thing that I most like to do before listening to music is reading books. Harry, Percy, Tobias, Peeta, Jace, Will, Augustus! I'm in love with them, not with a bunch of wizards that for eras don't appear in public.
I looked at the clock. It was 1 PM. Time to eat. Yay!
- Mom, I'm going to eat. I'll be back in one hour. If I didn't come in one hour It's because I'm with Lettie, so don't worry! - I shouted to my mom, who's still looking for the pink hat.
- Okay, but take your phone with you!
- Sure! See ya! - I said while I opened the front door. Freedom, finally.
Some people from other citys, states, or even countries, say that New York is a strange city. I have to disagree with that. I was born and passed my whole life here, and there's no other place in the world that I want to be. I'm familiarized with those big skyscrapers, with the yellow taxis, with the millions of people walking at Times Square, with the traffic, with the hot dogs. It's part of me, a part that I can't live without.
I hiked along five streets until I got in front of the place where Lettie work. It would be easiest if I take a subway or a taxi, but I think that It's more exciting go to the places by walking. When we go by bus, taxi or subway to the places, we don't pay attention to the details. And I like to look at the people, to imagine their lifes, to look at the trees, and the animals. Because of It I normally walk on Central Park. It's pretty relaxing to just look around at those trees, and see the wind, the time, our past and think about the future. To see the leaves falling and the flowers blooming. It calms my soul, It's a feeling I can't explain.
Now, I just needed to cross the street to get to the bakery. How I was wrong.
The signal was red, signaling that I could walk. I was in the middle of the street, and I admit that I was walking a little slowly and devolved, not looking at the cars... I was sure that I would reach the other side.
Suddenly, I felt pain. My leg hurt, my arm, my head, my heart. And the world went dark.
So yeah, I think you noticed that Howl didn't appear in that chapter. But I swear to you that our sexy wizard will appear at the next chapter ;)
Basic observations: This story tells about the reincarnation of Sophie and Howl in the actual days. This isn't another version of the story, so Sophie and Howl can be a little different from the movie. And Sophie makes an observation in the middle of the story: "in the nine worlds of Chrestomanci." The Worlds of Chrestomanci is another good book series from Diana Wynne Jones, and If you liked HMC you'll like this another serie. Search for It on Google and find out ;)
Pretty please leave requests! This would make me feel so much better! (And again, If there's any grammatical mistake, please PM me so I can repair It.)
Thanks for reading! See ya soon
~Mimiij