Hearts Change

Author's note: WARNING! In this story, these characters live in the original moving castle instead of the flying castle (SPOILERS). So don't get mixed up when this story mentions that Sophie has silver hair (SPOILERS) and *she's not an old woman anymore (SPOILERS). And also this story mentions Prince Justin as his human self (SPOILERS). =P Wow so many spoilers… Also I didn't want to add the witch of the wastes into this story. Sorry for all the witch of the wastes fans out there! XP

*She doesn't have that spell on her anymore in this story. (SPOILERS! XP)

XxXxXxXxX

One evening, a certain silver haired popped a question, "What do you think about another Markl running around here?"

"Another Markl?" A certain raven-haired questioned as he glanced at the boy who was at his desk, doing work with his dog, Heen, in his lap.

"Yeah." Sophie smiled. The silver haired and the raven-haired were sitting on the only long table in the room, drinking tea.

Howl chuckled, "One is enough."

"Hm?" Markl looked up, knowing someone's talking about him.

Sophie paled as she stumbled with words, "I-but-you-" But after a moment, her face turned red, "How can you be so heartless?!" she screamed as she slammed her cup down on the table. Calcifer and Markl lifted their heads up to see what happened.

"Sophie, I wasn't-" Howl tried to lead this conversation to a calmer state, but his beloved interrupted him.

"Howl-" Sophie started but stopped her sentence short and just stared at the raven-haired before walking off toward the entrance door.

"Hey, wait. Where're you going?" Howl said as he got up out of his seat.

"Sophie!" Markl called out when his master didn't get Sophie to stop in her tracks.

Sophie did turn around, but only for a brief moment to face the boy, "Please, stay with him Markl. Take care." The silver haired softly smiled at Markl then quickly spun around and walked down the stairs.

"Zing." The dial pointed to red; the Kingsbury door.

"Wait! Sophie!" Howl quickly ran after the girl.

"Why is she leaving?! Why Kingsbury?!" The raven-haired quickly thought as he opened his arms out wide to catch his lover into his arms. But the brunette got him before he did. She punched him in the cheek, sending him flying backwards. Howl sprawled all over the stairs as he gaped and blinked, trying to regain his focus.

"I'm sorry…Howl." Sophie said before she opened the door and ran off into the sunset.

"Sophie!" Markl called out again as he grabbed Heen into his arms and ran toward the door. When he was at the top of the stairs, he put down Heen and carefully stepped over the raven-haired.

"Sophie-" The boy called out her name again when he was at the threshold, but then got quiet and just stood there. The orange setting sun made all the buildings light up in red and gold. Orange tears were shed and sobbing was heard even though the engines of the cars that drove by were loud.

"…Ah! Sophie!" Howl gasped as he sprang to his feet and ran to catch the girl…but stopped in mid-step for the girl was nowhere to be seen. The raven-haired stood at the threshold and watched the sunset turn into sundown. He was doing the same thing his apprentice was doing, except he didn't shed a tear.

"It's all right, Ma-" Howl said in a soft tone as he tried to comfort the boy by placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. But the boy pulled away and ran up the stairs to the second floor, closing his bedroom door behind him. Howl let out a breath as he felt his shoulders sag. He turned back around to face Kingsbury and continued to stare at the now dark buildings.

"She couldn't have just disappeared out of…" The raven-haired mumbled to himself. He face-palmed himself when the thought hit him.

"I taught her some basic spells. She might have disguised herself… She must be out of our reach by now…" Howl thought as he clenched his teeth and slowly closed the door, as if in a moment in the crack of the door, he might see his beloved again. But all he saw was the darkness.

"You know, you should go after her." Calcifer spoke, disturbing the silence. Howl didn't answer. He walked past the fire demon and up the stairs, quietly closing his bedroom door behind him.

"No one listens to a fire demon." Calcifer mumbled to himself.

The moving castle was quiet all through the night, despite how the castle was made up with: iron plates and a contraption of wheels and bands. Except the only sound inside the castle were the soft sound of a fire crackling and a hoarse barking of a former errand dog.

XxXxXxXxX

The next night…

"Yes, a drink of this and I'll find her. Where ever I am, she'll come back to me." A certain raven-haired held up a vial to the light of his lamp to watch the magenta liquid swirl as he moved his hand. He knew that once he kisses her, the spell he put on himself would wear off.

After a moment of staring at the liquid, he tilted his head back and drank the potion, knowing that nothing could go wrong. He read the ingredients of the potion plenty of times before and during the conduction of the experiment. He's a wizard for god's sake! So he was confident that nothing could go wrong…

XxXxXxXxX

"Calcifer, watch Markl while I'm gone." Howl whispered to the hearth. The raven-haired watched as the small, glowing orb grew along the logs.

"Hm…? Why are you askin' me that…? I'm always here." Calcifer sleepily spoke in a soft tone as he opened his eyes.

"Alright! Thank you, Calcifer!" Blue eyes danced with excitement as Howl gave a smile to the fire demon before walking toward the entrance door. His red and gold diamond coat floated a little off the ground as he walked.

"Squeak." The raven-haired opened the door to the dark buildings of Kingsbury. During the day, nobody had gone out into any of the four places, nor the first floor. All the two did was stay cooped up in their rooms, until now.

"So you are going to go after her." Calcifer pointed out.

"Yes." Howl simply said then closed the door behind him. Once again, inside the castle was silent.

XxXxXxXxX

The raven-haired let out a breath as he leaned against a dark red building. He was strolling all along the closed shops then the houses, but could not find his lover. So he decided to take a break against a dark red building.

"I guess she's not around here." Howl thought as he closed his eyes, knowing that if she were miles away from Kingsbury, it would take her a while to come back.

"Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap." Footsteps. Howl looked around him, looking which way his beloved was coming from.

"Ah! Mr. Pendragon! What are you doing here?" A familiar voice whispered to his right. A being in a cloak hid its face with its hood but the raven-haired knew who the being was.

"Prince Ju-" A hand clamped over Howl's mouth, preventing him to say anything further.

"Don't worry about the formalities. That is why I wore this," The being paused to tug on his hood with his free hand, "Just call me Justin." After he said this, the being slipped off his hood, revealing Prince Justin. But what was different about the prince was that the blonde uncurled his hair, leaving the prince with wavy long hair.

"So, what are you doing here?" Justin asked again. Howl pushed himself off of the dark red building and wrapped his coat around his body more tightly, for it was chilly tonight.

"I just wanted to stroll around Kingsbury." The raven-haired sighed as he looked up at the night sky. Bright orbs danced on the dark background and the biggest orb lighted the Earth.

"Along? I mean, Sophie-" Justin raised an eyebrow but Howl cut him off.

"She's not here!" Howl shot out but then realizing his mistake, he turned his back to the prince and spoke a little shakily, "S-she's at home, asleep." He lied. But all the blonde did was nod like some psychiatric.

"Here, come with me." Justin suddenly took the raven-haired's wrist and lead the man through Kingsbury.

"Where are you Sophie?" Howl thought as he followed the prince.

XxXxXxXxX

"Ring." The bell on the door swayed as two beings passed the threshold.

"Ah, Justin! Oh, who's your friend?" The early 40's looking man with brown hair and a jolly smile greeted the blonde. While he asked his question, he put the glass he was wiping dry with a towel down on the counter behind him.

"This is Mr. Pendragon." Justin patted Howl's shoulder as he introduced the raven-haired.

"Ah, so you're that wizard Pendragon? Justin told me a lot about you and your girlfriend." The bartender winked when he said "girlfriend". A slight pink rose on Howl's cheeks, for he knew whom the brunette was talking about.

"Mr. Pendragon? This is Jack." The blonde continued his introductions as he held out a hand to signal that the name "Jack" belonged to the bartender that stood in front of them.

"Hey." Jack gave the raven-haired a smile. Howl forced a smile back.

"So, what would you like today, Justin?" The bartender changed the subject as he began to pick out two glasses from the rack behind him.

"The usual." Justin simply said as he took a seat. Howl followed suit as he sat next to the blonde.

"And what would you like, sir?" Jack asked the raven-haired. Howl immediately felt for his wallet.

"Augh! I forgot to bring it. Well this was an unexpected visit from the prince…" The raven-haired cursed under his breath as he felt only material in his pocket.

"No, nothing for me tonight." Howl smiled politely.

"Get him the usual," Justin decided and when he saw the raven-haired's confused face, he chuckled, "I brought you here, so I'm treating you."

"Oh. Thank you." Howl said to both the blonde and the bartender when he was given his "usual". He put the glass to his lips and tasted the alcohol.

"It's red wine." The raven-haired commented. Justin suddenly burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Howl raised an eyebrow.

The blonde wiped a tear away as he controlled his laughter, "I was just slightly surprised!" he paused to take another sip of his drink, "But it was your right to think that it was some expensive high-class wine. I come to escape the castle and everything and be like everyone else for a moment." As he said his last sentence, he looked out the window with a faraway look in his eyes. Howl could only look into his a quarter empty glass and stare at his reflection in the red liquid.

"Ah! Here Jack, can you refill his?" The blonde stepped out of his trance and suddenly took away the raven-haired's glass out of his hands, for the blonde noticed Howl's staring.

"Sure thing." The bartender gladly took the glass and started to refill the glass with the red wine.

"I'm treating you, remember?" Justin said again as he smiled.

XxXxXxXxX

"You know…I used to have this shade of hair…(hic)" Howl had one-too-many glasses of the red wine. His arm hung lousily around Justin's shoulders and his free hand lay on top of the blonde's head.

"Oh…my glass is empty," The raven-haired said after he clumsily removed his hand from the prince's head, touching Justin's face in the process, and tilting the glass to see a small pool of red liquid at the bottom, "Hey (hic), can I have a refill?!" Howl raised his voice for no apparent reason as he held up the glass.

Justin chuckled nervously, "I'm going to take him home." The blonde grabbed the glass out of the raven-haired's hand, signaling to the raven-haired that he cannot have any more alcohol.

"Hey! What're you-" Howl complained as he tried to grab the glass, which was spinning. The blonde wrapped an arm around Howl's waist and stood up, supporting the raven-haired.

"Here, Jack. Keep the change. Thank you!" Justin slid a few gold coins toward the bartender.

"Anytime. Take care of your friend there! It will mean a lot to him." Jack said to Justin's back. The prince waved with his free hand then opened the door.

"Ring."

XxXxXxXxX

"Knock, knock, knock."

"Mhm…?" Calcifer groaned as he opened an eye.

"Knock, knock, knock." The knocking continued. The fire demon let out a breath as he climbed higher up his logs.

"Markl! Markl! It's the Kingsbury door!" Calcifer called out as loud as he could. As expected, a door being shut was heard upstairs and slow footsteps creaked along the wooden boards.

"Mmh…Kingsbury…?" Markl asked sleepily as he rubbed his eyes.

"Come on! The person's waiting." Calcifer chided. The brunette grumbled as he took his time down the steps.

When the boy opened the door, Markl was wide awake, "Turnip head!"

"Hey there!" A smiling blonde greeted.

"Hurk!" In the background, the two could hear, including Calcifer, something watery and chunky hit the sidewalk.

"Who's that?" Markl asked.

"Ah, Mr. Pendragon. He had one-too-many I'm afraid." Prince Justin explained as he looked to his left. Howl was leaning against the brick wall, holding his muddle with one arm and his other hand leaned on the wall to hold his body in a standing position, as he emptied out his stomach.

"Is he all right?" The boy leaned forward to see the sick man more clearly as he frowned in worry.

"He'll feel better tomorrow." Prince Justin tried to reassure the brunette's nerves.

"Are you done, Mr. Pendragon?" The blonde asked when he only heard coughing from the raven-haired. When Howl wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and nodded, Justin gently wrapped the raven-haired's right arm around his neck and slowly lead the raven-haired into his moving castle.

"I'll help!" Markl said as he took his master's left arm. The blonde chuckled.

"Thank you."

XxXxXxXxX

"You can go back to sleep. I can manage here." Prince Justin said to the brunette when they were in front of Howl's room.

"Alright. Good night Turnip head!" The boy smiled as he waved goodbye to the blonde and entered his own room, closing the door behind him.

"Oh, Sophie's not here either." Justin mumbled to himself as he opened the door to a room full of "things". He assumed the girl was in Howl's room, since he didn't see her downstairs.

"Of course she's not here!" Howl suddenly said, almost yelling.

"Hm?" The blonde looked at the raven-haired in confusion.

"She left me! But I'm going to get her back once and for all!" The drunken man continued, waving his fist in the air as he said his last sentence.

"I thought you said she was asleep at home?"

"No (hic), I lied." Howl simply said as he tugged his arm out of Justin's hand then crookedly walked forward.

"Ah!" Prince Justin caught the man before he walked into the wall of his room then slowly led Howl toward his bed.

When the blonde lay the raven-haired down on his back, Justin asked, "But how could she have left? It was only recently that she figured out she loved you."

"I don't know…she just left me…" Howl choked as tears began to spring from his eyes. The blonde was slightly surprised by this, but then he smiled.

"You'll find her. I'm sure you will. Well, good night Mr. Pendragon. Hope you will have a good night's res-" A tug on his collar stopped him from finishing his sentence. Both of his hands leaned on the bed to support his body from falling onto the being that lay in that bed.

"You know, you remind me of her. Soft pale skin…silky hair…" Howl said as he tugged on Justin's collar to bring the blonde closer to his face.

"U-uh, Mr. Pendragon, sir-I uh-" Prince Justin stumbled with his words as he tried to let the raven-haired release his grasp on his collar with words. But it did not change the drunken man's mind.

"Shh…" Howl placed his index finger on the blonde's lips and smirked. A blush rose on the prince's cheeks.

"Mr-mmh…!" The raven-haired tugged on Justin's collar again and brought their lips together. The prince's eyes grew wide but then found himself closing them. His arms and legs moved on their own as they lay on both sides of the being, which was now under him.

"We're both straight, I'm sure, and both guys! …But…" The blonde thought as he deepened the kiss, finding himself loving the sensation he's feeling. Both men wrapped their arms around each other and climbed under the covers, for reasons of privacy and a smaller space. Muffled moaning was heard all throughout the room. But pass the bedroom door, only the sounds of the bed creaking were heard.