Disclaimer- I do not own Howl's moving characters or plot.
CHAPTER 1- Happily Ever After… or not.
It was well past midnight and all was fairly quite inside the giant walking castle. Aside from the gentle clinking of hanging mugs coming together with the gentle sway of the castle and the occasional crackle and snap from Calcifer in the hearth there were no other sounds. Well, there was one other sound, if you counted the unearthly noises made by Witch of the Waste as she slept, a sound.
A little boy with ruffled brown hair and a button nose emerged, bleary eyed, from behind a curtain. He yawned, rubbing one curled fist against his eye, and padded over to a sink in one corner. Mechanically, he dragged a stool over to the sink and clambered on top of it, reaching for a mug and filling it with water from the tap. He clambered back down, spilling a little of the water onto his bare toes and plopped into a chair in front of Calcifer's hearth. He sipped the water, his lids half closed, ready to close and drift the boy back into sweet dreams at any moment.
Calcifer woke to see Markl sitting in front of him, staring blearily through those chocolate brown eyes of his, as he sipped on his water. Calcifer nearly jumped out of the hearth in surprise.
"Markl! You scared the O2 out of me! What on earth are you doing up at this hour?"
Markl yawned again, and blinked at Calcifer, incoherent, "I was thirsty."
"Then drink your water and get back to bed." Calcifer said grumpily.
"Kay." He said, sleepily, tipping the last of the water into his mouth and setting the mug next to Calcifer and sliding off the chair. He padded back toward the curtain he'd come through.
"Hey, kid, pick up after yourself! What do I look like? Your mother?" Calcifer grumbled.
Markl made a slow U-turn and picked up his mug and shuffled over to the sink and went through the ritual of climbing up the stool to set it inside. Just as he started to descend the stool, Howl came through the curtain, looking grim. He stopped when he saw Markl and Calcifer up and about.
"Markl, Calcifer, what are the two of you doing up?" He asked, looking back and forth between the two.
"Hey, don't look at me. The kid woke me up."
Markl shuffled over to Howl. "I'm sorry, Master Howl. I was thirsty." He said, wondering if he'd done something wrong.
Howl crouched down to the boy's level and put one hand on Markl's head, smiling, "Don't apologize until you have something to be sorry for. Why in my day I got out of bed many a time in order to get myself a drink." He straightened and it was then that Markl saw Howl was in traveling clothes.
"Are you going somewhere, Master Howl?" He asked, his eyes surveying his master's clothing.
"Excellent observation, Markl. Yes, I have some business to attend to. Tell Sophie not to worry. You're the man of the house while I'm gone, Markl." He said, putting on his cloak and walking to the door.
"What? 'Tell Sophie not to worry.'" Calcifer repeated, "Are you saying you haven't told her that yourself? And what's with the mysterious 'leaving in the dead of night' thing? Can't it wait till morning?"
Howl grinned, "No time. Remember what I said Markl. See you gentlemen later." With that he turned the color on the wheel and was out the door was a quiet swish.
Calcifer sighed, "I suppose we can't expect a miracle. Not even Sophie can hold him down for long. Markl, you and I should devise a way to get him to marry Sophie. I mean, come on, I would say it's about time he settled down. Markl? Markl are you listening to me?"
Markl had been staring at the door Howl had gone through, a strange feeling had formed in the pit of his stomach. At Calcifer's demand, he looked toward the little fire demon. "Did you say something, Calcifer?"
Calcifer sighed, "I swear, I get no respect around this place. No respect at all." He burrowed under a log and made progress toward falling asleep. Markl placed another log on top of him, so he'd last into the morning and went to bed, the feeling in his stomach lingering.
(A/N: My, I have been a busy bee lately, haven't I? Three new stories in three days. But anyway, this idea has also been circulating in my mind for a while. I loved Markl! To me he was the cutest thing in the whole movie. He's very blunt at first, but then you see he's really such a sweetheart. He grows to love Sophie and he worries about her and Howl. I thought he was just adorable.
I figure he needs an adventure of his own. I think he'll become a great wizard, especially with Howl teaching him. And please, if you take the time to read this, then take the time to review. It only takes a moment and it means so much to me! Thank you!)