Oh hi. I'd have never thought that there was such a fanbase for Moving Castle. But I was happily surprised. I do hope you'll like this, but let me tell you, it isn't very conventional or happy. Also I'm horrible at updating regularly so don't hold your breath for me. I don't want to disappoint you so don't have any high expectations for me please. That's all.

It was the middle of the night when a loud crash was heard against the rooftop. It shook everybody up from their sleep.

They had been found.

Shapeless creatures resembling firmed oil invaded their home through every possible crack and hole in the building. They made their way up the wooden stairs and the shapeless monsters burst through the locked door to the bedrooms.

Sophie had Howl tucked under her arms and held him to her chest tightly as he watched with wide, horror and tear filled eyes at the door that was getting knocked over. "Please Howl! Try to stop them! Please! You can do it!" Sophie cried into his hair, her back turned to the door so she couldn't see the horrible image of their home being saturated with evil.

Howl watched the scene play out in front of him with tensed muscles and jaw firmly set in place. He was frozen on the spot, unable to do anything else but watch as everything he loved was about to be taken away from him permanently. And he was just too tired to do anything about it... As soon as those awful things would drag him out of the house, their home would be crumpled to broken dreams.

"No! Noo!" Sophie screamed in a high-pitched voice as the clumps of black matter tugged her away from him. She did her best with the few spells she knew but it wasn't enough to stop Suliman's henchmen from swarming around him with their greedy hands that twisted themselves around his limbs and took him out through the balcony at the end of the hallway. In the distance Howl heard Markl's shouts and Sophie's desperate attempts to save them. "Howl! Don't let them get you!" Sophie yelled to him, but all Howl did was lay in his captors' hands as they finally got him out of his home and right then the building before him collapsed as if a vacuum had appeared in the center of it.

But even the tears hadn't had the time to fall from his eyes when the captors had already taken him into their vehicle and their soared away. The last words he whispered to the house were: "I was too tired, Sophie. I'm so sorry. I'm so tired."

"Wizard Pendragon", he was announced and then the golden doors slid open.

He was sat onto a chair in front of the Devil herself in the section of the palace that looked more like a jungle indoors with tropical trees, plants and flowers flourishing here and there. His blue eyes were wide open even in the bright sunlight that poured in through the ceiling made of glass, but he stared intensely at the white marble floor with a frown etched to his face. The look of a survivor of a recent traumatic event.

"It is certainly a pleasure to have you back with us, Howl. I was sure that you would return eventually. Perhaps it took some time and persuasion, but it is all worth it. You always were my very favourite student, Howl", she spoke in a false soft way. "I know things have been a little difficult between us lately, but I do hope they'll only get better from now on", she admitted. "I've prepared a room of your own for your stay. I hope you find it to your liking as you will be staying there for quite some time. Rest assured, I filled with all things sparkly and golden for you - I know my boy."

Howl couldn't keep it in anymore. The anger was boiling inside him until he couldn't keep it in. He stood up as steadily as he could. He did his best to ignore the wobbling in his knees as he shot daggers towards the woman sitting in her throne like chair.

"If you knew me in the slightest you wouldn't take everything I love away from me! What do you even want from me? What use am I to you? I'm nothing but a piece of gloom. Why would you do this to me?" Howl asked in a fierce tone which ultimately came out as pleading at the end of his sentence. "Why can't you let me be?" he whispered more to himself than to her then. His whole frail frame trembled in the aftershocks of his outburst.

"What I want from you is to go and rest in your room for now. I can see that you are very restless from your journey, Howl. I'll see you tomorrow again. The servants will take care of you now", Suliman grumbled in response and signaled her servants to come and take him away. A blond man wrapped his arm around his waist and Howl found himself leaning into the support as his legs finally gave up on him. Another came to help him to carry the wizard between their arms.

Howl found himself in a luxurious bathroom where they then undressed him from his nightgown and took him to the large bath full of hot water which was cherry blossom pink from the charms put in it. It immediately relaxed his tense muscles without his permission. It made his skin cleaner and softer than how it was before and smell slightly of cherries and mint. The servants stayed with him the whole session where he was throughly tidied off. They dressed him in a sheer white gown and took him to his bedroom.

It was almost identical to the room he had had before, but it still lacked the familiarity and warmth, because he knew this was not his room. On this bed Sofie had not carded her fingers through his hair and spoken soft words to his ear to calm him down. This was not his home. His home was wrecked and destroyed by the person who had presented this room to him.

The servants didn't care that he didn't want to stay there where everything reminded him of what he had just lost and how he could never truly have it back. They tucked him to bed despite his weak protests and left him in the dark when they left.

And Howl turned to his side and watched the single light source of a small burning candle on the bedside table that resembled the place where Sophie had once brought him warm milk, and started to cry. He buried his face in the colourful, satin pillows and cried his heart out.