Three days later, Howl and Gikk had coming running down the stairs with matching grins. It said a lot about Sophie and Haru that those smiles – those simply, wonderful smiles – both the two women on high alert. When the men were smiling like that, it meant exciting things were coming.

Turned out Howl and Gikk had been working on creating a portal to send Haru and Gikk home.

Among other things.

"Gikk, that's wonderful! That really is.. but what is that ?" Haru asked, as a tiny black hairball? the size of a golf ball peeked over Gikk's shoulder. It was little more than a huge set of eyes.

"Oh this? Howl calls it a 'soot spirit.'

"Sprite." Howl corrected. "Your Gikk is a quick learner. He got it right in one-"

A sound like brakes grinding cut through the air as a decidedly not soot sprite climbed up Gikk's other shoulder. It was a little larger than the other and was a muted gray, with mouse ears and a lazy eye.

"One and a half." Howl ammended. "I still can't figure out why it makes that terrible noise."

"Character." Gikk shrugged. "Anyway, we have brillant news! Haru, Howl has found a way to send us home! It's all very complicated but he managed to create a portal that should send us right back!"

This was the news Haru had been waiting for. Over the last two weeks, living in the Castle, she had started to forget that it was temporary. "That's wonderful!" She exclamined, hugging Gikk tightly. The lazy eye soot sprite used the chance to jump on to her shoulder and snuggle itself under a lock of her hair.

The path down to the portal was tickled with weeds and long stemmed poppies that swayed back and forth in the warm spring air.

With a deep sigh, Haru broke the silence. "I'm kind of sad to be leaving. I think I'm going to miss all the excitement ofbeing here, of travelling from world to world with you."

Gikk smiled and did something he had never done before. He reached down and took her hand, not to run or to pull her out of harm's way, but just to hold. "It has been rather exciting."

Nodding, Haru looked wistfully over her shoulder. The large castle had settled down among the boulders of the Wastes. On the upper patio, she could see Howl and Sophie waving their goodbyes to them. She felt a brief tug of worry and wondered if she'd ever see her new friends again.

"I bet you're excited." She said, smiling at Gikk to try and ease over her own unease. "As soon as we get back, we'll ask Muta and Toto what you're name is! I'm sure they'll remember."

He arched an eyebrow in question and Haru had to laugh. "You'll remember them when you see them! Those two are unforgettable! Oh." She thought suddenly, her smile falling. "I don't think you'll fit in the Cat Bureau anymore. It's ok though, once I explain everything to mom…" That thought skidded to a stop. She tried to picture exactly how that conversation would go. Even with her impressive imagination, she couldn't see a way it didn't end poorly.

With a wave of her hand, she dismissed it. "Oh well, we can worry about it when we get there!"

Gikk said nothing, just smiled and looked away.

The portal was a round circle of stout white mushrooms with bright red dots on their caps. Of all the portals Haru had traveled through so far, this one that Howl had created to take them home was the only one that seemed to fit her story book idea of what magic should look like.

"Nice job, Howl." She whispered. One step in to the ring was all it would take and they'd be home again. The final chapter of their travels was coming to a close.

"Ready?" Haru asked, stepping towards the circle.

Gikk stopped suddenly, his hand slipping out of hers.

"Gikk?" She asked hesitantly.

"I'm sorry Haru," Came his softly accented admission, "I can't go with you."

The words struck her around the chest, settled in her lungs and stole her breath.

He nervously ran a hand through his hair, glancing at her before looking to the ground and sighing. "Memories are tricky things, turns out." He thought back to his conversation with Howl his first day at the castle…

~.~

In Howl's potion room, Gikk fought back a racking cough, his eyes stinging from the magic dust his new friend had just thrown all over him. "Please don't do that again." He said, trying to wave the foul stuff away from his face. "You said Haru was doing me harm by us traveling from world to world – what harm was done."

Howl stopped his rush to put his ingredients away, thoughtfully considering a bottle he was holding. "Memories are a tricky thing, Gikk and true names are even worse." He slid the bottle back on to a shelf and sighed. "Let's say you're an evil wizard and you've managed to gain the true name of an equally powerful wizard. Say you seal it away and take from him all his memories of who he was. The trick is leaving all the memories of what he potentially could be. Take away everything and you're left with an empty shell that can't speak let alone do your dirty work."

Howl moved past Gikk, motioning he should follow as he made his way back down to the kitchen. "But take away his all his memories of who he was and should be, well, he's easier to control. You can reshape him in to your perfect servant. Except for the one thing that's pretty hard to remove." He looked pointedly at Gikk.

"He knows he's missing his name?" The man with the orange hair hazarded. "He can tell something's missing."

"Exactly!" Howl said, smacking the top of the table. "Now what stops this formerly powerful wizard from learning a few portal spells and leaving to search for his true name? Absolutely nothing! And all that evil energy is wasted because your Nameless runs off the first chance he gets – except there's a catch.

Rule number one to being a wizard Gikk – there is always a catch. Remember that. If any one tries to sell you duty free magic, it's rubbish. Now where was I?" Howl's eyes were shinning with way too much excitement. It was very clear the wizard enjoyed his role as mentor.

"The spell that binds the memories of the Nameless's true name is extremely delicate on purpose. Think spun sugar holding together a string of marbles. Or if you prefer something less sweet-"

"Sweet is fine." Gikk interrupted as he sat down heavily in to his seat. He was quick enough to see where this conversation was leading. The thought of it was sending his stomach uncomfortably up his throat.

Howl's voice lowered, losing a bit of his lecturing tone. "The only way for a Nameless to travel safely through the worlds is with a protection Charm from their Master or Mistress. Take one step through a portal without one and it shatters the memories."

"I think I'm going to be ill." Gikk said, feeling like the room was starting to spin uncomfortably. "What you're saying is…"

"It wouldn't matter if you and Haru discovered your true name right now. It was already too late after your first jump. You'd probably get some of it back, echoes of who you were. Snippets, dreams – dreams are a different study in identity... But each time you traveled through a portal, more and more of that got silenced and if you keep going, pretty soon, all that's left is what you are right now."

The hot cakes in front of him didn't look so inviting anymore.

"I have a book on it." Howl declared uncomfortably. "I'll go grab it."

In the silence, Gikk rethought about his travels with Haru and one thing kept repeating in his head, over and over. As soon as Howl had resettled at the table with a book three times larger than it had any right to be, all Gikk could think to say was;

"Don't tell Haru…"

~.~

Back at the portal, a cloud slid over the sun, throwing the pair in to a shadow.

Gikk turned to Haru earnestly. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner Haru. I didn't want you to blame yourself. But it's not all bad!" He started, trying to feel cheerful. "Howl says there's hope that he can reverse a bit of the damage! He's even offered to take me on as his apprentice until we get it sorted. I'll be right as rain in no time, mostly. So don't you dare go feeling guilty."

The hug was so unexpected; he nearly lost his footing as Haru threw herself in to his arms. Face buried in his chest, her words came as a rush. "You are such an idiot! I'll stay with you! How could you even think I'd let you do this alone?"

All the ways he had seen this converstation going, he never imagined it going this way and Gikk felt thunderstruck by those simple words.

"You'd do that, for me?" Gikk answered, resting a hand uncertainly on the back of her head. "I'll never be him again, you know. I'll never remember all of it. I'm always going to be a bit…" He chuckled, "Exciting."

Haru pulled her head back and looked up at him with eyes shining a bit too brightly. "It's ok! I like exciting! We'll figure it out together! I'll stay here with you and then we can figure everything else out after that! The important thing is we stick together! That when it's all over, we go home together."

"You are brilliant, you know that?" He said softly, looking at her with as much respect as his green eyes could hold. "I would like that, I think. Us – together, makes a lot of sense. But Haru, it will be dangerous. More dangerous than you can imagine now."

"I don't care." She insisted. "I'll be here, safe with you and even if there's bad things coming, I can't imagine a better place to be than at your side. Plus a lot of seniors go abroad after graduation. Think of it like an extended study session and I'll see way more than they ever will."

Gikk smiled, he looked like he was glowing. He might have been. Wizard and all. "It'll be dangerous." He repeated, watching her reaction, "Howl says this world is constantly at war. The peace can't seem to stick more than a few years."

"Sophie says that's buisness as usual when more than half the countries have wizards as advisors." Haru countered.

"There will be a lot of running."

"I'm getting better at it."

Gikk laughed, giving her another quick embrace. "Thank you, really Haru." He smiled at her, his head moving down towards her. "You made me feel... real."

In an impossible moment his lips drew towards hers, brushing them with the softest warmth.

Over the pounding of her heart, she almost missed it when he whispered against her lips. "Thank you, Haru."

And with a light motion of his hands, pushed her backwards in to the ring of mushrooms.

She didn't stumble, she flew. The ground was there one second and the next, it was gone, tunneling down in to darkness all around her. Above, a distant spec fading every second faster and further, was the orange haired man. Her orange haired man.

"You jerk!" She screamed in to the rising vortex. "You aren't alone! I won't let you do this alone!"

Then the darkness swallowed her.

~.~

The first thought she had upon waking was - she was going to kill that orange haired wizard when she saw him again. Haru was going to see him again. In fact, he had just made the single greatest mistake of his life. Well, this was taking a short second to the time he had thought he could pull off Howl's purple cape with his orange hair but that wasn't the point!

The point was as soon as Haru shook off this horrible feeling of jet lag, she was going to march her way across the worlds and right back to his side. And then she was going to beat him, oh the beatings. After that she was going to hug him and never let him go.

But first, the beatings.

Haru struggled up on to her elbows, shaking her head to try and rid the clouds from her vision. This hadn't been like the last few times they had jumped between worlds. This time she felt positively ill.

If she had to compare it to something, it was like fitting a square peg in a round hole, only she was the peg and why in the world did everything feel so wrong?

She took stock of herself. Everything looked right. No extra arms, no strange coloring. Once she managed to sit up right, Haru was shocked to find herself in a room, in a bed actually. That had never happened before.

It clearly wasn't her bed. The room was a cheerful yellow and pretty bare. Beside the bed, there was a dresser and a throw rug by the door. No hint of who might live there... or what.

"That's new." She said. Haru pushed off the bed, trying to be quiet as she snuck out the room and down the stairs. The house was entirely silent and still.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she glanced around and nearly had a heartattack.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Without wasting another minute, she rushed out the familiar door. Once she started running, she couldn't stop. Panic was building and building and all she wanted to do was make it under the arch and see if the world would magically right itself.

Only once she cleared the courtyard and made it back to the streets of her hometown, she didn't magically start growing again. Nothing changed.

"Oh no oh no!" Haru gasped, quickly double checking that her hands were still human – thankfully they were. "What is going on here!" She screamed. Down the alleyway, she could see the street she had walked down countless times to school.

Only now it was giants walking that street. Driving cars the size of buildings. Steering bikes that had wheels thicker than her entire body.

"Oh this is not happening. Not happening! I'm going to kill them. I am." It was clear that something had gone all shades of wrong with the portal.

"Hey you!" A voice called to her. Haru spun to see a young man wearing earth tone clothing and carrying a oversized safety pin waving to her frantically. "Come on, move! You're going to be seen!" He continued motioning, the fear very real on his face.

With a deep sigh, Haru drew up her reserves of strength, rolled her eyes and starting walking towards the man. Because why not? This was pretty much business as usual anymore.