I walked over to Sophie pulling a chair next to my bed and grabbing ahold of her hand, lacing our fingers together. I looked down at her sleeping form, her chest slowly rising and falling in a safe and steady rhythm. What have I done to her? Will she ever wake up from the awful trauma that I've so easily put her through? The clocks ticking in my room one after the other, the gem on the long sting was a dark grey, the Witch of the Waste was trying to find my castle. I looked down at Sophie; surely I could go tell Calcifer to move the castle without her waking up to no one. I smiled down at her moving a stray piece of her short grey hair from her face. I slowly unlaced our fingers and walked towards my door, opening it and walking towards Calcifer.
"Calcifer," I called to him from the top of the stairs walking down slowly, I needed something to drink anyway. "Move the castle sixty miles to the east." I could hear him groan from where I was standing.
"Howl, this is getting old, I'm done moving the castle around!" he whined and as I reached the bottom of the castle he sighed and huffed but I crossed my hands over my chest meaning business.
"This is for Sophie." I knew it would work, but I also knew it was a hard and difficult card to play with him. I know that he had grown to love Sophie (well as much as a fire demon could). The castle started to move beneath me and I knew that Calcifer would learn my trick one day, that none of this was for Sophie, but for me trying to hide from everything. Running away was I guess my specialty.
"You know Howl, when Sophie was down here I didn't want to tell you in front of the kid, but she doesn't look good, the odds of her pulling through are slim. I just… I think that you should know that before you spend days on end by her bedside waiting for her to wake. She'd want you to do what you need to do, to go see the King." I looked at him wide eyed; did he just tell me to go see the King?
"Calcifer, if I go see the King it would be Madame Sulliman, and you know she would take my powers forever. I could never save her then, and who would know what would happen to you." I looked at him but he crossed his fire like arms at me and stuck out his tongue.
"I'm sure you'd be fine if you just explained yourself to her, she'd understand Howl, you were young and naïve, you wouldn't know that swallowing me would cause me to take your heart." I sighed at him as I grabbed my glass of water and headed back up the stairs towards Sophie.
"Thanks for starting a bath for Markl, the kid needed a shower desperately." With that I opened the door to my bedroom and took place back in my chair next to Sophie. I laced our fingers together once more and gripped it tight hoping for something in return. Nothing.
"Hey Sophie." I said stroking her hair, "Sophie this is all my fault, if I wouldn't have thrown that fit you wouldn't be in this position." I sighed and grabbed her hand with both of mine. "Calcifer thinks I should go see the King, maybe I should. My hunger for freedoms half what got me in this mess. What would have happened if I never swallowed Calcifer that night? You would never have been even turned old, I wouldn't have saved you from those two guards in the alley, and I would have never even met you. You could have been safe at home in your hat shop with your family, never worrying about me eating your heart." I was more talking to myself now then to her; I just needed to hear this all outside of my head. "Maybe I should go fight for the King, but would I loose my powers? Would I loose you?" I laugh, "I've already lost you haven't I Sophie? So what's left worth living for? I have no family besides Markl and Calcifer, and if I went to the King it would leave Markl. How could I let him fend for himself? He barely knows enough magic because of me, from me running away." I let go of her hands and walk to the walls banging my hands against them. "Why am I such a coward? Why do I run away from everything and everyone? I should have learned long ago it just hurts the ones I love, it always hurts my family." I looked back at Sophie; her body remained unmoved, motionless besides the rise and fall of her chest. There was a slight knock on the door and within the split second I knew what I had to do once again.
"Markl, I need your help." I looked to him, his eyes big, I never asked him for help. I always did things where I never needed it. "I need you to watch Sophie until my return." He looked at me and nodded his head and walked over and sat himself down in the chair I was residing in only moments ago. I opened the door and looked back once more to see Markl crying into Sophie's hands, I think he loved her more then Cal and then me put together.
"Howl? Are you going out to fly?" Calcifer asked me as I walked towards the door. I turned the dial to the Kingsbury Port, I was going to see the King, and without saying another word I left my moving castle in the hands of a fire demon, a young child, and a very sick women who may never wake up.
I walk into the castle hearing the name "Howl Pendragon" ringing through my ears from it being called through the castle, there as no escape for me now. Madame Sulliman surely knew I was here, and I knew she was ready to take my powers. Although I knew where I was going from my lessons at the castle so may years ago I let the escorts take me to her, knowing that if there was a "wrong" turn I could simply fix their mistake. The trip took less time then I remember and before I knew it I was in front of the women who I had so desperately tried to avoid for the rest of my life, but I had to do this, I had to do this for Sophie.
"Ah, Howl how nice to see you again, please come sit." She said waving her hand towards the empty seat across from herself.
"Madame Sulliman, you're looking well." She smiled a grin at me, one that I had seen so many times before, before she took some wizards powers. She was an evil woman, never giving anyone a break.
"Howl, well I can say that I am surprised to see you here." She laughed as she spoke sounding funny to herself I guess. I for one was not laughing. "What brings you here? I know that you have to have a purpose, you wouldn't have shown just because I asked you." I looked her right into the eyes and I could feel her pulling me to her, not physically, not even mentally, but I could feel her pulling my powers.
"Madam Sulliman, I have a problem." She laughed at my statement, just like I knew she would. Her laugh was cheerful, it also sounded old, like she hadn't laughed in a very long time and was out of practice.
"Her name is Sophie, if I'm not mistaken." I jumped, almost out of my seat and looked at her wide-eyed, how had she known? How did she know when Calcifer kept up so well hidden from the world?
"Y-y-yes." I stuttered getting that simple word out. This was a dumb move, a really dumb move.
"Well Howl, you see I would love to help your poor paralyzed love, but see I don't help the heartless." I almost growled at her, my anger rising above what I can handle.
"Madame Sulliman, I am not heartless." I did growl back at her, my voice rising through my throat so low I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to breathe. She laughed once again at my remark.
"But Howl, I believe you are. How's Calcifer? Moving the castle maybe? You are heartless Howl, you have no heart in you it resides in Calcifer. He's the only thing that keeps you going everyday… or should I say that that's Sophie now?" I stood up; I have heard enough of her crap.
"It was nice seeing you Madame Sulliman, best wishes to the King." I said as I started to walk towards the back door where a cruiser from the military rested. I would have expected a fight with her, some kind of battle so she could take away my powers, but she simply let me walk out, but not before she could put her two sense in.
"You'll be back Howl you'll be back. I'm the only one that can save Sophie, if you really love her, you'll be back." She repeated and repeated until I walked out the glass doors and hopped on the machine, calling Calcifer with my heart, my light led me to my castle, to my home, to my family.
Weeks went by Calcifer, Markl, and myself all on a shift to watch and take care of Sophie. I knew that Madame Sulliman was right, only she had the power to help Sophie, but I could never let her take her from me. I had told Markl and Calcifer about what Madame Sulliman had said and asked for their opinion, both said to let her fight her own battle for her life. I agreed. The house had slowly become a wreck again, without Sophie to clean up things got piled and nothing got washed, if she ever woke up, we're all going to be switching places.
"Master Howl?" Markl looked down at me as I sat in front of Calcifer talking to him about this war and the Witch of the Waste. It was Markl's turn to watch Sophie; I jumped as I heard him. "I need to go to the bathroom, can you come up and watch her?" I sighed, my shoulders slumping as I walked up the stairs to go see Sophie. My shift was the afternoon, Markl's the morning, and Calcifer's at night, he was up anyway there was no point in Markl and I changing our sleeping pattern when he was already up. I looked at her, her sleeping body still fighting with herself to wake back up to come back to everyone. Markl came back in and sat next to me. "Don't you want to go fly for awhile? You haven't been out in weeks, you have to want to fly." He asked me, and he knew it was something that was on my mind. I had been thinking of it a lot. I've wanted to go out every night, but I can't bring myself to leave her, not since Sulliman.