Disclaimer: If I owned Howl's Moving Castle, trust me, you'd know it.

A/N: So I was thinking one day. (Miraculous, I know.) And I had an idea for a Howl's Moving Castle fanfic with a Sophie that's a little more independent and a little different, from modern times. I got inspiration from a certain song mentioned below, my ideas evolved, and this is the result! Basic ideas are movie-based, but a lot of my own twist thrown in. Completely original plot—yes, something I do own! Enjoy and comment please

You take the breath right out of me

And left a hole where my heart should be

You gotta fight just to make it through

Cause I will be the death of you

Breath – Breaking Benjamin

Chapter 2: Another World

To recap from the last chapter:

Sophie made a sudden, snap decision. He sounded just plain batshit crazy but she just had this…feeling. Like she was being drawn to him, and not just cause he was incredibly handsome.

She would go with this gorgeous wacko that she didn't know.

And onto the current chapter (it gets better in the middle-- I promise. Lotsa explaining and stuff, a little long-winded…)

Then she thought of something important. "Give me two minutes." He nodded and Sophie pulled out her phone and dialed Maria's house. She never picked up her cell phone.

"Hello, Cooper residence!" said her best friend's voice brightly on the other end.

"Hey Ria, it's me. I have a ridiculously huge favor to ask you and I don't want to have to ask you but I know you're the only one who can…" she trailed off.

"Sure Soph, fire away." She sounded worried.

"So it's a long story and I don't even understand it myself, but I need you to call my mom and tell her two things."

"Alright."

"First, that I'm sorry I didn't call back and I'm fine. And second that I'm staying at your house for the weekend."

"…Sophie? What's wrong? Of course I'll cover for you, but what's happening? You aren't running away, are you?!"

"No, no, nothing like tha—" she paused. Here she was, being handed the perfect answer.

"Well—yeah. I guess you can call it that. But I don't want her calling the cops or anything! So can you let your mom in on it and cover for me for the weekend? I know it's so much to ask, but I promise I'll explain everything once I'm back." I gave Howl a significant look. Because he was going to explain to me. Pronto. He smiled back angelically, guessing my thoughts, making him look like, well, like an angel come to earth. "You and your mom both know me so well, you were the only person I could trust to do this, but I'm sorry." Maria's mom was pretty cool. She completely understood teenagers and would do anything for her daughter and her best friend in a heartbeat.

"Soph, it's fine. We can handle it. But what if she comes over to bring your stuff? I mean, you're "staying for the weekend.""

"Um. Actually, you know what? I'll call her myself. She's still at work so I can say you walked home with me and we went in the back door and I got all my stuff, then your mom came and picked us up."

"Okay. And, Sophie?"

"Yeah?"

"…Be careful. You're still my best friend, you know. If anything happens I might just have to kill someone—"

"—and legal cases are so boring!" we chorused, finishing our famous line together.

Sophie sobered. "I will be. You don't know how much I owe you, Ria. Really."

"Don't mention it. Best friends, right?"

"Right."

"Okay. Bye."

"I'll see you later."

I hung up, sighed, and speeddialed my mom's office. I made a calm and clear explanation to her, assuring her that I had all that I needed and that there was a good chance we'd spend all of Saturday at the mall and yes I had plenty of money with me. I would be home Sunday night.

At this point I looked at Howl significantly, and saw that he looked uncomfortable again. I dismissed the thought and said goodbye to my mom.

"You don't know if there's any chance I'll be able to get back by then," I said bluntly.

"Well…yes. You're right. So let's go now—we don't want your mother thinking you've been kidnapped or something."

"And you call this what?" I muttered as I followed him down a side path to two birch trees that crossed each other, making a doorway-like arch. "Oh, you're kidding. This is way too cliché."

He smiled. "Well, stories have to come from some kind of fact, don't they?" He held out a hand and I took it nervously, stepping under the trees right after him.

I gasped. It really was like in the movies. We were suddenly in a sinister-looking, fog-covered field. Actually, more like a landscape of continuing hills. And the woods were nowhere to be seen.

"The Wastes," Howl commented. "Now where—ah. There it is."

I was gaping around at the drastically different setting, seeing no more birch trees, no snow, just the fog and clouds and the very faint sunlight that filtered through. And then I saw the monster walking towards us. It was huge and clunky and was creaking as it walked, emitting puffs of smoke from what looked like pipes attached to…parts of houses? What the hell? "Holy shit," I remarked as it came to a stop smack in front of us.

Howl tsked. "Language, young lady. It's not becoming of a girl like you."

I huffed. "What planet have you been living on?" Then I realized what I had said and reconsidered my thoughts.

"This country is called Ingary. We're in the Wastes and that's my castle. Come on, you can meet Calcifer and Markl." He strode to what looked like a door on a slight extension that came from the underside of the "castle," evidently not a monster. I followed quietly and meanwhile noticed something about Howl. I knew I was missing something from what I could tell about his personality and I thought I had figured it out. Judging by his mannerisms—flicking his bangs, the confident walk, his manner of speaking—he was overly conceited. He had every right to be, looking like he did, but I saw through him to his arrogance. Probably thinks he can get whatever he wants, I thought. How predictable. Well, his flirting with me certainly wasn't going to get him anywhere.

He opened the door for me and I walked inside and up a few steps. They led to a messy living room that looked like it had gone years without being cleaned, although the fire was well stoked. That was the next thing I noticed. The flame in the center of the hearth had what were unmistakably two eyes that were staring at me and a gaping mouth.

"Ohmygawd!" I shrieked and slammed backwards into what must have been Howl, because I heard an "Oof!" and turned to see him crashing backwards down the steps and into the door. He groaned.

"Ahhhh! Sorry, sorry! But—wha—it—huh?" I spluttered oh-so-coherently, looking back and forth from Howl to the fire and back again. I hurried over to Howl and bent over him anxiously, forgetting his personality for the moment. "Are you okay? I'm such a klutz," I muttered.

"It's fine, it's fine, I'm—ow—" he grimaced as he stood. Ascending the stairs again, following me, he waved a hand at the fire. "Jeez. Sophie, this is Calcifer. Calcifer, yes, this is Sophie."

"Am I really enough to spur that kind of reaction?" the flame, apparently "Calcifer," huffed.

Howl sighed. "Cal, she's never exactly seen a fire demon before—you know they don't have magic in her world."

This was getting freakier by the second and I wanted some answers. No one ever told me anything at home and I always seemed to be the confused one left out and left behind, so I had to get all my information by less-than-traditional methods most of the time. I was sick of it and it certainly wasn't going to continue here. "Okay, Howl, you owe me some explanations," I jabbed a finger at him.

He looked surprised. What, he expected me to sit back and be quietly clueless? "What exactly about?"

"Everything! Who I'm supposed to resemble, and where'd you come from and how, and what's all this about "my world," and what the hell with the demon!"

Calcifer didn't help matters by choosing to burst out laughing. "Whooo, Howl, you sure were right about them being different there from here."

I gave him a look. "Now that just made absolutely so sense whatsoever."

Howl chuckled. "Why don't you sit down, Sophie." He gestured toward the couch in front of Calcifer and pulled up a chair for himself. "Now. I'll start by asking you something. What do you know about past lives?"

I blinked. That was definitely not on my list of relevant topics. "Not too much. Well, I like the idea of it, and I'd like to think that who we've been makes a difference to who we are."

"Whew. That makes it a little easier, right?" Calcifer looked at Howl.

"Hardly," Howl said dryly. "As you may or may not have guessed, Sophie, I am a wizard and am most definitely not from your world."

I took a deep breath. "Another world, yes. Wizard, not so much."

"Well, I am, and quite a fabulous one at that." Jeez, he was vain. "Everyone gets reincarnated, Sophie, and witches and wizards come back especially soon after they die. If they lived an overall good life, they'll come back with their powers of magic still fully intact. However, if they had used their magic for entirely selfish or destructive reasons during their life, the chances are good that they'll be cut off from magic when they come back. And, very rarely, if a person, magical or not, does something exceptionally world-changing for the better, something huge, they can come back with some memories of their past lives. It's a great advantage, knowing what's happened to you in other lifetimes. It's like having insight into your own mentality that you just can't get by being only yourself.

But sometimes—and this is where we get to you—if a witch or wizard dies a particularly dishonorable and unfair death, their soul will be damaged, and they won't come back for a little bit longer than usually happens. Also, when they are reborn, they retain their magic but have no idea of it and can go their whole life without realizing it." He looked a little exhausted from the long-winded and up-front explanation.

I took all of this in slowly. The idea made sense. A lot of sense. But witches? Magic? He wasn't kidding about the different worlds. And also… "Wait. "This is where we get to me"? Was I… something else in a past life?"

"Yes," Howl said quietly. "You were a witch."

A/N: Ooh… Cheesy, I know, but I couldn't help myself. I kind of loved Sophie's freak-out at Calcifer, myself. Comments/reviews greatly appreciated!