Forver and Ever, Amen:

I didn't know what to do. After the accident I had desperately wanted Sophie to come and live with me, but she refused to leave Howl. And I couldn't understand why. Howl was different now, no longer the lighthearted jovial man he had been.

Both Prince Justin and Wizard Sulliman had been saved; an incredible feat really. I'm now living with Wizard Sulliman and Lettie, but I visit Sophie every now and then. Usually when Howl isn't home. Kelcifer was there though. He's always there. He can't leave. In a way he's as trapped as the two of them, but the more I go over and visit the more it seems as though he's the one in charge.

Once Sophie and I were in the kitchen talking quietly. Kelcifer was in the grate mumbling to himself. Sophie acted as though she didn't want him to hear us. We'd been talking for the longest time. I was tryin to convince her to come and live with Lettie and me, but she wouldn't. She kept sending furtive glances toward the grate.

Suddenly out of the darkened corner a shape loomed. I nearly had a heart attack before I realized that it was Howl. Even then I wasn't much comforted. He's turned incredibly violent since the accident. Goes into a rage if any one gets too close to Kelcifer and I didn't know how he felt about me talking to Sophie. He glared at me now as though I were some kind of animal.

He stalked toward us. Sophie seemed to be barely breathing, and I couldn't take my eyes off of Howl. If he hit her I didn't know what I was going to do. He's much stronger than me. Then he reached out and grabbed her, pulling her hands out of mine.

"She can't leave." He growled. His voice barely sounded human.

"Can't she just come and visit Lettie for a day? Please…" if I ever got Sophie out of that house there was no way I would let her go back but I wasn't about to tell Howl that. I couldn't stand how she was now, so quiet and passive.

"She can't leave me!" He was gripping her shoulders so tightly I was sure there would be bruises in the shape of his hands. I wanted to lash out at him for hurting Sophie, I almost wasn't scared of him anymore, but she was in between me and him, and I couldn't hurt her.

And then to my surprise she wrapped her arms around him in an embrace. "I'm not leaving you Howl." He tore his harsh gaze away from me and looked down to where she had wrapped herself around him. His gaze almost softened.

"But you want to go with Mark. You want to leave me." His voice was lifeless, his face wrathful.

"No. I don't want to go with Mark. I want to stay here with you. I'm going to stay with you." I could see that her eyes were tightly shut and she was holding on to him just as tightly. I was hurt and didn't know what to do. And then he gently wrapped his arms around her in an embrace that almost looked loving, if only his face wasn't carved out of stone.

From where she was with her eyes closed she couldn't see his face and her arms relaxed around him as well. I'd seen Lettie and Sulliman in similar embraces, and knew that to humans an embrace like that meant love. But Howl wasn't human anymore. I stared at them both in shock never thinking that Sophie could love a monster like Howl.

"Get out!" Howl growled in a low voice.

I left. If Sophie insisted on staying with the monster there was little I could do to help. It seemed like she loved him… and had somehow deluded herself into believing that he still cared for her. Maybe he did once, but that Howl was long dead.

It wasn't until later that I remembered the tears on her eyelashes that she wouldn't let fall. I wondered if I should go back and try again. If I should apologize. Next week…. I'd go back then and try to fix things, one more time.

The wick that kept Kelcifer going was running out fast. And it was really nobody's fault. He just couldn't stand the darkness around him anymore. The kind of darkness that slithered around his withered heart and made him fear.

But most of all he couldn't stand to watch Howl and Sophie sobbing in each others arms. They held on as if their wretched lives depended on it.

Sophie was hoping against hope that Howl wouldn't disappear into darkness again. And Howl feared returning to the hollowness just as much if not more. At least Sophie could hope, but when Howl was empty there was nothing, no light or hope, within his reach.

And so, Kelcifer had decided to end it all. Before they could lose each other again and before he could to succumb to his own darkness and chicken out.

Suddenly the fire roared to life. The two humans took no notice, simply holding each other tightly. Without warning Howl gasped and went pale. Sophie, thinking the worst moaned. "No, don't leave me! Please, not again" She wrapped herself even more tightly around him.

For a moment Howl's eyes were completely clear. There was no pain or anger, no dark abyss. He stared at her in wonder.

"Sophie." Her name was a statement, a realization. She felt a tugging sensation in her chest but didn't think anything of it. "I love you."

She stared at him in shock for a moment. And then joy and wonder overtook her. "I love you too, Howl." He was still too pale and seemed to be losing color fast but he leaned in and kissed her.

"I'm so sorry I let you down." His voice was barely there. His eyes were fluttering closed. Suddenly an unnamed panic grabbed her.

"Howl! Don't leave me. Don't!" He didn't move.

"I'm not leaving you, you're with me. I can feel you right there."

Sophie smiled, tears dusting her eyelashes. She was suddenly very tired and she laid her head down on Howl's chest. A heartbeat that she had never heard before beat in time with hers and for once, she knew it was true.

It was truer than either knew. Sophie's innate spoken magic had bound them together, as tightly as two souls could be bound. They had fallen into darkness together, and briefly found each other in the light again.

As suddenly as the fire had come to life it went out. And, gently, Howl and Sophie faded into death together as well.

When Mark knocked on the door of the shop that day there was no answer. He waited for a moment and then hesitantly opened the door. He didn't go in right away, instead staring into the shadowy doorway.

Briefly he wondered if Howl had relocated in order to keep him from trying to take Sophie away. With a deep breath he swept into the room. There was no light in the room, even the grate was dead and it took him a moment for his eyes to adjust and the sunspots to dissipate.

When he could see he stopped breathing. Lying on the floor in front of the grate were two bodies, Sophie and Howl. They lay peacefully in eachothers arms and he didn't think they were sleeping.

He knelt beside them and and lay a hand on Sophie's shoulder. There was no response. Finding them dead was a shock and he couldn't imagine how it had happened. He hadn't thought that Howl could die now.

But the most shocking thing of all was the look on their faces. The last time he had seen them Howl had been so angry and Sophie so broken... Now they looked so peaceful.

If he hadn't known they were dead. If he hadn't experienced the last year and all the pain that had come with it he could believe that this a simple domestic moment.

A private moment that he had accidentally walked in on. The moment when two lovers found each other for the first time and promised to stay together always.

They were finally in peace. And he knew that somewhere they were together, and if they weren't alive they were at least existing in their happilly ever after.

Ok, thats it folks. Thanks for sticking with me. If it weren't for my reviewers this would have stayed a one-shot. So, go hit that button at the bottom and tell me if it was worth the wait, or if I made some stupid grammer mistakes, I don't really care.

Lots of Love!