"Sophie, what the hell were you thinking? Why would you let yourself get pregnant?" Howl yelled at her, standing up abruptly.

Sophie frowned. "I wouldn't have done it without your help," she mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

His eyes narrowed at her in anger. "You knew this would happen, didn't you?" he said, almost in a low growl. "If you really wanted a baby, all you had to do was ask me. Right now we're in no position to take care of a child! The house is a mess and there's only just enough food to go around! We don't even have any space! How could you be so stupid?!"

Sophie's mouth fell open at him, and then her face suddenly screwed up with rage as she threw her hand at Howl's face. "You're the one that didn't want a baby in the first place so I made myself beautiful so you would. But it hasn't worked, has it? Don't you get it, Howl? Now our child will be beautiful."

Howl was silent for a moment. He had thought only changed herself for the sake of looking good. But what she didn't understand was that he didn't want a baby anyway – now that's too late! It had crossed his mind dozens of times to undo the spell but Howl didn't want to change her back if he knew that she wouldn't be happy about it. It was a hard decision – he wanted Sophie to be happy, but now he, Markl and Calcifer were suffering for it. Howl sighed and leaned down towards her. "I'm sorry, Sophie," he said, kissing her on the forehead. "I didn't mean to upset you." He brought his hand up to stroke her cheek before kissing her on the lips.

Before Sophie could even realize it, he had picked her up and placed her on his lap, cradling her in his arms. Sophie laid her head gently on his chest, sighing with satisfaction. One thing confused her, though: his heart seemed to be racing. He hugged him tighter as his hand moved over their baby. "It's strange to think we've created a person, don't you think?" she asked.

At that, Howl seemed to hesitate touching her stomach. "I know," he said simply. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry? For what?" she suddenly gasped. Howl had added pressure onto her, onto the baby, forming a bright glow from it. She couldn't speak with the shock but could feel tears staining her cheeks.

The glow soon died down and Sophie instantly jumped away from Howl, who stood up slowly. Sophie felt her stomach – it was strangely empty. She'd lost something, someone. She hiccupped. "Howl…" her voice quivered. "Please… tell me you – you didn't…" she couldn't even finish her sentence, knowing the words would break her heart.

Howl looked both guilty and solemn. "I said I was sorry," he said in a monotone. "I had to do it. You're not Sophie. That wasn't Sophie's child. That baby wasn't made with love, and I couldn't allow it to be brought into this world-"

"So you killed it?!" she screamed, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed to stand up. "And you're calling me stupid?! What kind of cold hearted person are you?!" Howl tried to ignore her and didn't answer. He knew that what he had done was the right thing but couldn't help regretting it. "Howl! Why did you kill the baby?!"

"The same reason you killed my Sophie!"

"I am Sophie!" she screamed at him.

"No, you're not!" he stopped to try and lower his voice. He sighed deeply and looked her straight in the eye. "I love Sophie. You're not Sophie because I have no feelings for you."

She grimaced and glared at him, still angry. How dare he say that? "I changed for the better, Howl." With that, she turned away and climbed back into her bed, hiding herself completely in the blanket. It looked like she was trying to shut herself away from everyone. But Howl knew that she had no motherly love for that baby. It was just there – like an accessory. If she could no longer look after Markl, she'd never be able take care of a baby of her own.

Howl turned towards the door but before he left, he turned back towards her. "If that's what you think, then I killed that child for the better." And he went. As he shut the door behind him, Howl fell against it and fell to the ground, burying his head in his hands. I'm such a bad person, he kept repeating to himself. He ignored Calcifer and Markl – not purposely. His mind felt clogged up with all these emotions; he'd felt all of them lots of times before but never this strongly. Now he didn't think he could concentrate on anything at all. "Master Howl," Calcifer said, though Howl was only vaguely aware of anyone else around him. "Is everything okay with you and Sophie? What was all the shouting about?"

"The baby," he answered subconsciously in a monotone. He kept staring at the ground like it wasn't even him that answered. "It's dead."

Markl and Calcifer stared at him for a moment, unsure if they'd heard him correctly. The baby was dead already? "How do you know that?" Markl asked.

Calcifer knew exactly why it was dead. "Kid," he said quickly. "Master Howl is tired and doesn't want to-"

"I killed it."

Markl blinked for a minute; he was sure he had felt his heart stop. Why would Howl kill a child? Was it an accident? Without him realizing it, his eyes had welled up and began to spill down his cheeks. Howl's heart dropped as he glanced up to see Markl's face. He didn't want to see it and scowled, suddenly storming upstairs. He slammed his bedroom door shut, making the two downstairs flinch. "Calcifer," Markl said. "Does that make Howl a murderer?"

The flame paused. He knew Howl only would've done it for a good reason – does that change the fact that he killed someone? He sighed. "I don't know. I really don't know."

Ugh, I know – it's incredibly short! But dramatic, right? RIGHT?!

So if you have any suggestions on how I could improve (excluding that I should write more -.-;;) or if you just want to be nice and review, go ahead :) no complaints here!