WINGS // HOWLS MOVING CASTLE

Chapter three

It had been a few hours, maybe two or three, since they departed from the table and Sophie began her cleaning.

Mari was sitting at the top of the castle, bathing in the warm sun light when there was a sharp pain in her chest. She gasped and grasped her chest tightly. The area where her heart was began to churn painfully and she groaned. "Calcifer." She grunted.

Shakily she spread her wings and glided down to the castle entrance, stumbling into the house with a pained gasp. She spotted Sophie cleaning the fire place, dust and particles flying into the air as she dragged all the charred wood off of it. Calcifer was sitting in a cup, slowly going out and crying for Sophie to help him but she ignored him.

"Calcifer." She gasped out and she slowly began to pale as he began to fall and go out.

She rushed over, stumbling and accidentally crashing into Sophie then weakly tried to grab him before her knees buckled. Howl caught her quickly, also feeling the affects of Calcifer slowly going out but seemingly a lot less affected. He wrapped his arm around her waist tightly, keeping her standing as he grabbed Calcifer with one hand.

He remained calm but if you looked closely into his eyes you would be able to see how panicked he really was.

"Woah, hang on there love." He mumbled at her as he gently blew on Calcifer. He placed him back on two large slabs of wood as he came to life and Mari gasped out, the colour seemed to come back to her face once more.

Sophie walked back into the house after putting away the ashes and paused seeing the two of them. Mari was leaning against Howl as he gripped her waist tightly, muttering soothing things into her ear as her chest heaved for air.

"Sophie, I would appreciate it if you didn't torture my friends. Thank you." Howl gently let her go as she stood up her feet. "Are you sure you want to go?" He asked Mari who took a deep breath and nodded.

"Yes, I'll be fine."

He nodded and the two of them walked past Sophie. A green flash came and Mari's pyjama like clothes changed into a deep red button up shirt, a black corset, and black tight trousers. Her cloak was left on the door and she stretched out her wings as Howl changed the dial on the door.

"Where are you going?" Sophie asked them but they ignored her and Howl turned to Markle.

"Markle, make sure the cleaning lady doesn't get carried away." Howl adressed the boy who nodded and smiled at Mari who pat his head and pushed him back a little as howl opened the door.

In front of them everything was black and a wave of hot air flurried in. Fire and smoke filled the air outside and Sophie flinched at the sight. Then the two took off into the outside and the door slammed shut behind them, the dial changing back to blue.

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Through the black dial a war was raging. Amontrous looking creature roared, it's blue/black wings fanning loudly as scary creature surrounded it. It's teeth were shining and a glistening white, sharper than knives as they dripped with feral saliva. 

"Howl! Watch out!" Mari was engulfed in green mist, soaring through the air and fighting off the creatures that tried to attack them.

Howl, the monstrous creature, barely dodged a falling ship with a shriek and shot through a flock of the creatures, knocking them out of the sky completely. 

The two continued to fight, barely keeping up with the chaos around them but still staying ahead. As they beat down as many ships and monsters that came into their paths, the two began to tire with the never ending attacks coming their way.