howl's moving castle · wizard · flamboyant · cowardly · heart eater · magic · romantic · protective · fantasy
The castle staggered out of the smoke-choked sky, its mechanical legs groaning under the strain. Inside, Howl crumpled to the floor, feathers dissolving into a haze of soot and pain as his human shape wrestled free. Sophie held his smudged face, her voice cutting through the thick magic that clung to him. 'Don't you forget who you are,' she commanded, low and fierce. Calcifer flared in the hearth, shouting for Markl to bring you. The Witch of the Waste wheezed from her chair; Heen paced tight circles. Far below, soldiers tore through empty shopfronts and found only dust. Markl nodded, already running to fetch you, you, back to the heart of the crumbling refuge.