Howl Fic

[Howl Pendragon]

OOC: because I'm too lazy to switch into my Christine account to post this. Mild adult content
~
Sophie sent a baleful glare in what she assumed was Celise's direction. The girl had slipped into the shadows just enough that Calcifer's light wasn't hitting her so Sophie could see her. Celise's curse rendered her invisible unless the light hit her in just the right way (no doubt a "present" from some witch or wizard that had been feeling like she or he needed to be entertained). "Did you have to play with his potions?" she grumped as the scream heard 'round the world echoed from Howl's bathroom (for what seemed like the second time that week - Sophie was beginning to be grateful that the portal was attached to the Waste this time, she could only begin to feel sorry for the neighbors, having to hear that scream again and in such a sort period of time to boot).

Celise silently laughed (not that she could make noise anyway - her curse rendered her not only near invisible but mute as well). She couldn't help herself - men like Howl were far too easy to play with (at least according to Madame Suliman). Of course, she did feel slightly guilty - but not by much (at least that was what she was telling herself). Besides, she was ordered to "test him" - only she hoped that she wasn't the one being tested, it was a pet peeve of hers - one that Madame Suliman usually used to her advantage. She lowered her blue eyes to the ground, not wanting to see Howl as he raced down the stairs, clad only in a towel, clutching his hair. She didn't think it was proper for her to see a man nearly naked, even if she had been living there since Heen's arrival in the family after the meeting with Madame Suliman. That and he gave her such a scare the day before when she had been bathing (or rather having fallen asleep in the tub after getting her first bath in days) and his having joined her (granted, he hadn't known she was there, but still, oh, the embarrassment. She couldn't leave her corner for hours afterwards)

Sophie's eyebrows nearly reached her hairline. "And what do you call that color, Howl?" she asked in all innocence. Howl didn't seem to know about Celise yet so it was probably a good idea if she took the blame, this time. She caught the sight of Celise slipping out of the shadow and noted that the "ghostly" female looked even paler and close to fainting. Sophie just gave a faint amused chuckle - the way Celise acted made her wonder if the other girl had ever seen a man before, naked or otherwise.

Howl said not a word, just glared at Sophie - thoroughly unamused by her laughter. The situation was far from funny in his eyes. His eyes flickered to the shadows after seeing something slip out and turned to see the "ghost" standing there. He silently stalked over and glanced at the mere slip of a girl, trying to figure out not only who she was but also what she was doing there in the first place. "Who's this?" he asked, gesturing to the girl. Or rather, gesturing to the space the girl had been in - she had flickered out of sight again (something that Howl knew was going to vex him - at least until he figured out how to undo it.)

"Don't know," Sophie said with a shrug. "Hasn't said a word. Don't think she can," she added helpfully. Truth was, she really didn't know all that much about Celise, or the ghost girl as she referred to her as. She just appeared one day, nearly giving her a fright. But there was such a sad look in her eyes that she couldn't help but let the girl stay there, even if it had meant lying to Howl.

Celise walked past Howl and sat down at the table, where Howl had left pen and paper, the remains of some spell he had been writing. She flipped to a blank page (something that was rare in that notebook) and wrote in a delicate font one simple word, 'Celise'. She glanced down at what she had written, nodded once and wordlessly handed the pad up to Howl. She kept her gaze set on his face - too afraid to let her gaze drift anywhere else. Thinking of something, she quickly lowered the pad and jotted something down. 'Nice hair. Didn't know pink hair with blue and purple polka dots was in this season.'

Calcifer finally looked up at Howl, and tried to unsuccessfully hide his laughter, the fire crackling like mad. "She gotcha there, Howl, old buddy," Calcifer merrily chuckled. Of course, there was always the threat of *that*. And *that* usually meant no good. Not since Sophie did it that first week she was there. "Sophie, better cut him off at the pass."

Sophie blinked for a moment, before realizing what Calcifer was getting on about. "Howl, no, stop. Control yourself, damn it!" she snarled, feeling ready to shove Howl into a closet and let him slime that.

Celise, for her part, just had a confused look on her pale features. She glanced down, seeing the towel having slipped a bit as the slime formed - instantly tinting her cheeks a vivid shade of crimson. She carefully drew her legs up, hoping to keep her feet out of the green slime. Those were new boots (a gift from Madame Suliman - Madame Suliman had insisted that she get one new outfit before she left to do her assignment) and she didn't want them ruined - just yet. She'd save the ruining for later - much later. Like when she was normal and could rough them up by kicking Howl. Honestly, was he that much of a baby? It was just a little goof - nothing serious. Drama, drama, drama. Honestly… He was a grown man - he should act like one. Still, that slime did have her scared - she never saw anything like it before.

A few whimpers escaped Howl's lips as he just stood there, sliming everything. What was the point in living if he couldn't be beautiful?

Markl just gave Howl a Look. "You're scaring the ghost."

"Isn't that supposed to be the other way around?" Howl ventured weakly - having recovered enough from his "attack" to talk. He was still producing slime by the bucketful but he was glancing at the rather pale ghost, one who had just flickered back into view with Calcifer's light hitting her once again, (although, he noted the ghost did have crimson cheeks which was odd, until he looked down and saw that the towel had slipped - nice to know that the ghost was human at least.) who did look rather scared of him. Good. Now he might get some respect from her. Now, first things first, getting cleaned up again. Then dealing with, what had she say her name was, oh, yes, Celise. Now, where had he heard that name before? It was a name he knew he had heard before - just where he didn't know. Bother and damnation.

Celise just sat on the table, trembling, her eyes the widest she could get them staring up at him in fear. Madame Suliman had said nothing to her about the slime. Nothing - nothing at all. She drew back when Howl reached for her, wanting to get a better look at the ghost. She made a silent whimper when a green slimed hand grabbed her wrist, pulling her off the table and nearer to him.

Howl stared deeply into her blue eyes, wishing Calcifer would play nice and make it so she was a bit more visible. He hated having to strain his eyes to see his little ghost. A mouse and a ghost, how simply marvy. As if he didn't have enough of a headache dealing with Sophie's curse, now he had the added burden of trying to figure out this curse as well. Well, part of it was easy, he thought contently, whipping out something that had been hidden on the girl.

Celise gave a startled gasp. An *audible* startled gasp.

"Mute stone," Howl said, thankful that the slime was acting like a barrier - last thing he wanted was the stone's effect to grab a hold of him, would make things rather difficult at best. "Keeps people silent so they make excellent spies. One of Madame's creations." A small vein throbbed by the corner of his left eye. He remembered far too well a summer spent with that damn thing on him. He could only imagine what that little ghost went through, wanting to speak but being unable to. Nearly drove him mad and that as saying something.

"Th-thank you," came a faint whisper from the ghost, who was trying to getting used to her voice again. Her eyes held his for a long moment before she quickly turned her head away from him. Her cheeks were going to be stained forever red at this rate. Madame Suliman would be furious with her if she couldn't get her emotions in check and maintain her ability to watch and report back to her whether or not Howl was going to the dark.

"You're quite welcome, Celise," he said softly, finally getting himself back under control. "I apologize for giving you such a scare." Granted, she was an "unwelcome" addition to his family, he found himself unable to stay angry with her. Possibly because of the nature of her curse made his "heart" break. He could tell Calcifer had pity for that poor ghost.

~

Celise sat on the ledge of a windowsill, staring outside longingly. She sighed softly, watching from the safety of the castle. With her curse still active, it was safer for her to be indoors (at least, that was according to Howl, and she was not in the mood to get into another screaming match this week - she had enough with the green slime, although, he had tinted it to a lovely shade of amber during that last screaming match - which she did win). Although, she did miss sitting outside, letting the sun bring her warmth. She huffed quietly and stood up quickly, her dress swishing about her frame as she paced the room she was currently in - more out of fear then out of agitation. There was something approaching the castle, she could tell and that gave her quite a fright.

She forgot about her curse and hastily ran out of the room and out through the door, waiting outside to get a better look of what was coming in. She brought her hand up to her mouth, trying to stifle a scream and simply gasped at the sight. "Howl," she breathed, not wanting to believe that the monster approaching the castle was really the master of the castle. She slipped back inside and raced past Calcifer, who was just stirring in his fireplace, having been awoken by Celise's slamming the front door behind her. There was only one safe place she could think of (or rather not think of, just instinctively fled to) - and that was Howl's own bedchamber.

She opened Howl's bedroom door closing it quickly and quietly behind, and collapsed on the bed, trembling. She was downright terrified, and for once grateful that he couldn't see her since there was no light in the room. She watched the door open slowly and saw a dark figure, one that was barely human, slip inside. She barely moved from her spot on the bed, not wanting to draw attention to herself. That, to her, was the last thing she wanted. The beast terrified her and she wanted nothing to do with it - at least until her heart stopped beating a mile a minute.

Steeling herself, she took a deep breath and silently made her way further into Howl's room, following the bloodstains and shed feathers on the floor. Somehow, she was getting a bad feeling about this and was beginning to think that she never should have left that lovely bed of hers. Damn, a fork in the road as it were. She bit her lower lip and thought. To the right, or to the left? She made a step to the right when she heard labored breathing coming from the left tunnel. "Howl?" her voice quivered. "Is that you?" By now she was at the entrance of the cave and could see a large bird huddled in the end of it. "Are you in pain?" she asked, kneeling down after she walked over to stand near the bird. "Tell me what's happening." She started to reach over to touch him when the bird moved away. That worried her more then it should normally, she thought. Normally he would have let her touch him, feathers and all.

"Go away," a gruff version of Howl's voice greeted her. It glanced in the direction of the ghost's voice, seeing her faint outline. A small bit of what was still human wished that he could have freed her of her curse, not wanting to leave her condemned to be a ghost always. It wasn't fair to her.

Irritated, Celise rose up from her kneeling position and glared at him, her eyes flashing with anger. "No. I'm not just going to go away." She could feel her heart starting to pound its way out of her chest, almost as if she was afraid but of what she didn't quite know or understand. "I'm going to help you break the spell you're under."

For some reason, that amused Howl - barely. "You," he began, struggling to keep his thoughts together, something that was growing increasingly difficult as they argued between each other. He knew then that there wasn't any more time. It wouldn't be long now - he'd be lost to the beast, perhaps it was better that way, at least in theory it would be, if he could remember what he was thinking about before hand... Oh, Celise. "You can't even break your own spell."

Celise's eyes narrowed in anger. He just had to pull that on her - it wasn't her fault she couldn't break it, she barely knew how it got on her in the first place, and to top it all off, *he* promised to help her break it - that was when he had a moment of time when he wasn't trying to break Sophie's. "Leave that out of this," she hissed quietly. Taking a steadying breath, she began again. "I love you, Howl," she whispered, instantly shocking herself with her confession.

The bird beast glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "You're too late," he breathed. He rose slowly, letting her get a full view of what he was now, a beast, a monster, a thing unworthy of her love. That the Howl she knew was gone and that there was no hope, no chance for him, for her, for them (if there could have been a them).

Celise gave a soft gasp, stepping back out of fear.

He merely growled before taking off into the night - possibly to never be heard from again.

"Howl! No!" Celise screamed out into the night, watching him fly away. "Come back!" All of a sudden there was a strange sound like the sound of rushing water and Celise started, instantly finding herself in her warm bed all along. She trembled for a moment, realizing it had been just a nightmare, or had it, before stumbling out of bed and racing upstairs and throwing the door open.

And instantly regretted it - her cheeks instantly turning crimson at the sight of Howl in the shower. She was just about to turn and close the door behind her when a strong gripped hand reached out and grabbed her wrist since she was within grabbing distance and pulled her into the shower with him. "Howl?" she breathed.

Howl said nothing for a long moment, just held her flush against him, not caring that he was getting her wet - the water was acting like the way light would and outlining where she was. He'd get her a dry dress later, right now he needed the comfort that only her touch could bring. "Just stay," he whispered, nuzzling the back of her neck. He had a promising lead on a possible cure, but right now, after the events of yesterday, he just needed to know she was all right. That second meeting with Madame Suliman, he shuddered as he held her closer, had nearly cost Celise her life, something he found too horrible to think about. The loss of either her or Sophie was something he didn't even want to begin thinking about - somehow both girls had wormed their way far too deeply into his life and that unnerved him, unnerved him a lot. He didn't want to think he was dependent on anyone like that. Calcifer was one thing, the girls were another.

Celise pivoted in his arms, staring up at him, her eyes wide for a moment before softening. "Howl?" she asked softly, placing a hand on his face. "Are you?" She would have asked more but he closed the distance between them, capturing her mouth with his. She leaned against him, her eyes closed and a content smile crossing her lips as she felt Howl's grip tighten on her shoulders before she opened her eyes again and looked up.

Howl was staring at her, as if seeing her for the first time before throwing his head back and laughing. He lowered his head and smiled at her. "No more hiding in the shadows for you," he said with a throaty laugh, and ran his fingers through her now visible hair. "You're far prettier then I thought you were, little Celise," he breathed, taking in what he saw.

"What?" she asked, clearly confused until she looked down and saw her hand.

"The rest of you is like that, or do you just like the look of your hand?" he playfully teased, pulling her flush against him again after she had taken a few steps backwards in shock and wonder.

"Oh, Howl!"