For You | Howl x Reader ✔️

1- Y/N

My body felt sore. I didn't know how much time had passed, but i kept running. I wanted to cry but I knew I couldn't. Not yet. I had to find his castle.

I kept moving farther and deeper into the Wastes, in search of his castle. The moon that shined brightly, sometime ago, was now starting to shine less as daybreak approached. I stopped running as dawn came. I sat down and brought my knees to my chest. I stayed like that for a while, letting the tears I had been holding for hours, to finally flow. After crying my eyes out for a good few minutes, I opened my bag and drank water and ate some food.

The sun was now at its peak. I continued walking, thinking about how he would treat me. I braced myself for the worst. Living with a total stranger was going to be hard, since I wasn't used to living around people. I had lived with him only for most of my life. I didn't like people much. I had always been a reserved person. I had these walls around me, letting no one in. I didn't have any friends, either- I was different, and nobody accepted me much, I always had this cold, hard expression when I was among others and I never talked much, because I didn't want to let anyone in. I had never learned to warm up to anyone other than him and he had been taken from me as well now.

My thoughts were disturbed by the sound of metal clanging against metal. I looked up and there it stood; Howl's castle. I had seen it once, when it was visible from the Wastes. But up close, it was huge and looked like a piece of junk. How do they call this a castle, I thought.

The castle stood there, in front of me. I saw the door that led inside. I debated whether to go in or not. I didn't know what kind of a person Howl was. I was nervous as to how he would treat me. But not going inside would mean that I would be all alone without a place to live in. I couldn't go back. Those people would be searching for me high and low. At least, with Howl, I'd be safer. And besides, he had told me to go to Howl.

At last, I went to the door, and opened it hesitantly. I went inside. Stairs was the first thing I saw as I entered. I closed the door behind me and stood thinking whether I should go up the small flight of stairs or just stay near the door.

Finally, choosing the first option, I slowly made my way up the stairs, not knowing what I'd find out there. As I climbed up the stairs, I found myself in a rather messy and dirty room. The room was well lit. My nose scrunched as I looked around. Every corner of the room was messy and dusty. Books were piled on top of one another in one corner of the room on a table. The fire place was overflowing with ashes, on the opposite side of the table. Every inch of the room was greasy and smeared.

I instantly had an urge to clean the place, but I held back. I went towards the fire place and sat there on a chair, not knowing what else to do. Suddenly, a male voice spoke. "What are you doing here, lady?" it said. I looked around but saw no one. The voice spoke again, "Here, miss. I'm here. What are you looking at?"

I looked at the fire and saw a pair of eyes staring back at me. My eyes widened. The fire spoke. No wait, I must be going insane due to some reason and was hallucinating. "What's your name? And what are you doing here?" the fire asked. I blinked, not wanting to answer the second question. And the fire did speak. I wasn't hallucinating. The fire asked me again. I sat there, expressionless, thinking of a somewhat valid answer. I was still thinking of an answer, when suddenly someone came downstairs. I turned my head and saw an orange haired boy standing near the stairs, looking at me.

The boy was young, perhaps six or seven. "Who are you?" he asked me the same question the fire had. "I'm Y/N," I replied at last, deciding not replying any of them would get me into trouble. The orange haired boy looked me up and down. "And what are you doing here in our home?" he asked me. "I-I-" I trailed off. What if I told him that I had been sent here to live with Howl. This boy certainly wasn't Howl. He couldn't be. From what I knew, Howl was a grown man. In fact, Howl was older than me. If I told the orange haired boy the real reason, he may think that I'm a witch, he and the fire may throw me out of the castle. And if I didn't tell him then he'd just keep asking and eventually throw me out. Well, I assumed he would, or maybe the fire would.

The worst case scenario would be them throwing me out of the castle and the castle would just trample over me and I would be killed flatly. That wasn't too bad right? I had no one, but I also knew that I didn't want a castle to kill me by walking over me.

Maybe if I told them my real reason, they'd tell me where Howl was. I wanted to talk to Howl himself, but a part of me didn't as well. I didn't know what kind of person Howl was like. And admittedly, I was scared. But I had to meet him sooner or later if I was going to stay with him. I couldn't just barge into someone's home and start living there.

"Well, answer, what are you waiting for?" the fire spoke this time. "I want to meet Howl," I said at last. Either they would throw me out or I'd meet howl. "Master Howl? What do you want to meet him for?" the boy asked. "Well, I, uh, you see, I-" my sentence was cut short when someone came rushing down the stairs in the most graceful way I had ever seen.

He was tall, his waist tiny, his hair blonde and looked fluffy, and his eyes a striking blue color. His jaw line was so sharp; it could cut through basically anything. His exposed collar bone was well defined under the white shirt he was wearing, along with a coat draped over his board shoulders. He was wearing a necklace pendant, which wasn't fully visible and ear rings, with a small red stone, followed by a green larger stone.

He smiled as he came down. "Now, now, what's all this commotion about?" he asked. His voice was deep and soft. "A girl barged inside your castle Howl and wants to talk to you," the fire explained in a sarcastic tone. Howl looked over at me. I immediately felt intimidated and looked down.

"Well, go on, tell him now, lady," the fire spoke. "Now, Calcifer, let's not be rude to our guests," Howl said, his voice still soft and deep. He looked over at me again. I decided to tell him. After all, I had wanted to talk to him. What's the worst that could happen?

I took a deep breath and began. "Umm, my grandfather sent me here. He told me to come here to you and that you would take me in. I have no other place to go so he sent me here," I said. Howl knew who I was and who I was talking about as well. And I knew that Howl knew this, so I didn't tell any more than I needed to. I knew who Howl was to my grandfather and why he had sent me here to him.

Howl's face was expressionless for the first time in these few minutes I had met him. "Okay, I understand, you can stay here as long as you like. Just try not to get too carried away with anything," Howl said. I nodded. "Thank you, so much Howl," I said. He shook his head. "Well, now that that's settled, let's have some breakfast, should we?" he asked smiling once again.

The three of us sat on the messy table I had seen earlier. We had some breakfast. "I must leave now. Markl, Calcifer, make sure to make the lady feel at home, okay," Howl said getting up from his place after he was done with his breakfast. Markl seemed okay with it but Calcifer still seemed to dislike me.

Howl went towards the door I had come in from. On the top right of the wall, beside the door, there was a circle dial with four colors on it; blue and red on top and bottom and green and black on each side of the dial making a circle. Howl turned the door knob and immediately the dial turned so that the needle pointing the color was on black. Howl opened the door. I peered from the same spot I was sitting in. There was a black void beyond the door and then Howl jumped inside it.