A Heart in Flames #2 (Howl's Moving Castle fanfiction)

Chapter 29: Final Life

It was a night he had seen for centuries, but never thought would come to pass for him. He was a free star, the galaxy his only limitation. He always flew with his fellow brothers and sisters through the blackness of space granting wishes and fulfilling dreams - and nothing could ever stop them.

Nothing except the Night of Falling Stars.

A thousand years after his emergence in the black sky came his departure from it. It was the night when he and the other ancient stars fell and hurtled toward the Earth. But Calcifer wasn't ready; he wasn't prepared to die.

As he plummeted from the sky, he whispered the one wish he had kept all these years.

I wish to live again.

The fallen stars departed like comets soaring through space. He could feel his speed increasing, his brilliant being moving faster and faster - death so close he didn't have a moment to reflect on anything worthy he had done in his thousand years.

One memory had floated into his mind, however. It was a memory fairly recent - a wish. He had granted so many wishes in the past, it seemed odd that this one stood out.

A young girl crying out from her window, Calcifer carried the sadness in her tears as they sprinkled down her cheeks. He could vaguely see her soul, broken and with little faith left inside such frailty. This wish was her final resort.

Calcifer cried as he fell, remembering her wish and wanting nothing more than to grant it. I wish for true love or no love at all.

He didn't know how it would come true, but somehow he made sure it would.

The night lit up with explosions, brief sparks of starlight contacting the earth. The marsh in the Wastes - if there was a way to die, this was the most painless. The water of the lake quickened the process. Calcifer felt slightly more at ease.

Until he appeared. Seemingly out of nowhere, a young boy walked amongst the massacre, his eyes glowing with wonder. His hair was long and dark, matching the color of the night sky. He was only a child.

Yet Calcifer didn't waste a moment.

"No!" A fellow star shouted. "He's mine!"

"No! I want to live!"

"Pick me!"

Calcifer sped past all of them, his aim amplified with determination. The boy noticed the star's fast approach and stood under him, his palms facing upward to catch him. His hands were soft, reminding Calcifer of an innocence he had long forgotten. If he wasn't so focused on his own life, he may have reconsidered involving a child in this curse.

"Please." The star begged. "Please help me. I can't die yet I-I just can't."

The boy tilted his head. "I'll make a deal with you." Calcifer widened his eyes. The boy was now asking him for something. "I'll save your life if you take my heart."

"Wha-" Calcifer was expecting his eyes, his hair, something less extreme. Taking his heart would not just keep him alive. He'd be bound to him until this boy's death.

"I can drop you and go for another star." The boy separated his hands an inch, frightening Calcifer of what lay below.

"Okay, okay." The star said. "Just don't drop me."

The boy nodded. He lifted the fallen star into his mouth and Calcifer willingly went. He kept repeating to himself that it was worth it; that anything was better than death.

He hoped, at least.

When he reached the heart, Calcifer consumed his entire being around it. He pushed himself and the heart out through the boy's chest, resting in the same soft hands as before.