Howl's Moving Castle: Tales Of Love

Sleep

All rights belong to Studio Ghibli and Diana Wynne Jones

A cold chill drifted through the wooden walls, reaching Sophie in her sleep. She shifted around, her delicate hands subconsciously reaching for something warm. All she found was the underside of her pillow, and her hand went there instead. Her other hand pulled up the quilt that took her about a week to make, up to her ears, the draft becoming colder and colder. Finally, her eyes snapped open, frustrated by how little warmth anything around her was providing. She got up, her short silver hair fluttering around, to see that the window was slightly open. "No wonder it's so cold in here..." She muttered, standing up to go close it.

Deciding she probably wasn't going to go back to sleep, she ventured downstairs, into the dim of the night. Calcifier was there, his warm, sleeping presence filling the room. Sophie walked into the little kitchen that had food always kept in it, to go make a cup of warm milk.

Inside the living room with a cup of warm milk and Calcifier heating her up, Sophie was bound to fall asleep. It's happened before on nights like this. Especially on stormy nights. She personally thought those were the best nights to have a cup of warm milk.

Sophie took a seat on the plush rocking chair, and placed her elbows on the armrests, holding the warm cup in front of her face, breathing in the steam. She wrapped the soft blanket around her that she made Markl fold earlier, trying to get into the most comfortable position. After taking a few sips, a heavy hitting wave of exhaustion hit her. She leaned forward, and set the cup down on the floor, knowing she could just put it in the sink in the morning. A moment later, her eyes shut, and she was off into the realm of dreams.

In the wee hours of the morning, the door clicked open, wind bustling in like it belonged there. Howl stepped foot inside, after a long night of unfortunately being caught up in battle of flight with a few other transformed wizards. His feathers withdrew, and his hair became normal, all retreating back to his usual features. He closed the door, and shuffled quietly into the living room.

He smiled at the sleeping figure of Sophie, and decided he should probably wake her to take her to the bedroom upstairs. "Hey, Sophie, wake up." Howl said, taking her blanket off of her and setting it aside. She stirred, and her chocolate eyes fluttered open. "Hmm?" Howl helped her to stand up, and he said, "I'd be too lonely to sleep upstairs by myself. I hope you wouldn't mind sleeping next to me."

She shook her head drowsily, mumbling, "okay..." and followed Howl up the stairs like a child. At the top step, Howl held onto her hand, and led her to his bedroom, knowing if he let go, she would go wandering around the place till she found comfortable furniture to sleep on.

He clicked his door open, and shut it behind him. She shuffled over to his bed, barely managing to keep her eyes open. She plopped onto the right side of the bed, and lied down. She rolled to over to her left side, her hand once again searching for something warm to grasp onto. Howl plopped onto the bed as well, a sudden wave of drowsiness hitting him like a ton of bricks, leaving him no room for keeping his eyes open either. He slowly turned to his side, now facing Sophie so he could wake up to a pleasant sight in the morning.

Even though both of them were quickly falling asleep, Howl's left hand and Sophie's right still found each other in the end.

A/N

Hello :)! Also this was written when I was 13-14 so please do not expect a masterpiece or really anything good. I just wanted to share it with this community. This whole story is from my Fanfiction.net account and I just thought I'd upload it here as well! Please remember to save the children and vote/comment