Howl's Moving Castle Fan Fiction ❯ Revelations About the Birds and the Bees... ❯ Chapter 3

Disclaimer: “Howl's Moving Castle” and all its characters belong to Diana Wynne Jones. I, on the other hand, own nothing and have absolutely no money. But donations are welcome.

 

August 6, 2005

 

Revelations About the Birds and the Bees…

(and other things not mentioned as the aftereffects of “Happily Ever Afters”)

 

Chapter Three

by Ina-chan

 

 

Things were going well until half-way through the game when Neil asked Sophie which one was her favourite team… only to reveal that her knowledge of the Welsh national sport was next to nothing. Neil reacted with horror. With utmost, absolute, dramatic, horror that almost rivaled Howl's flare for the theatrics. Thus, the boy took upon educating his unfortunate Aunt about the sport as soon as possible.

 

Sophie desperately stared at her husband with an expression as if she had been condemned and was about to be executed, but Howl simply flashed his wife one of his dazzling smiles before announcing that he and Mari were going to start supper. All she could do was glower at his retreating figure as Neil subjected her to his passionate “Rugby for Beginners” lesson. If there was one thing that Sophie quickly found out about Howl, it was that when he gets started on something that he felt strongly about, she had better luck trying to stop a speeding train with her bare hands than attempting to dissuade him.

 

Neil quickly proved that this, too, was a shared family trait. The lesson went on well into dinner until Sophie felt her head was in the brink of exploding. On top of that, the amused look on Howl's face was getting on her nerves. The brute was enjoying watching her suffer!

 

“Howl, didn't you say that you used to play back in university?” Sophie interrupted, facing her husband innocently. But her eyes was anything but innocent. `Well, two can play this game! If you refuse to rescue me then you simply have to be dragged in with my misery.'

 

Howl raised an eyebrow, as if to say, `What are you playing at right now?' but said aloud, refusing to take the bait, “I did play, though it wasn't as exciting as the wonderful fountain of knowledge Neil is sharing with us.”

 

`Damn you! Don't you dare use that tactic, you… you… COWARD!' Sophie's eyes flashed. “Well out of curiosity, what position did you play? I vaguely remember you saying it some time ago, but I forgot. Now that Neil has kindly explained the player's positions, I can easily visualize it now.”

 

`Nice try!' Howl stared at her lazily through half-open lids. “It certainly doesn't matter, does it? It was quite a while ago...”

 

`You're not going to get off the hook that easily!' Sophie glared at him, before putting on another blameless expression, “Perhaps I can guess then. Since you neither have cauliflower ears or the physical stature of being a member of the manly forward pack, then that must mean that you were one of the backs. So which one were you called? What was the term again, Neil? Pretty boy…. girlieback… nancy?”

 

Both children burst out laughing at that. Howl answered her self-satisfied smirk with a graceful grin, as if he were admitting defeat. Sophie glowered at him suspiciously. Howell Jenkins admitting defeat in a verbal joust was simply unheard of!

 

“Uncle Howell was a Winger,” Neil finally answered between giggles. “Mari was too young to go, but I begged Dad to take me to one of Uncle Howell's matches. Mum wasn't too happy about it. When they announced `Number 14, Howell Jenkins!' there was this group of loud ladies at the front who started screaming wildly. One even took her top off to flash her boobies!”

 

That brought about a variety of reactions around the dinner table. Sophie's eyes bugged out in surprise, Mari started giggling uncontrollably at the sound of the word `boobies', and water spurted out of Howl's nose… due to his unfortunate position of being in the middle of drinking a glassful of it.

 

“Do that again, Uncle Howell!” Mari squealed in delight.

 

“Dad made me promise to not tell Mum, but she found out about it anyway. She was so mad!” Neil continued on excitedly with his story, completely unaware of the wasp's nest he was stirring. He then turned to his Uncle as if to seek confirmation. “That lady was your friend, right Unc---”

 

“Neil, finish your vegetables,” Howl interrupted as he veered uncomfortably away from the daggers that Sophie was shooting at him, “and that never happened.”

 

“Of course it did,” Neil protested indignantly, “you even waved at her and she blew you kisses and called you `Darl---'”

 

Howl coughed again, glaring at his nephew, and this time with an obvious signal instructing the boy to shut up.

 

A crafty expression crossed the boy's face briefly and he made an exaggerated action of ignoring his uncle as he turned to face Sophie once again. “And you know, Aunt Sophie---”

 

A thump that sounded suspiciously like a foot hitting the bottom of a chair caused Neil to bounce on his seat and instantly stopped the boy on his tracks. The boy glared at his uncle, but said nothing else.

 

Sophie narrowed her eyes at her husband unsympathetically. Nonetheless, it was more than enough to continue fueling her ire, “So Darling. A Wing! Highly prized for their ability to run very fast… if they're not caught off-guard tying their shoes in the outfield when the ball whizzes by, that was. A most appropriate position for you, I must add.”

 

Mari and Neil burst into even louder peals of laughter, both obviously unaware of Sophie's forced, sardonic smile.

 

“Luckily, my shoelaces were always tied and I ran towards the right direction,” Howl rebutted in a pathetic attempt to lighten the mood, as he stood up with an extended hand to his niece. “Now if you're done laughing in my expense, I believe it's almost your bed time, Mari. Come and get yourself ready for your bath.”

 

“NOOOO!!!” Mari whined in protest, her laughter instantly dying. “It's too early Uncle Howell! I don't want to go to bed yet!”

 

“After your bath, I'll read you any book you like until you go to sleep,” Howl continued on as he carried off the little girl from her chair, but not before giving Sophie a smug look.

 

Mari instantly perked up at the proposal, “Oooh! Read the one about Goddodin!”

 

“O'r gorau…” Howl's voice trailed as they disappeared down the hallways.

 

Neil snorted in annoyance. “Typical. Using Mari as an excuse to get out of washing dishes…”

 

“He's trying to get out of more than just that,” Sophie snorted under her breath. It was just like him to run away. Well, she knew that the story behind this so-called topless mystery girl in Howl's past was going to be another topic she would definitely explore in the near future.

 

“There's no helping it, I suppose,” Neil sighed, almost adult-like, as he stood and gathered the used cutlery and empty plates in front of him. “I'll help you wash the dishes, Aunt Sophie. There's something else that I wanted tell you anyway.”

 

That was what she was afraid of...

 

However, Sophie gave her nephew a grateful smile. As annoying as Neil could be, he was still much more considerate than his Uncle. Sophie followed him to the kitchen with her own load in hand. On the way as she eyed the various strange tools in Megan's kitchen, she was a silently grateful that Howl offered to cook supper. She wouldn't have known which thingamabob to use or what button to push…

 

She prepared for a continuation of Neil's marathon rugby monologue, but to her astonishment, Neil fell into quiet contemplation instead. Sophie was about to say something to break the silence when Neil spoke.

 

“Aunt Sophie…” Neil began shyly, “I'm really glad you married Uncle Howell.”

 

“Eh?” Sophie blinked, completely taken aback by the boy's unexpected declaration.

 

“Well… Mum, you see…” Neil continued, looking rather embarrassed. “She's been worried all this time. About Uncle Howell, that is.”

 

Sophie frowned. With how Megan had been nagging on and on about her brother, it certainly didn't seem that way. “Is she now?”

 

“It doesn't seem that way, but Mum and Uncle Howell are really close. Grandma died when Mum and Uncle Howell were really young. Since Grandpa never married, Mum took care of Uncle Howell since they were kids,” Neil recounted over the gush of warm water filling up the sink

 

Sophie's features softened. This was a part of her husband's story that she knew she'd never hear from him, at least not in the near future. She was in the unique position of knowing what it felt like to lose a mother and be the mother to younger siblings. In a strange way, she found herself starting to feel sympathetic towards her sister-in-law.

 

“Mum always said that Uncle Howell doesn't really do too well with `changes' when he's on his own. So when Uncle Howell suddenly showed up at the door with you, Mum started worrying more than ever,” Neil explained.

 

“Why would she think that?”

 

“I don't know. There are family stories and sometimes they say things when they fight…” Neil's voice trailed off as he cocked his head thoughtfully, as if searching his memories. “I once heard that shortly after my Mum and Dad got married… and Mum moved away for the first time, something bad happened to Uncle Howell.”

 

“What happened?” Sophie asked, her nosiness getting the better of her.

 

Neil shrugged. “I don't know the details. But Tom and I were working on a school project in the library one time when we found an old newspaper article in the microfilm archives by accident. It was a short blurb from my great grandmother's hometown. It said that there was an explosion, and a group of local kids were nearby when it happened. I didn't find out until later, but Uncle Howell was one of them.”

 

Sophie gaped at the boy. “Were people badly hurt?”

 

Neil nodded. “The other kids weren't hurt badly, but Uncle Howell was in a coma. Grandpa said Uncle Howell wasn't injured at all but the doctors couldn't figure out what happened to him.”

 

Sophie frowned at the revelation. For some reason, Calcifer's words from earlier that morning suddenly blared loudly in her mind.

 

`You know the idiotic situations you get yourself into when you get too stressed and emotionally strung out.'

 

“Then there was the time before Uncle Howell moved out for good,” Neil interrupted her thoughts once again, as he continued on with another story. “Mum and Uncle Howell still fight about it. I put together bits and pieces of the story on my own.”

 

Sophie turned her full attention to her nephew, “What happened?”

 

“Uncle Howell was working on his final project to get his doctorship-whatever degree when my great grandmother passed away. Uncle Howell was fond of her so he took it very hard. Before she died, she asked Uncle Howell to do something.”

 

“Do you know what it was? What your great grandmother asked him to do?”

 

“No,” Neil shook his head and shrugged. “All I know was that Mum wasn't happy about it. She and Uncle Howell fought a lot when he came home. Back then, Uncle Howell lived in the University dorms during term and he came home on the occasional weekend. That's why we didn't know what was going on until the Dean called to tell Mum that Uncle Howell was very sick in the hospital.”

 

Sophie almost dropped a pot into the soapy sink at the revelation. She had seen her husband sick with a cold before. She knew how much of a big baby and an even bigger pain in the bottom he was with all his attention-seeking antics. Somehow, the realization that Howl was also just a vulnerable human being despite all his power was unnerving. “He was sick? H-how? What?”

 

Neil chewed his lip, “Mum said it was nerves. With Old Nana Kerrie's death, his school work, and then fighting with Mum all at the same time… it was just too much. Grandpa had bad stomach ulcers too, you know. When he was really stressed out, he got very sick with cramps. He also vomited blood all over the place a couple of times. Mum thinks Uncle Howell probably had the same thing. Only he stopped eating all together so he ended up much sicker. Mum and Dad fought a lot about it because Mum was blaming herself for Uncle Howell's illness.”

 

Sophie had a difficult time believing that. “Why would your Mum think that?”

 

“Because Mum was too busy fighting with Uncle Howell all the time to notice how sick he was getting,” Neil explained with adult-like patience.

 

Sophie did a double take as her thoughts raced back to Megan's final instruction before she'd left in the afternoon.

 

“And make sure he eats…”

 

The circumstances were not the same, but Sophie started to feel guilty, nonetheless. She was doing the same thing. That accusing glare on Megan's face when she saw Howl suddenly made sense to Sophie as well. Megan must have recognized that something was wrong with her brother, and Sophie was too wrapped up sulking to recognize it.

 

Now that Sophie had the hindsight to think about it, she realized that Howl definitely spent a lot more time than usual with his work for the King. Normally, he would find creative ways to run away from work as much as possible. Now, she barely saw him because he was buried in one of the King's projects. She couldn't even recall if Howl stopped to eat the meals she prepared for him. Sophie bit her lip uneasily as a thought occurred to her. Megan was probably thinking along the lines of how lousy a wife Sophie turned out to be and Sophie being too preoccupied with picking on her husband's faults to take good care of him.

 

“I suppose it's understandable why your Mum dislikes me,” Sophie sighed in defeat.

 

“Mum? No… I don't think so. If Mum didn't like you at all, she wouldn't have allowed you in the house,” Neil protested as he scrubbed the last of the dishes. “Especially after that strange woman who appeared out of nowhere, Mum's become even more paranoid of things that have anything to do with Uncle Howell!”

 

“Is that so?” Sophie blinked absently, remembering the scene from Howl's window the afternoon the Witch of the Waste attempted to spirit away Megan and the children.

 

“But I'm really glad Uncle Howell married you, Aunt Sophie. Compared to the other ladies Uncle Howell was rumoured with, you're the coolest of the lot,” Neil said with genuine enthusiasm.

 

Sophie blinked, not really understanding what her nephew meant. But based on his tone and the pleased expression on his face, she assumed that being `cool' was a very good thing. A slight tinge colored her cheeks as she gave the boy a grateful smile.

 

“And there were those rumours about Uncle Howell's frequent visits to Miss Angorian's flat too! That was just before you came along, Aunt Sophie,” Neil exclaimed. “It would have been horrible if Uncle Howell married her instead! I wouldn't be able to show my face in school again if everyone knew my Uncle married the English teacher! Though… come to think of it, it's really a mystery that she disappeared all of a sudden too!”

 

Despite herself, Sophie couldn't help but make a nervous laugh. She didn't really know how to react to that. She was torn between giving her nephew a big, soapy hug and slapping him silly for reminding her of that horrid creature. Although in all fairness, Neil couldn't have known the real reason as to why Howl was paying so many visits to `Miss Angorian'. Sophie had misinterpreted Howl's intentions just as easily. Her demeanour darkened quickly as she remembered what happened afterwards… that is, what could have happened if things had gone entirely wrong.

 

If Sophie hadn't been able to stop the disguised fire demon from killing Calcifer and stealing Howl's heart for its own… if Sophie hadn't been able to break Calcifer and Howl's contract in the nick of time…

 

Megan really had no idea how close she was to literally losing her brother for real.

 

“Aunt Sophie? Is there something wrong?” Neil asked worriedly, noting her sudden silence

 

“N-no. My mind just wandered on its own, that's all,” Sophie replied instantly

 

“Well, would you mind if I left to start on my homework then?” Neil asked as he unplugged the sink and eyed the pile of dried dishes that needed to be put away

 

“Go ahead, I'll finish up,” Sophie offered

 

“Thanks, Aunt Sophie,” Neil replied with a big smile.

 

Sophie watched her nephew disappear before turning back to the sink to watch the soapy water make little whirlpools while it drained away. That was basically how she felt now. She felt her energy seeping away and she had a pounding headache on top of it. Between Neil's rugby lecture and his stories about his uncle, there was just so much information a person's brain could take.

 

She also found that she was trapped in one of life's annoying paradoxes. Sophie hoped that by spending more time with her husband and his family, she would get to know him better. And in turn, she expected get closer to him. But the more she found out about her husband, the more it made her feel depressed at the realization that she didn't really know anything about him at all! Worst of all, her mind persistently ran in circles around the number close calls Howl already had. The idea that Howl could have…

 

She couldn't even finish the thought as the sudden urge to go to him overpowered her. She didn't like what her thoughts were making her feel. With an almost panicked sense of urgency, she left her dishes and half-ran out of the kitchen, to the hallway, up the carpeted stairs, and towards the opened pink door with a pink wooden cat on the front engraved her niece's name.

 

She found Howl seated in a rocking chair by Mari's bedside, softly reading from a book in that language he spoke that she couldn't understand. Mari was sitting on his lap and curled up against his chest, already sound asleep. From where she stood, Sophie inspected her husband for anything that would indicate ill health. But aside from looking a bit tired and uncharacteristically disheveled, she couldn't see anything that would set off Megan's red flags. Just then, he looked up and saw her. He gave her a small smile before motioning her to stay quiet.

 

Sophie simply nodded in silent agreement as she stood by the doorway. As she watched her husband lift the little girl and tuck her in bed with utter gentleness, she felt tears welling up in her eyes once again. She quickly stepped out of his line of sight to wipe them off with the back of her sleeve.

 

“What's wrong?” There was a hint of alarm in Howl's whisper. It was obvious that she wasn't able to hide her tears in time. From the expression on his face, she could tell that he probably assumed it was a continuation of their argument from earlier that afternoon. It was silly, really. She didn't even know why she was crying.

 

She wanted to reassure him and reply, `nothing'. But her throat closed up painfully and refused to release her voice. So instead, she shook her head as she held back a rather stubborn sob from escaping her chest. It only made the ache in her throat worse, forcing her to let out an involuntary whimper. She buried her face right in his chest to muffle her sobs and to keep from alarming Neil, who was in his room across the hall. Not knowing what else to do, Howl muttered something Welsh and something probably unpleasant under his breath. He quickly swept Sophie off her feet and carried her away from Mari's doorway.

 

A short while later, Sophie found herself curled up on her husband's lap and still sniveling on his now uncomfortably wet shirt. Her arms were still clinging round his neck. He simply held her in a silent, warm embrace, waiting for her tears to subside. Since her eyes had been closed all that time, and her face in the crook of his neck, she didn't know where he had taken her. She didn't even care, for that matter.

 

All she knew was that with him staying like that beside her slowly melted all her bad feelings away. As long as he didn't force her to let go, as long as he allowed her to stay with him like this, she didn't really care about anything else... even if the world ended right then and there.

 

 

 

 

End of Chapter Three

To be Continued…

 

 

 

Author's Squawk:

 

AH! Finished one more chapter! I couldn't have done it without inspiration from everyone's words of encouragement and Mimea's beta-ing and reviews! ^_^. I'm really very happy about this fic! I think, compared from the other fics I've written, this one is probably has the most “mature” feeling. Yeah… I think this one will gain an edited “M” rating in FFNET for the final chapter (which is extended to chapter 5… ah, promises broken! Damn Muses and their ungodly inspiration!). If I feel like it, possibly an NC-17 in Mediaminer (If AFF has a Howl's Moving Castle section, I might post the unedited version there too! ^_^.). Mediaminer finally has a HMC (anime) section… though for some weird reason, the fics loaded up there are yaoi Saiyuki stuff! Very weird!

 

Anywayz, I really had a lot of fun with this chapter. I unintentionally ended up lengthening my other fic because of the stuff I played around with this. “Mechrau” will definitely be longer than it's originally intended 5 chapters. I will try to finish this fic at least before the end of this week. I have some crap happening next week, then followed by Otakon.

 

Anyone going to Otakon this year, make sure you check out the Artist Alley. I'm helping out my sister there (they're called “Illusive Rhapsody”). *Shameless Plug* They're releasing their first book, which is actually a teaser of their group's upcoming comic book projects. So check them out. I'll be a “Goth Lolita Doll” (my first pathetic attempt on an original design cosplay piece) on Friday. And if my sister finishes her designs on time, I'll be the female half of a Priest/Priestess pair from Ragnarok Online on Saturday. My sister's obsessed with the damn game. I'm only a model. ^_^. But I'm looking forward to them costumes. It's the first time I have a costume that has a corset (which I absolutely love!). Of course, I'll be wearing it underneath the costumes, which is a shame because the corsets I own actually look really damn good to wear “outside”. Though… there aren't enough occasions for me to go Goth `cept through cosplaying. Darn!

 

Anywayz.. babbling! Comments, criticisms, worship offerings to the muses… ina_chan@yahoo.com.

 

Ja!

Ina-chan