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Pumpkin Patch Pals

Howl was in a land where invisibility cloaks and seven league boots really existed, where fairytales wouldn't have been out of place. Where it was rumored to be extremely bad luck to be born the eldest of three. A land he had thought he would never see again. The vain wizard looked down at himself hopefully; yes! He was back to his perfect form; his wonderfully powerful, flawlessly beautiful, thirty year old body.

Briefly studying his surroundings under the pretense of looking for Calcifer, he smiled. How he had missed this. How he had missed--

"Home," he muttered as he sat green eyes on his gently hovering castle. Calcifer must have been there; it tended to run wild if the firedemon wasn't guiding it. The door of the castle swung open, as if waiting for him. It clearly remembered him, or perhaps it was Calcifer doing it, he thought.

He climbed into the castle, relishing the feeling of familarity it brought him. He was home. The smells of a finished breakfast came to him. The sounds of a toddler playing. He was--his thoughts were interrupted by an irritated crackle.

"It's about time," Calcifer called from the fireplace. "We thought you would never wake up. Have you been in the bathroom this entire time? Michael's been here twice already to ask about a spell. Morgan's already made a mess--"

Howl had quickly noticed that the firedemon was back to his original blue. He flashed a smile at Calcifer's complaint and quickly ran up the stairs, calling for Sophie. If Calcifer and Morgan were around, surely his wife was?

"Slither-outer," Calcifer grumped.

"Howl?" A familar voice called. "Howl, is that you? The king's upset; he wants to speak with you at once and--" The wizard silenced her with a kiss. Even if this was a dream, even if this was all his imagination; and it had to be. It was too perfect to be real; Sophie was as beautiful as he remembered, with her red-gold hair and blue eyes.

"The king can wait," he said. "He'll be suspicious if I arrive on time, you see." Definitely a dream. Sophie wasn't being the stubborn girl he had fallen in love with. Still... It was a good dream, wasn't it? "Sophie, I love you." He could feel his heart beating from within. He knew it was true, at least for that moment.

"I--" Sophie had opened her mouth to respond, though Howl's vision had started getting blurry. He knew it wouldn't be long before he was torn from the dream and into the waking world. He kissed her once more and allowed blackness to take him.

"Pu?" Puff was sitting on his host's chest, peering down at him. "Pu pu!"

"Puff, I'll give you a three second head start." Howl grumbled, pushing the shadow off of him. "You just ruined the best dream I've ever had."

Howl could feel a being with almost equal power to his own prodding at his mind. A feeling, he realized, he had experienced before. "O annwfn," he swore. He knew this feeling. He had felt before, before he had lost his memories the first time. Whoever was behind this mental attack wasn't going to get away with it this time. No, he knew what would happen if he forgot this time. At least, he thought he knew. He didn't want to risk losing Sophie again.

He didn't want to face not knowing who he was again.

"Uffern dim," he muttered. "O na nad ydych yn. Ddim eto." He had fallen into his old habit of speaking in welsh when distressed. "Rydym yn barod i chi, y tro hwn." He was ready to fight for his memory; whatever witch was attacking him--and naturally he assumed it was a witch. A Witch with a capital w, rather than a mere witch. Witches were a bad sort, the lot of them; a witch gone bad.

Howl, wicked though he often tried to appear, was a force for good. "Calcifer, chyfnertha 'm," he breathed as the firedemon floated in.

"Again?" Calcifer complained. "Howl, who did you upset this time?" Howl could only shake his head. He couldn't remember upsetting a Witch; he had taken care to avoid them. "The Witch of the Waste is dead," the firedemon pointed out, as if he was concerned his partner in crime had forgotten the event.
Then he seemed to focus on the task. "Strong magic," he observed, lowering himself so he was just barely hovering over the wizard's open hands. "The wards around the house are down. Is it a djinn?" The look on the firedemon's face was clear enough; they didn't have enough power to fight a djinn. Not even with their combined forces.

Howl shook his head. He seemed much calmer with Calcifer by his side--he liked to know where the firedemon was at all times. "No," he said. "I've felt this before. Besides," the wizard allowed himself a small smile. "We haven't got a castle for the djinns to steal." He seemed to hesitate before muttering a spell under his breath. A clap of thunder sounded in the distance.

"Is it gone?" Calcifer asked, looking over Howl's shoulder.

"No," Howl said. "It's not gone. It'll be back. When it does, we'll know what to expect," he looked at Calcifer and smirked. "If it's memories they want, I'll give them to them."

He paused, and for a moment, he appeared every bit as heartless and wicked as he had once been described. "But they won't be mine."