Somewhere I Belong

Summary-

Sophie never felt like she belonged, she always felt like an outsider looking in, especially with her family. Sophie would do anything to feel like she belonged, even taking over running her late father's hat shop, even though she longed to be else where. When Sophie is pulled into the middle of a conflict between the infamous Howl and the even more infamous Witch of the Waste, Sophie is able to finally find the place she feels she belongs.

Chapter One-

Sophie sighed as she sat in her office in the hat shop that her late father had opened. She carefully sowed some accessories onto the hat with practiced ease as she let her mind drift. Her father had been a kind man, always trying his hardest to help others, he had also been considered quite a looker. He had had short light brown almost blond hair and beautiful ocean blue eyes and a love for making hats.

Sophie's father met her mother when he had first started up his hat business, her mother had come in looking to buy a hat. Sophie's mother's long blond hair and ice blue eyes had captured her father's heart the second he saw her. It had taken many months before her father had been able to convince her mother to consider dating him, and even longer to get her to agree to marry him.

A year after they were married they had her. It had been quite a shock when her baby blue eyes slowly turned to a warm hazel, and her light brown hair slowly melted into a dark mahogany. She looked nothing like her parents or even her younger sister Lettie who looked almost like a clone of their mother.

It wasn't just her looks that differed from her family. While her father had been a live he had been out spoken and had never been afraid of saying what was on his mind. Her mother was loud and loved to be the center of attention. Lettie, also liked being the center of attention, just like their mother, though she wasn't nearly as loud, she also always spoke her mind. And then there was her. She was meek and shy, she hated being the center of attention and she was afraid to speak her mind.

A light knock on the open door of her office brought Sophie's mind back to the present. She blinked and look over at a middle aged woman with brown hair pulled into a bun that was now standing in her once empty doorway. "Miss Sophie I've closed up the shop. Why don't you come out with us this time." The woman informed her and Sophie gave her a soft smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"I'll just finish this," Sophie said softly as she held up the hat that was in her hand, "Go have some fun."

"Alright, then, I'll be off." The woman told her and turned to leave the hat shop. "Let's go girls."

"Look, it's Howl's Castle!" One of the young women who would in the shop cried catching all of the other young women's attention. Sophie looked through her office window and caught a glimpse of the infamous moving castle as it slipped into the fog that seemed to always cover the waste.

"What? Where? Howl?" The young women called as they also tried to catch a glimpse of the moving castle.

"He's gone." Sophie heard one of them say.

"No, he's just hiding in the fog from all those soldiers." Sophie heard as she went back to sowing.

"Say, did you hear? Remember Martha, from South Haven? They say Howl tore her heart out!"

"Now I'm too scared to go out."

"Don't worry, he only preys on pretty girls." The young women joked as they left the hat shop. Sophie finished the hat and reached out to grab another one to finish while trying to ignore the tugging in her soul. Ever since she was ten, Sophie always felt a soft tug at her soul. She didn't know what it was or why it was there, all she knew was that it constantly reminded her that she didn't belong there. Some days it was easier to ignore, but there were days like today when it simply would not be ignored.

Sophie sat the hat in her hands down with a heavy sigh and knew that she would not be getting anymore work done that day. And seeing as she was now free it would be the perfect time to visit her baby sister. Lettie had been begging Sophie to visit her so that she knew that Sophie was alright.

Sophie slid off her work chair while dusting off her apron before untying it. She laid it down and picked up her simple hat as she walked past it. Sophie walked down the stairs and out of the hat shop, she walked through the small court yard to another part of the shop that held her apartment above it. After leaving the shop, locking the door behind her, Sophie took a deep breath before making her way to the full trolley.

Standing on the last step of the trolley, Sophie had a good view of the city and the parade that was going on. Though Sophie had know idea why her city was having a parade when they had just entered a war. Sophie shook her head at the sound of the crowd cheering as Soldiers marched by, this was just another thing that made her painfully aware that she did not belong. The trolley slowly came to a stop and Sophie was the first one off, she squeezed her way through the crowd of passengers from other trolleys.

Once she was clear of the crowds, Sophie quickly began to make her way to her sister's work. Taking the alleyways so as to not have to constantly squeeze her way through the crowds of people. As she was walking through an alleyway she bumped into two soldiers. "Hey there little mouse, lost your way?" One of the the soldiers asked.

"Oh, no, I'm not lost." Sophie said taking a step away from the soldier.

"Then how about a cup of tea?" The soldier asked as Sophie tried to walked around him but was stopped by the other soldier. "Care to join me?"

"No thanks, I'm busy." Sophie said clutching her chest in fear. These two soldiers were giving her a strange vibe and all she wanted was to find away out of this situation she found herself in.

"She sure is a cute little mouse." The second soldier said bending down to get a good look of her face that was hidden under her hat, giving Sophie a better view of his handlebar mustache.

"Say, how old are you? You live around here?" The first soldier asked and Sophie back up even more.

"Let me pass!" Sophie demanded her fear reaching to the point that she was beginning to lash out like a cornered animal.

"See, it's those whiskers of yours." The first soldier said to the second one with a laugh.

"She's even cuter when she's mad." The second one said.

"There you are, I've been looking everywhere for you." A deep voice said from behind her and Sophie tensed up even more as a large hand landed on her shoulder, had a third soldier come upon them? "Where've you been?"

"Who are you?" The first soldier asked alerting Sophie that this person was no soldier. Sophie peeked up at the person next to her and was shocked to see a handsome man with shoulder length blond hair and sky blue eyes.

"I'm with her." The man said sliding his arm around her shoulder as it finally dawned on Sophie at what was happening. This man was trying to help her get away from these soldiers. This thought allowed Sophie to relax a little. "Why don't you two take a little walk." And with just a flick of his wrist the two soldiers suddenly stood up straighter, another flick of his wrist and the two soldiers were marching past them. "Don't hold it against them. They're harmless. Where to? I'll be your escort." The man said as Sophie stared at him in shock, this man was a wizard.

"No, really, I'm only going to Cesari's." Sophie said softly and though she knew she should be scared, she wasn't, she was actually somewhat excited. This man, this wizard, didn't make her feel out of place as being around people normally made her feel.

"Act normal, I'm being followed. Just walk." The wizard informed her before taking her arm in his and lead her down the alley. Sophie took a deep breath and willed her tense body to relax, if this wizard was really being followed, then she didn't want her tense body to draw any attention to him and her by default. The two of them were calmly walking down the alley as any normal couple would when a sound behind them caused her to tense up. Had they been discovered? "Sorry, I got you involved." The wizard whispered to her.

Dark blob like creatures melting out of the walls in front of them caused Sophie to gasp and clutch onto the wizard's arm in fear. She knew what these blob like creatures were, they were the the Witch of the Waste's minions. The creatures were closing in on them when the wizard made a sharp left down a side alley. "This way." He told her before forcing them to speed up as more creatures blocked their path. Seeing that, the wizard wrapped his arm around Sophie's waist as he took off running before leaping into the air right before they crashed into the creatures.

"Drop your legs, keep walking." The wizard kindly ordered with a soft smile once they were in the air, his hands moving to take a hold of hers. Sophie did as he said and was amazed when they began to walk on air as if they were still on the ground. As Sophie looked down at the people below her ignorant to the fact that she and the wizard were above them, she couldn't help the smile that came from her heart and actually reached her eyes. She knew she should be terrified but all she could feel was excitement and the humming of her soul. She had never felt like this before.

"That's right, don't be frightened." The wizard told her as they slowly started to descend. Sophie heart skipped a beat when her fingers slipped between the wizards and couldn't help glancing at him to noticed that he was staring at her with a soft look. As she looked closer at him she could see that his eyes held a strange king of longing look. "You are a natural." He whispered to her causing her to blush a little.

A few minutes later they came to Cesari's and landed on it's small balcony. The wizard carefully and gently helped her off the railing and onto the balcony. "I'll draw them off. Wait here until the coast is clear." He told her.

"Yes." Sophie said before the wizard slowly let go of her hands, to Sophie it felt almost as if he were doing so reluctantly.

"That's my girl." He said with a warm smiled before he jumped off the railing and disappeared into the crowd below. Sophie ran to the railing and looked over it to the ground, three stories below her and gave a little laugh when she couldn't find the wizard. Had that really just happened? Had she really just been saved from two soldiers by a wizard? And had she and the wizard really just walked on air all the way here?