Howl

He was a sorcerer, a being with great, amazing magical power. He could travel through time, transform matter, bend the very shape of reality. A blessed of the Arcanist, Howl was incredibly powerful.

He mainly used his magic to color his fur.

He knew he was vain. He knew he was arrogant. He knew the world looked upon his waste of his magic with a critical, judging eye. He knew many thought him a fool, thought him insane, though him a waste himself. But he didn’t care.

He liked his fur pretty, and so just shrugged them off.

Though, he did take in that young female who had been cursed to be old and ugly, so there was that.

Part of his reason for taking her in was selfish- she agreed to care for him, take care of his chores and clean his lair, if he took her in and helped her. And he hated chores, even when he could just use a flick of his wrist and they were done. He truly did hate them. The other par was he was actually curious- her curse was complex, and even if he was lazy, he did enjoy learning. So he took her in, and began to study her.

And ended up falling in love.

He found the cure relatively quickly, but even though her cursed oldness disgusted him, he was still in love with her, and so kept it to himself. He didn’t want her leaving him, didn’t want her to walk away once she was young and beautiful again, and so kept it to himself.

But as it were to happen, she found out. Found out, took the potion, declared her own love for him, and walked away.

He traveled for a while, trying to find a way to tame his broken heart- an impossible task, but still one he strived for. He tried to forget her, tried to let her go…and when he found that he couldn’t, when he realized that he couldn’t let go of the love he had for her, he tried to become worthy of her. Tried to be a better dragon, a better magician, actually help people with his magic instead of using it to make himself look pretty.

He finally found a place where he could settle, where he could rest and continue to become a good dragon. He was accepted because of his powers and knowledge of the arcane, but even if he was being used, he really didn’t care.

He was calm, was content there, and one day, must to his surprise, Sophie arrived one day, also looking for a home of her own.

She was beautiful, but even if she had still held the wizened old form of the crone she had been cursed into being, he still would have thrown himself at her feet and begged her to stay. Begged her to take him back, to at least talk to him, to forgive him for his transgressions against her.

Queen Tamora offered her a room to stay in for the night, and she accepted. And the two of them spent the entire night talking, discussing life and where it had taken them to end up here, and by the time the sun rose she was in no state to travel. So she stayed another night, but the same thing happened. Again and again and again this happened, until he finally asked if she truly was, in fact, only staying because she was tired.

She admitted that she wasn’t, and so she became a permanent member of the clan- and a permanent member of her heart. Because even though she was still angry, and it would take years before their relationship could be simple and comfortable and love, he would take her anger, would take her hate, would take whatever she gave if she would just stay. And she did.

She stayed, and the two of them, together with Yuko and eventually little Rapunzel, helped to make the clan a little bit better with their magic, every day that they could. It was hard, after the plague struck- with so many gone, their one proud clan decimated by the disease, it was hard to keep things go. To keep their spirits up. But they tried, tried as hard as they could, and eventually, as the clan grew once more, felt calm once again.

(Original Pre-Plague Dragon)