Ferrian
Legacy Name: Ferrian

***

He doesn't like to talk much about where he came from. Red and the others never asked, and for that he was grateful.

"I'm so lost," he'd heard the girl say, wandering about the woods in her rags. Her gaze flitted between all directions and her hands wrung each other red.

For himself, Ferrian had just partaken of a Common Potion and was quite satisfied with the results, although the scars and his blasted eyes would not fix themselves. At least they were a mite more subtle now. He trotted up to the girl and said, "Might I be of assistance. I may be rather new here myself, but it's a terrible shame to be lost alone."

A grin spread across the girl's face. "You're kind of stuffy, aren't ya?"

Ferrian sputtered, drawing low to the ground. "I beg your pardon? I... I am..." He wanted to say 'not' but he supposed she had a point.

But the girl only laughed and patted his head. "I'd love to have you along. You can call me Red."

*

They were soon joined by young Winkii, fluffy, feisty and free. Normally Ferrian didn't care for those with so much energy, but Winkii was different somehow. When Red first brought her home from the shop, Winkii had walked up to him, smiled bright, and said, "Your eyes are red!"

"They are indeed," he replied. He brought one paw up to his face, self-conscious, though he said nothing--that might require him to go into detail.

And Winkii just lashed her tail and simpered. "I think they're pretty!" She dropped down onto the floor next to him where he also lay. "I'm called Winkii... cause... I can't see so good out of this eye." She pointed a paw at her left eye, the one with the mark over it where a scar joined it in parallel. "Get it, it's a joke!"

Ferrian's heart sunk for the poor girl. "I'm dreadfully sorry..."

He was going to go on with his condolences, even call attention to his own scars which he was so loathe to do, if only to make her feel she had a companion in being broken. But she waved her paws, shook her head, and said, "Naaaah! I'm okay! That's all in the past and the past... well... it isn't now." And she was still smiling, so bright and wide.

Ferrian couldn't help but admire her serenity, her positivity, and he couldn't help but smile a bit himself. "You are right," he said. "It is not." Perhaps he could learn a bit from the girl. In any case, he vowed to keep a close eye on her from here on out. It had been so long since he'd taken a liking to someone so fast, and he worried for her and her scattered mind.

*

He couldn't say he was always this way. He'd been a Nightmare once. Not only that, he'd been a Hellhound.

Literally.

He had kept the company of the Ferryman who ushered lost souls into Hell. He had nipped at his share of ankles. He had been merciless and cruel. But in his day he had seen so many tears and so much blood.

He grew weary.

Once, he'd heard someone say that you could only know Hell if you'd known peace and joy before. And Ferrian supposed he'd never felt a bit of joy in his life. When the thought came upon him, springing like a predator in the dark, he found himself horrified as he'd never been. He'd never been happy. Not once.

So he'd made a break for it, though Cerberus himself had given him one tremendous fight--Ferrian barely got away with his tail in tact. And once he got clear of Limbo, he found himself here, and what he found here was beautiful, every bit of it.

Ferrian didn't suppose he could ever help himself but to be a guard dog, or to judge those he thought wicked--it was in his blood. But he thought that maybe it was finally his turn to have a normal life. And he hoped that he could make it last, before the Hellhounds would surely come looking for him.

Sometimes when he lay with the other pets at night, he liked to pretend that day would never come.

***

Update: Red helped him get a new color. He likes the white... well, almost white. Makes him feel a bit cleaner. Purer. But nothing will stop those blasted eyes from glowing.

***

And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again