<<< PREV | FIRST | NEXT >>>

Frost and I were both struck by a need to scratch a TF itch not long ago, so he wrote this story and I stepped up to illustrate it. A big thanks to Frost for this great short! Enjoy~

Story © Frost
Art by Me


EDIT:  professor_awesome has made an incredible comic that continues this story! When you've finished here, read on at http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9175211/

---

She awoke sprawled out on a bed of straw. Lifting her head slowly, she could still feel the soreness the groundskeeper's fist had left.

“Ugh, who punches a gryphon?” she asked as she ran her claw through her feathery crest, trying to will the pain away. Chris came to see her that afternoon. Several professors were with him. She could hear them talking in hushed voices. One curious student ventured up the hillside but was quickly chased away.

“She's not one of mine,” Chris was saying. “I did a headcount, three times.”

“Are you absolutely certain?” Cragmoore asked.

“I'm positive. Green eyes, slate grey beak and talons. No yellow at all in the tail feathers. My only green-eyed girl has yellow in her tail.”

Lisa felt sick. They didn't know it was her. She whined softly as she sprawled out on her belly, resting her head on her foreleg. For days she tried to scratch her name in the dust, but the craggy aviary proved a difficult canvas. After nearly a week she had almost given up. She had tried spelling her name out with sticks but it wasn't the best of reproductions. Chris came into her enclosure that day to feed her and looked straight at it without realizing what it was. She crouched behind it and looked down at it and up at him expectantly.

“Feeling playful today?” he asked To her horror he picked up the “I” and waved it back and forth in front of her nose. She watched it sail away as he tossed it into the bushes.

“Fetch?” she asked. “Are you serious?”

“Okay maybe not.” Chris patted her on the head. At least that was nice. But then... “Okay, come on in!” he called.

“...what's going on?” Lisa purred. She followed Chris's eyes to the gate, a young girl from her class was coming through. Tricia. Lisa whined softly. “Are you kidding me?! You're showing me to your new girlfriend?!”

“Easy girl,” Chris said, patting her head.

“Don't 'easy girl' me,” Lisa growled.

“I don't think this is a good idea...” Tricia said, quickly coming to a halt. “I don't think she likes me.”

Lisa narrowed her eyes at the younger girl. “You can say that again,” she grumbled.

“She's a little scared is all,” Chris explained.

“Of Tricia?” Lisa huffed.

Tricia sized Lisa up warily. “Are you sure...?”

Chris sighed, resting a hand on Lisa's furry neck. “She didn't eat Lisa,” he said with a heavy sigh.

“Everyone's saying she did...”

“They're wrong. I've fed her quite a few fish. First she doesn't have an appetite for humans, gryphons don't eat humans. Second, there wasn't a drop of blood in the entire lab.”

“Fine then,” Tricia said. She still seemed nervous as she came up to them. Lisa liked it that way. “What do you think happened to her?”

“I haven't the slightest,” Chris said. “I think she felt bad about failing Alchemy. She was pretty torn up the last few weeks. Disappeared over the holiday. One of her friends saw her wearing this old dress around in the evenings for no reason. The stress must have got to her.”

“... I failed alchemy?” Lisa blinked a few times. That was... absurd.

“Didn't you say she was really good at alchemy though?” Tricia asked, mirroring Lisa's own thoughts. She wasn't good at alchemy she was excellent.

“I think that's why she went all nutso toward the end. Her final lab blinded the test mice. Cragmoore tried for a week to fix it but paralysis set in. Couldn't fix them. Said it was some pretty nasty stuff. He had to put them out of their misery. Burned the bodies to make sure the stuff didn't spread.”

Lisa choked on thin air. Blinded? Paralyzed? But she... “I... I was making them faster...”

“So have you named her?” Lisa heard Tricia say. She stared ahead blankly, forgetting to be mad as the young girl rustled her fingers through the gryphoness's crest.

“We've started calling her Scarlet. I think it's going to stick,” Chris said. “She's starting to adjust I think. We'll probably keep her in the aviary. We have the space and we could always use a few more beauties like her around.”

“She's very pretty,” Tricia said.

“Mm hmm, just like you,” Chris said, drawing Tricia up against him. Lisa felt her heart sink. She ran her claws through her crest, one of her few nervous habits that at least somewhat transferred to his new form. A single scarlet feather, her new namesake, fluttered to the ground. She picked it up in her beak and offered it to Chris. He took it and held it up, turning it slowly in the light.

“Please remember...” Lisa whined.

Chris tucked the feather into Tricia's hair and hugged her tightly, pressing his forehead to hers. Lisa turned away. She got a few feet and collapsed, covering her eyes. She didn't look up until he'd heard them go.

Later that day Chris came back with fresh fish. Lisa trudged lifelessly over to the gate. He came in and tried to feed them to her like the last few days, but she had lost her appetite. She looked up at him miserably.

“There there,” he said. He took a knee and looked her right in the eye. He was smiling so warmly it was hard to be put out with him. “They said I could keep you. That's good news for you. The aviary's nice. You'll like it here. No dragons to chase you around. C'mere you pretty little thing.” He wrapped his arms around her neck and held her tightly. She felt a purr rise up in her chest. She curled her forelegs around him, pressing her head against his chin. He was hers and she was still his, no matter what.