I.
The first time Leo had noticed the animal he'd been sure he was dreaming. Walking along the roads with no clear destination in mind, a sullen sky had been staring down at him whilst he looked down, hands in his pockets and body hunched forward against the light patter of Autumn rain. The air had smelled like metal and freshness, bitter but sweet and he'd grown accustomed to it.
He'd always liked that mix- the natural and the manmade together, and after so much time with the manmade, tinkering with all kinds of objects and mechanisms in the little projects he undertook in his spare time, the fresh air was doing him good. And it helped that the people he passed weren't familiar, and didn't stop him to try for conversation. Something about organic life-forms made him restless… Well. Even more restless than he already was.
He figured it was probably because he couldn't take them apart, lay them on a workbench and see clearly as to what made them tick. No engine for feelings and motivation, no defibrillating machine to explain the beating of somebody's heart, or the combined cogs that made them this way. No. It was all way too confusing to him.
Leo continued on in his way, hair slowly starting to stick to his forehead in the rain, but he was fine with that because he'd been feeling warm in his constant movement. But all of a sudden, he stopped. Realised with a grimace that he'd been walking to a place that would never exist in the same way it once had to him: his mother's old garage.
Burnt, black ashes lay at his feet, under his shoes, and that terrified him because when he'd finally choose to pull away, they'd be stuck to the bottom of his shoes, attached to his person and living on more than just the memories on top of his head. But right now, he couldn't tear himself away. The emptiness of the area, the absence of the place that hosted so many wonderful, and also terrifying, things made him ache, and he almost staggered. Inside his mind, he'd already imagined himself fallen to the ground in a foetal position, craving for a madre that had disappeared at his delicate but calloused fingers. But to everyone else who saw the skinny figure staring at the remains of a machine shop, he looked like anyone else; a stranger with his hands shoved in his pockets, and his head tipped to the side in dazed concentration. He didn't give much away, that Leo Valdez.
A flurry of movement brought him away from himself, though, and he turned his head sharply to its appearance. Brown eyes searched the deserted scenery and found nothing. He turned away, ready to leave, and then heard it, this time. A scratching, a whining, the heavy pad of something like a tail along a floor, and before long, he was following it.
Found the source of the sound. A mangy, rain-sodden golden Labrador sat snarling at him, a coarse rope tied around its neck. The dirt in its fur made it look almost bronze, the skinny, angular shape of its bones protruding in a way that seemed unnatural, and was very, very unhealthy. Made it clear it hadn't been fed for quite some time. Small and skinny, its brown eyes followed Leo as he stepped forward, snarling at the sound his feet made on the sodden muddy soil it sat on.
"H-hey boy…" Leo muttered, edging closer and closer to remove the noose of rope around the dog's neck.
The dog grumbled low in its throat, guarded and defensive, and with reason, Leo thought. It looked like it'd been abandoned. The brown of his eyes was curious, warm with fire and cold with apprehension, and it snarled louder as Leo quickly slipped the rope from its throat, already weak from bite marks. He'd probably tried to chew it off himself, Leo thought to himself.
The snarling still remained as Leo continued watching it, wondering why it didn't just take off now that the rope had been removed. But it stayed. Stopped snarling and began a low rumble in its throat once more as though it had expected something else from the boy. Its gaze was intelligent, and when Leo turned away to sit on the sidewalk and watch the cars go by, he felt something warm and dirty and warm at his hand.
He turned to see at sat next to him, staring at his face with a calmness, a friendliness that had slowly, but surely, emerged. Leo raised a hand to pet its fur and once again, the low rumble sounded in the dog's throat, but Leo was careful. Slowly, he set his hand on the bedraggled bumps of knots and smoothed it over. The dog sat watching him all the way, his face calm and set.
"You just needed a friend, huh?" Leo said with a small smile, rubbing the dog's neck with a growing affection and laughing when the dog yipped in a happiness that seemed to overtake its entire shaky frame.
"You need a name, man." Leo continued, one hand cupped around a furry ear as he scratched it, "What do people call dogs? Lucky? Fluffy? Buster?" The dog just continued staring at him. "Nah, you're not a Buster."
He scratched his chin, thinking. And out of nowhere, he got it, standing up and clapping his hands together in excitement.
"Festus!" The dog looked up at him and wagged his tail, widening its jaws to reveal what looked pretty much exactly like a grin at the boy. "It means 'Happy.' You seem pretty Happy you're with me, huh? I mean, I can't blame ya. But yeah! Festus it is."
The dog circled Leo's legs, dirt still obscuring what would have been a golden coat so that he looked bronze. Its bones still stood out against him. Leo had felt them when he'd been stroking him, and a pang of sympathy had filled inside him. He had to get Festus something to eat. Who knew how long he'd been tied up? When the last time he'd eaten had been?
Leo turned, feeling in his pockets for what little money he had inside them.
"Dude, I'm really hungry for some beef jerky." Festus had stopped circling Leo and was sat watching him with his head cocked to the side, as if unsure of what to do next. Leo wondered just what exactly had happened to his previous owner, if Festus even remembered him. But right now, all he had to do was get him fed.
"You coming or what? We got some adventures to have."
Leo headed off in the direction of a shop, and before long, felt the presence of the animal bouncing along next to him, eyes always on his new owner's face. There was something about that dog that made him… well… happy.
It never really occurred to him that once again, his happiness would be short-lived.
II.
There'd been months and months where Leo had woken up to Festus howling for food or back rubs or stomach rubs or walks, and he'd always obliged. Always. There was something about that stinky mutt that had made Leo's heart fall out of his body and he'd wanted to make him happy in as many ways as he possibly could. Maybe it was the complete trust the dog had in him. Maybe it was the imagined events Leo had wondered had befallen Festus that had let him into his company. Horrors of abuse always seemed close to him when he scratched an ear and found a callous. Or maybe the dog had just been so stupid he'd scratched himself against a fence and caused himself an injury.
But one thing was certain: Festus only had to blink his brown eyes at Leo and the two of them would be on yet another adventure. That was the way it was, now. One kid and his dog against the world. Well. That was what it felt like.
Leo always tried to swallow back the memories he and his mom shared, though- they'd wanted a dog, once. Sometimes it made him sad to see Festus. But the smile on the dog's face made things better. First, just a little. And then, a lot.
But now, he wondered if that would be a certainty again.
III.
It had been raining again when Leo had feared the adventures were now over… as if the sky had chosen to revisit the boy on his sad days. The first sad day of his life was overtaken by fire and flames and heat. Now, they only featured rain, as if to extinguish that day but make it always unforgettable- always present in the existence of an opposite.
Festus had been following Leo, lapping up the tiny treats he'd been throwing him as they'd walked together. For a split second, Leo had torn his eyes away from the dog, throwing the treat farther than he'd anticipated from his own throw as he heard the drone of an airplane up above him. Something about those things made him itchy to study them. Mechanics to make man fly. Man, that was an awesome thought.
He'd heard himself say something along these lines to himself, knowing the dog would hear him and respond with an affirming bark. But no bark came.
"Festus?" Leo had called out, thrown off kilter by the silence that surrounded him. "Festus?!" He'd called out again, and again and again in the dismal patter of rain, breaking out in a run to find him.
A low whine sounded against the suffocating silence, and Leo had followed it, his heart in his throat and breaking when he finally found Festus. He lay on the ground. The squeal of tyres in the distance sounded in the empty air, and Leo kneeled next to the dog, pressed his ears to the low rise and fall of the dog's chest, and looked back up again, seeing the trail of blood that stained the dirty gold-bronze of his fur.
"Festus?" Leo heard himself whisper, placing his hand under the dog's heavy head. It looked up at him, brown eyes betraying nothing, full of trust and love and fire. Festus whined, licking Leo's arm, and Leo dropped closer to the animal, felt the hot sting of tears and tried to hold him closer.
He stayed there for a while, feeling the shallow breaths the dog took, kissed him softly on his fur-filled cheek and felt a rough, laboured lick on his own clammy skin. A final show of loyalty.
And then, Festus moved no more.
Leo said nothing, felt no words could reveal his feelings. What could explain the absence he felt? He felt it so much it had become a part of him ever since that first sad day. Why did there have to be so many?!
But there'd been no denying Festus had given him something he hadn't felt for some time. The dog's namesake spoke multitudes.
Leo didn't remember how long he stayed by his side, arms full of fur and dog and friend. He broke down many times in the next few months and the many instances that he found Festus's fur on his clothes.