Power of the Heart

Chapter 3: My New Role

Mental age: 16
Emotional age: 10

I've never liked being the bad guy. I was never good at it.

Lloyd loved playing the bad guy. He always looked the happiest when he rambled about his dad. His evil overlord dad. And he's so convinced that I'll be an "evil overlady" with him, as his best friend. And as his best friend, I can't find the heart to tell him that I don't like being evil.

At this point, we're not even captives of the Serpentine anymore. I woke up feeling scales rubbing affectionately on my skin and fell right back asleep, feeling totally safe. No rice ropes, no handcuffs, no nothing. The sound of hissing and rattling had somehow become like a kind of lullaby. I was surrounded by Serpentine, all probably centuries older than me, and I just... felt fine. I didn't question it.

Even when I caught up on my lost sleep, when I started thinking about everything that's happened so far, the biggest surprise was seeing Lloyd curled up and snoring softly beside me. Not the little vipers that watched me with big baby eyes or the big angry Skales that was glaring at me as soon as I looked up.

I waved my bad hand lazily before remembering the stitches and flinching, then murmured a soft "G'morning..." to him. I received a sneer and a hostile hiss in response as he turned away to go take care of some other duties that don't involve babysitting snotty ten-year-old brats. Fair enough.

Maybe it was the fact that we were human that he despised us so much. That's also fair.

I had the feeling Skales and Slithraa were... tense when I finally got to my feet and walked around the icy chasm. Lloyd and I had shared our body heat together, and the snake children kept me from getting extra chills. They didn't exactly exude warmth, per se, but I felt it in my heart when they curled around me. Despite what people said about snakes-- and whatever I may have thought in the past, I don't really remember-- snakes were kinda cute. They burrowed into the folds of my clothes and coiled around me, but they were careful not to hurt me. A couple of them accidentally bit me in the middle of the night, though. I think they dreamt they were being fed.

I'd always forgotten how easy it was for me to get hurt when I was little, but I'm glad that it's just as easy to heal, too. The snake babies developed enough to understand what had happened in the middle of the night rattled apologetically. I told them it was alright and easily forgave them.

When I walked around, I was followed by the young snakes that had awoken. The other half of the young snakes were still with Lloyd. These Serpentine babies were so small they hadn't grown arms or legs yet. Judging by the Serpentine adults I could see, some grew into adults with arms and a long tail, while others' tails grew very short and stubby and were replaced with legs. All Serpentine had arms, though. It was... interesting.

Slithraa found me wandering aimlessly and bid me a good morning, leading me to the part of the cavern where the Serpentine hunted for their food. Most of it was dead rodents. Apparently, little Hypnis(s?)' favorite food was piked rats. Hypnis (I'm calling him that with one 's', because two 's's just looks wrong somehow) was one of the young who had bitten me by mistake. He was growing his legs, but they were just stubs for now and his tail was still long enough to move around. Once he becomes a teen, they say he'll have to learn how to walk instead of slither. As of right now, he's four years old.

Hypnis offered me some piked rats, but I told him humans can't eat that or they'll get sick.

"What do you humans eat, then?" Hypnis asked curiously, munching on the rat himself until only the tail remained.

(Also, apparently Serpentine don't need to cook their food; it's just a matter of preference. If you look past the seemingly gross smell, it's... kinda interesting.)