CW: Child Abuse, Religious Trauma, transphobia

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Snake had no choice but to go along with the group to his old hometown. "Not much has changed." He said softly as he glanced around, still in the grasp of Duke. "But it seems so empty here, how odd." The pegasus started walking around further into the town. That was until a shot was fired into the air. The sound of the gunshot startled most of the people in the group. "Who do you outsiders think ye are, huh?" The gunslinger who shot the bullet asked.

Snake had no choice but to go along with the group to his old hometown. "Not much has changed." He said softly as he glanced around, still in the grasp of Duke. "But it seems so empty here, how odd." The pegasus started walking around further into the town. That was until a shot was fired into the air. The sound of the gun shot startled most of the people in the group. "Who do you outsiders think ye are, huh?" The gunslinger who shot the bullet asked.   

"Please sir, we really need food for our journey, we'll pay any price." Harl said. "Well too bad. Don't make me shoot ya-" The gunner stated before looking at the faces he was threatening. "Hold it... Is that really you Suzanna?" 

Everyone looked around confused. "Who?" 

"Suzanna! The one being held by the fat dragon." He stated, pointing at Snake. As that name entered Snake's ears, he started to remember all his suppressed memories. Specifically, one where he was going to live with his 'uncle' after his mother's passing. 

-Flash back-  

"Suzanna put the dress on, you're going make us late for church." His uncle demanded. "Why should I? Ma was never a woman of god." Snake asked, confused as to why all of a sudden he had to go to church. 

"Well I am, and the teachings of God will do you some good." The older man ordered. "You'll learn how to be a proper lady, unlike your mother." 

Snake just shrugged, although he was never fond of dresses. He much preferred the jeans and leather shirts his mother let him wear, but the boy couldn't seem to find them anywhere. "There we go, now you're looking like a lovely little lady." 

"Ugh, I'm taking this off once we get home." Snake thought. Taking his uncle's hand, he walked through the streets of Rattle Canyon. The town itself was like something out of an old western film, all the buildings were made of wood and there were wide streets for the horses to trot around in. 

Snake's mother owned a small ranch near a flowing river, she had hoped one day he would take care of her horses when she passed. "Even when she was bedridden she taught me everything about caring for them." His favorite horse was a pinto named Corn. "She named them all after snakes." 

He was so busy thinking of the ranch that his uncle had to yank his arm. "Suzanna, you need to concentrate, you nearly hit that hay wagon!" He snapped. 

"Ah! Sorry uncle.." The boy mumbled. "I was just thinking about Ma. I miss her." 

The older man sighed. "I know, but you need to move on from it. You can't just keep thinking about her forever. The priest will help plenty about that." He insisted. "Ah, we're here." 

Inside the small church, a pipe organ was playing. The benches were pure white just like the outside of the building. The only thing that stood out to the future outlaw was the stained glass window of what he assumed was God looking down on the devil. 

"Now be quiet, this is a holy place."

As the preacher preached Snake just sat there silently, not taking anything in from what was coming out of his mouth. The most he got from the session at church was that god was good and satan was bad and if you do anything that was determined a sin you will go to hell to suffer forever. "That doesn't seem fair." He thought, just sitting, legs spread open. That was until he felt his uncle's hand on his knee.   

"Close your legs, it's unholy and unladylike." He whispered loudly. He didn't know why it was such a big deal, but he closed his legs together.   

After the service, Snake and his uncle went home and the future outlaw removed the dress and looked for the old clothes that he used to have. "Hey Uncle, do you know where my jeans are?" He called from his room, looking to see if at least the ones he wore before coming to his house were maybe buried under other clothes. "Oh, I threw those away." 

Snake, having heard this, became mad. "You what?!" 

"They had blood on them, and I can't remove that from clothing. Besides, a girl like you shouldn't be wearing clothes like that. You're mother brainwashed you into wearing things that you aren't supposed to." Snake's uncle explained, making Snake angrier. He was going to swing a hit at the older man but was immediately overpowered due to his teenage body not being stronger than an adult's body.

"Don't you talk about Ma like that! She let me wear whatever I liked, why can't you?" Snake growled. 

"Didn't you pay any attention to what the priest told you? Men and women have their own places in society, that's the way it's always been and that's how it will stay! You will do the housework while the men handle the jobs, of course your mother never got that." The grown man growled. "Now she's poisoned your mind, if you don't listen to me, the church will have to get rid of the rot itself." 

Snake didn't know what he meant by that, but he was sure it meant something along the lines of exorcism. "Rot huh? And here I thought God was supposed to love everyone, guess even someone high and mighty as him can pick favourites." He sneered, resulting in a slap from his uncle.

"How dare you speak that way! When you live under my roof you will obey my rules! If you don't like it you can go live out on the streets." He snapped, he raised his hand to hit Snake again, only to be met with a horseshoe to the face. "Why you-" 

Grabbing Snake by his collar, his uncle dragged him up to his room. "You will stay here and think about what you've done, and put your dress on for God's sake!" He growled. 

The teen sniffled, rubbing his sore cheek. "Some care he is." He thought, if he had any idea of where to go he would have fled right away. He didn't have any money of his own, let alone clothes he could wear aside from dresses and skirts. "Grr, the clothes shop is across the church." 

He decided to do the unthinkable, he would steal. "Ma never approved, but what other choice do I have?"

So, with that, he waited until midnight to sneak out of the house through the window. He knew that no one would be awake and that his uncle was a deep sleeper, so he went and risked it. Once at the clothing store, he climbed to the roof and once he reached the top he glanced over to the church.   

The stained glass window shining in the moonlight, giving Snake a bit of a choice to make. Either stay as he was or steal and go into sin. He decided to go in and steal, giving into sin. Once he entered, he looked around, seeing the different clothing types they had avalible. Soon enough he found the pants section of the store, which left him with jeans of different cuts lengths and even colors.    

After a good while he ended up taking about three pairs of jeans as well as three boyish shirts.   

"This will do." He thought before making his getaway through the vent he entered from. Once he returned back to his uncle's house, he climbed the siding of the house and tried on his new clothes. But, something unlocked in him, a mindset that stealing was now implemented for his survival if he ever did decide to leave his uncle's house now.

"I'll need more than just clothes, I need food, money, a place of my own. I could sneak on the next train out of here." He thought. "But I'll need some way to defend myself." He took a glance at the gun his uncle kept on display in front of the house. It was too risky to steal. 

"All my life, he made me wear 'ladylike' clothes and demanded I acted only how he wanted. Well it's high time I show him what I can do, I don't need him! I don't need no one." He growled. He would have made a second round out if he didn't hear the door open. 

"And just what do you think you're doing?" Snake's uncle demanded. He was still half asleep but clearly awake enough to be furious at the teen. "And what is that you're wearing?!" 

Snake didn't respond, he knew it would only make his uncle more furious than he already was. "I'm leaving." 

"Oh are you now? And where do you think you'll go? When your Ma died she wasn't welcome here no more. Who ever heard of a woman running a ranch, let alone having her daughter get involved in dirty work?" He hissed. "And now look at you! You're a slimey, dirty excuse of a child! You're nothing more than a snake!" 

"A Snake huh? Sounds a hell of a lot better than Suzanna."

And with that final sentence, Snake opened the window and slid down siding with his clothes before running, no destination in mind, just away from the situation. His uncle just watched from the window, muttering something about him coming back.  

-end of flashback- 

As Snake was in his flashback, he heard some of what his uncle was saying. "Oh it's a shame that Suzanna became such a bad child, I did my best to raise her." He said trying to paint himself as the good guy in the story of Snake's life.  

This made Snake's blood boil seeing the man who tormented him through his teen years try and manipulate his image to make Snake seem bad. "Don't lie to them. And my name ain't 'Suzanna' it's Snake. I'm not a girl, I never had been. If you refer to me as her one more time I might go feral on you."  

"See? she's willing to attack the man who raised her and took care of her-"  

Before he could finish speaking, Snake escaped from Duke's arms and attacked him. He was going to bite him but Duke pulled him off. "What's wrong with you? You can't just attack people like that!" 

"But he-" Snake started before seeing the look on the dragon's face. There's no way he's going to believe him since he didn't correct anything beforehand. This made him annoyed and upset, as well as sad but he wasn't sure why. "Ugh, I don't need this I'm out of here." Snake stated getting out of Duke's grasp yet again and slithering away. 

He didn't care where he was going, as long as it was away from any judging eyes. "I told them coming here was a bad idea, we could have gotten better supplies elsewhere. It's not like this is the only town, if you could even call it that." He snapped, he would have torn his uncle to pieces if he wasn't held back. "Why did I even stop? I never cared about what that lawman thought of me before." 

He didn't care where he was going, as long as it was away from any judging eyes. "I told them coming here was a bad idea, we could have gotten better supplies elsewhere. It's not like this is the only town, if you could even call it that." He snapped, he would have torn his uncle to pieces if he wasn't held back. "Why did I even stop? I never cared about what that lawman thought of me before."

He saw the old church, now abandoned and falling apart. It was almost like it was taunting him for turning to a path of crime, when he had his first heist. Once Snake was out of Rattle Canyon, he was lucky enough to find a train cart leading into the city that would become his new home. But it seemed like someone was still inside, a tall figure in a black cloak, although he could see graying hair on his head. "Do come in, don't be shy little Naga." 

Despite his better judgement, the outlaw slithered inside. "How do you know what I am?" 

The figure smirked, pulling down his hood. "I believe I should know, I study mythical beasts for a living. I don't believe we've been properly introduced. My name is Cassian Doragon."

"Hey ain't you the guy who sold those pendants that messed with everybody?" Snake asked. "That I am, but, as you can see, I am in need of help. I want to spread magic and general mischief all over this world, and you're perfect for that." 

Snake paused, looking at the man in front of him. "Why should I work with you? What's in it for me?" The naga asked, not seeing what exactly he would gain from working with the man who made him a snake person.  

"Well, I can get rid of that so-called uncle for you, as well as make you human again." Cassian stated. This offer that Snake had difficulty taking for some odd reason. "Is there something wrong with the offer? Do you want more than that?" The magic man asked.  

"Well, no, I just need to think about your offer. I'm not going to take it." 

Cassian just stared at him confused. "You're not serious are you? You really are giving up on being human? What for? That cop that doesn't even like you?" He asked.  

Hearing that last part, Snake felt something within break. But why? It felt like his heart was breaking. The naga felt even worse feeling tears starting to form in his eyes. He hadn't cried since his mama's funeral. "Huh, I must have hit a nerve. Well? Do you take this offer?"

He could only hiss in response, the more he thought about Duke the more he begun acting like a snake himself. Much like Tippy back in the apartment. "Poor little naga, an unrequited love is always so saddening." Cassian teased, knowing it would strike a nerve. "I have places to be, if you ever change your mind, you can find me with this." 

Before vanishing from sight, the older man placed a crystal marble in Snake's hand. "I'll be seeing you very soon."