Snake, now more animalistic, started slithering around, not knowing where he was going. All of a sudden he felt a hunger deep inside him, a hunger that needed to be satisfied. He sniffed around, trying to find some mice or some smaller reptiles to feast upon. However, he couldn't find any. All there were people and sand, sand that was scratching his torso the more he crawled on it.  

That was, until Duke found him. "Snake?" He asked, only getting a hiss from him as he continued to search for food. Duke, not knowing Snake was more reptile-like just followed him. "Are you mad at me for earlier? If so, I'm sorry I spoke so harshly to you." He apologizes, only to not get a response. "He's giving me the silent treatment? I didn't think he'd take it that personally." He thought still following behind him. Soon enough they came across a mischief of mice. There were about 50 or so mice in the group of them. 

Duke was going to ask about why he stopped but Snake went face-first into them, voring them, and Duke just stood and watched. I mean he didn't know if he should intervene, since he was just eating. 

The dragon just sat there, his belly softly sloshing as the outlaw eyed it. He saw just how large this reptile was up close, it would have been enough to last him an entire month. "Snake please, I don't want us to be hostile towards each other for the rest of our journey." Duke pleaded.

"What's gotten into you?" What happened next shocked the lieutenant, Snake lunged right at his arm. His jaw widened enough to take a huge bite out of it, or he would have if Duke didn't use his own tail to smack the hungry naga away. It was then he noticed the outlaw's eyes, they went from a soft brown to a sharp crimson.

"Snake? C'mon snap out of it!" The dragon kept a tight hold on him, keeping him from attempting to eat any more rodents. "I know this isn't you, what happened?" 

Not knowing what else to do, Duke grabbed both of Snake's arms and pinned him to the sandy ground. "Please, I just want to see you. At least talk to you, you don't have to hide anything from me." He insisted he wouldn't let go until he knew the outlaw was alright. 

The dragon didn't know what was getting into himself either, it wasn't like he had any feelings for Snake, did he? Red eyes met with his chocolate brown ones, the naga slowly calming the further he stayed down. "Snake, it's okay. I.. I didn't mean to yell. I didn't want you to end up killing anyone." 

Their faces were just inches apart, blush creeping up onto both of them. "Erm, I think I should get off now."

"No, please just... Just a little longer..." Snake muttered softly, shifting his eyes away and blushing more intensely. And so Duke didn't, just looking at the outlaw who was pinned under him. "So uh... Are you okay Snake?" The lieutenant asked softly as he got off him. "I mean... I guess. I have sand on my skin so I could be better." Snake responded. "We should probably get back now-" 

"Wait, I... I have to ask something else..." Duke added. "Hmm? What is it lawman?" The outlaw responded. "Why did you attack your uncle? Unless you're too uncomfortable to respond, I just... I just want to know." The cop asked.   

Snake coiled his tail around himself before sighing. "Well... You may not even believe me but..." he started before retelling the events from his past. Duke, meanwhile, was just listening to him, hearing everything he had to say. "I see." the dragon stated.   

"You don't believe me I know, my 'uncle' probably painted himself as a great person when I was reminiscing about what he did..." Snake stated, slowly hiding away in his coiled-up body. He felt so weak, and men aren't supposed to be weak, which made him feel pathetic.   

"Snake... I do believe you..." Duke stated softly, sitting beside him.

The outlaw was having mixed feelings about being near the cop that was always chasing after him since the day they met. All he could think of was what Cassian had told him, what if Duke really hated him? It seemed like he had a point, he only ever went after Snake to arrest him. "Hey... You can cry if you need to." He felt a soft claw on his shoulder.

"I'm not crying! I... I just need some time by myself." He snapped, only for more tears to form. "You wouldn't understand, no one ever does. I'm just some thief, someone who deserves no sympathy." 

His tail rattled once his tears finally turned into full-on sobs, he tried to stop himself to no avail. He kept it all in for so long, he had no chance of letting it out. He hated feeling weak, it just reminded him of everything his uncle told him. "Men don't cry... I'm a man now." He hissed. 

He tried to squirm away when he felt Duke hold onto him, trying to calm him down. "Crying doesn't make you any less of a man, I should know." He softly said. Upon hearing the entire story, the dragon was about to do something unthinkable. "Snake? I wasn't exactly born male either... And for most of my life, I had to put up with someone trying to turn me into something I wasn't." 

The naga looked up. He assumed this was a trick to keep him vulnerable, but he kept listening. "I'm going to take off my shirt, you're the only one who knows, aside from the chief and my family."

Snake just sat there watching the lawman unbutton his shirt, revealing scars under his pecs. "I had top surgery once I had enough money for it. Duke wasn't my name before... It was Daliah." Duke stated. "...Why are you telling me? I shouldn't have knowledge of that..." 

"I just thought it would be fair since you're deadname was exposed. Though... I hope you won't use that against me after we're done on our journey." Duke stated. The outlaw just blinked a little before looking at him. "I'd never do that, it goes against my code to be a hypocrite." Snake stated.   

"Okay... So-" 

"Lawman, I'm just going to get this out of the way now, since if I keep it inside of me I might cry again. Now then, I gotta know... Do you hate me?" 

The question caught Duke off guard. "Hate you? Snake... I uh... I wouldn't say I hate you, even if you are an outlaw. I mean, I don't really hate anybody." Duke responded. That response didn't help the naga's feelings. Sure he wasn't hated by the dragon, but he wasn't liked more than the average criminal. "Why do you ask?" The lawman responded. "Oh, well, suppose it's for no reason."

"Wait. Do you like me? As in, romantically?" Duke finally realized. He should have guessed how flirtatious Snake was since the whole situation began, until now he assumed it was just the usual criminal-cop banter going on. "I... Erm... I mean I..." 

The naga sighed. "You don't have to lie to me, lawman. I know I'm just some person for you to arrest once you catch me in a heist." He was about to slither away when the dragon kept ahold of him. "Huh? What's gotten into you now?" 

Nothing was said, the pair were only staring at each other behind the church. Finally, Duke leaned forward, his soft face brushing against Snake's stubble. Their lips met quickly, the kiss didn't last long but it was enough to make the naga continuously blush. "I had these weird feelings every time we were around, I thought what we did was just something every officer did when they met with a criminal. I never knew I would have actual feelings for you." He admitted. 

"You... You don't really mean that, do you?" Snake could only focus on the kiss, how plush the lawman's face felt against his own sharp cheekbones, how chapped his lips felt against Duke's soft ones. He needed to pinch himself to know this wasn't just a dream. 

"I do. I could finally see what those feelings meant."

Snake was still having some hesitations to believe this. "He wouldn't have kissed me if he didn't love me, but... What if he's just using that to get to me...?" He thought. "How do I know this is even real? Maybe this is just a hallucination my mind made up." He continued to think.   

Meanwhile, Duke was just looking at him. "Snake?" He asked, poking him gently. "Wha- Oh uh I'm fine, I just didn't expect you to like me the same way." The outlaw stated. "I mean if you like me like that." He added. "Well, I do. It took me a while since, I'm not really good at identifying my emotions, so, sorry it took so long." Duke stated before kissing him again.  

The second kiss was enough evidence to cause Snake to believe him, causing him to kiss him back. After their kiss, Snake smiled softly and wrapped himself around Duke's body. "Alright, now we should get going. I don't want the others to be waiting." Snake said.  

"Oh right, we should, who knows what those three could be up to." The officer stated before carrying the naga back to where the others were.

But what they didn't know was that they were being eavesdropped on by their friends. "Snake just lost it there, was I that bad when my sphinx instincts took over?" Tippy whispered to Harl.

"Not nearly, but how did he just lose control like that? Ooh.. I hope none of us end up losing our humanity too." The Pegasus centaur mumbled. "Dr Ravenhurst said the pendants also altered our DNA, I just hope she and Dr Wexler have found some sort of cure." 

"Aw cheer up Harl, I know the pendant isn't gonna make me all horse! I mean even if it did its not like a horse could kill you, right? Wait don't answer that, I don't wanna jinx it." 

"... Thanks for ruining the moment, Tread." The trio did manage to find a decent saloon to stay in for the time being, while waiting for the newly found couple to return, Harl phoned the research center to detail everything that happened. 

"So no sign of Cassian yet, but he might be trying to get rid of anything human about us. Snake nearly became a literal serpent if Duke didn't step in." He explained. "Hopefully things are going more smoothly back there." 

"Oh please, aside from the occasional freakout and the fact that Mr too rich for his own good will be back in a few days nothing's happened." Daisy grumbled from the other end. "And because that Domovoy captain thinks I'm too much of a loose cannon, I'm having to stay at the police station until my big brother returns."

"Sorry to hear that, at least the city isn't burning down. Well if there isn't anything too serious happening, I'll call you later. Have a good rest of your day." Harl said before hanging up. Just as he hung up, Duke and Snake entered. "Oh, Duke, Snake, We just called the city. Unfortunately, they haven't found anything yet for a way to fix this. But there's still hope." Harl explained to the two.

"Wait." Snake started remembering the marble he received from Cassian. "What is that? A marble?" Tread asked, looking at the crystal in his hand. "Well yeah. I found Cassian but he overpowered me mentally. He said I could use this to find him-"

"Wait, you found him? And didn't bring him to us?" Tippy asked. "Well, uh... Yeah, again, he overpowered me." Snake said. "Lol maybe don't be weak-"

"Guys stop fighting. At least we have a way to track down Cassian now, think about that." Harl stated. "I guess you're right, that is something at least." Tippy stated. "Hmm... I do have my worries man, like what if he's working for him-"

"First off he offered but I declined." Snake interjected. "So if any of you think I'm just gonna double cross the city I'll-"

"Snake please, I think we're all a little on edge from everything that happened." Duke was quick to hold the naga against his soft chest. "We should try to get some sleep, tomorrow we'll leave and find some other place to rest. I'll stay up and make sure nothing goes wrong."

"You sure Duke? You should probably get some shut-eye as well. I know how dedicated you are to keeping the peace but-" 

"I'll be alright. Someone has to stand guard, and I'm most qualified for the job." 

It was no use arguing with the dragon, as everyone else got curled up and tried their best to sleep (not helped by Tread attempting to lie down for at least half an hour). "Cassian just overpowered him? It sounds like Snake was under his command... I need to stay alert, I can't have myself becoming fully draconian. I could cause some serious damage."