I don't know how I ever thought that the snake wrapped around me could ever be a vine. 

This snake was almost all white, and the parts that were not white, there were amazing random black stripes. 

The stripes made me think of someone pouring black ink onto a plain white snake, and they dried onto him, and stuck with this snake forever. 

"Wildfire, meet Ink." Alpha said, a slow growl in her throat. 

I forced a laugh out, "So we're referring to me as 'Wildfire' now? Come on, don't be like that. Don't be that character." 

"Character?" 

"Yeah, I see everyone as a character." 

"And how is that?" 

"You're evil, but I bet you have some sort of backstory right? What a clichè." 

"You know nothing of me." 

"Yeah, you're right, I don't. But I bet that I can guess. You're hurt, so very hurt. You obviously have a past with me, you've said so yourself. But it seems more like-" "Ink!" Alpha called, 'Ink' squeezed me tightly, "Gah! I was onto something!" 

"If I don't like what you are saying, Ink will squeeze tighter, and tighter, until you die." 

"Lovely," I commented sarcastically. "So, as I was saying before. Since you're hurt, you don't like to show it, because... You're weak. Oh... You're weak. That's what it is," Alpha jumped over to me, and put a paw on my face, and I felt the sharpness of her claws. 

"And I know your conflict! You are your own conflict! You don't know who you are, and you don't know who you want to be, as long as you aren't Wildfire! But guess what? The more you fight with yourself, the more the conflict grows, and right now, you're getting so close to the fire! Nobody is pushing you to the flames, you are leading yourself there, Sophia." 

"And you know too much about me, more than just a lucky guess it feels like sometimes." I retorted, not wanting to say anything about her recent statement. 

She growls, and put her paw back on the ground, "Sometimes you need to look at yourself, and look back at others, and see how much you both suffer." Her tail flicked back and forth furiously, if she could've stomped over to Pixels, she would've. 

She growled at the snake that was holding Pixels, "Scales!" It tightened around Pixels, making her wake up in a panic, "What the Star-stripes!?" 

I laughed, making Ink tighten a bit more on me, I forced a breath, "'Star-stripes'?" 

"It's the first thing that came to my head! There's a snake wrapped around me!" She started to struggle, and it squeezed her more, "Pixels!" I exclaimed, "Please don't struggle." Was I worried? 

She slowly nodded, her green eyes filling up with a strikingly familiar sensation. 

Fear. 

'Scales' was a Ball Python as well, but this one was a bit... Decorative. I couldn't decide if that was bad or not. 

She almost blended in with Pixels, where these splotches of orange and black and yellow were. 

But the parts that were not like Pixels, were just white, it was strange to my eyes, and probably to others eyes. How did it ever survive in the wild?

Alpha walked over to Ash, still filled up to the top with anger it really showed in her tail. Her flickering tail. 

It was fun really, to me, to make people angry. I could do it so easily. And that was sometimes a trap... 

"Tungsten!" Alpha called at the snake that held Ash. 

This snake was really beautiful to me. It shined like a million pearls, or something I like more 'cause I'm not into that shiny stuff, a million Moons and it's eyes reminded me of ice under the Northern Lights. I love those Northern Lights. 

And I knew what 'Tungsten' meant, of course. More like 'what it is', because it is a physical thing. 

Anyways, it was-and still is-a type of... Metal.. I guess. It's on the Periodic Table. And how I know this, is a mystery to all. 

Except me. 

Ash opened his eyes, and made eye contact with the snake known as 'Tungsten'. 

He immediately looked away, afraid that this might have been some sort of a challenging thing if he looked it in the eyes for too long. 

 Ash at least kept himself together, which at this point might have been the wisest thing to do. 

And I was gonna do the exact opposite. 

Why? 

It is because I'm an idiot. 

Come on, keep up. 

Geez... 

Anywho! Back to my story! 

"So, Alpha, Sunset, whatever, I don't care at this point. What's the big plan? Come on, the best super Villains reveal their plans right off the bat, and then they set a really long timer for their bomb, just enough time for the Superhero to figure it out, and have got hostages too! I think you're going down the right track with this hostage situation we got goin' on here." I gave a sarcastic wink. 

"Stop rambling!" 

"I really can't though." I said, feeling my joking-self really showing. 

"Stop! Just stop! Your like a pest under my pelt!" 

I chuckled, and said with lots of my dazzling sarcasm, "I really try, you know? It's really hard to be insanely clever, and still be really annoying." 

Her nose flared rather intensely, "You should really stop. If anything, you're the weakest one here. That's why you talk so much. You are scared that once you stop talking, the others around you will see you for who you truly are." 

"And who am I truly? Wildfire?" 

"No. You are a broken, no shattered, cat. And you know it's beyond repair. You are like a glass vase that fell down and shattered a long time ago, and nobody has cleaned you up. But you can't be fixed." 

I raised my eyebrows, "Not even with duct tape?" 

"See? You just did it again. You're joking, and being sarcastic, you do that quite a lot when you are stalling, and when you think someone's onto something about you." 

I knew she was right, and I had to make a joke about it of course, "Good job Sherlock Holmes! Round of applause! Or maybe 'round of apaws'. Got to love those puns." I laughed, I know I'm hailarious. 

"I wonder, are you hungry?" 

Hungry? Hungry? Hungr-oh.... 

She continued on, "You haven't eaten since right before you met the Calico over there." She glanced at Pixels and looked me straight in the eyes again her eyes were burning with their fiery yellow-brown, "And you haven't complained. We've fed your pets over there," she was talking about Ash and Pixels. "But you haven't eaten. Why aren't you hungry? It's been almost two days." 

"How can you keep track of time here?" I asked, most likely stalling. 

"You're stalling." 

"It's an actual legit question. Don't say 'legit'. That's what all the kids are saying. It's a legitimate question! I can't tell the difference between moonlight, and sunlight here." 

"You get used to it. It is called 'The Dark Forest' after all. And I know that you aren't done talking, you never are, but I'm gonna finish at least what I have to say." She quickly went on so I wouldn't interrupt her, as if that would work for long, "So if you aren't hungry, you have some sort of genetic thing going on inside you that allows you to not eat for awhile. You just don't need it, you can survive. And I wonder-" 

I interrupted, "You do that too much. Wonder. You need to make up your mind sometimes." 

"As I was saying." Alpha growled with an obvious trace of annoyance, "You have some sort of... Gene? No. Not a gene. Something else... That was maybe put in you. Something that wasn't there before, and shouldn't be there inside of you." 

"That sounds boring." 

"I'd think something like this would intrigue you." 

"What Science? I love RocketScience, but just Science is too many facts for me." Though, I knew and still do know a lot of scientific facts. That isn't to say I agree with them all

"Of course you hate facts, you love to go all free-for-all." 

"No, I just know my opinions are awesome." 

She scoffed at me, "I'll come back, but for now, I'll have someone younger who is trying to prove themselves, watch over you three idiots." 

"Hey! I'm the idiot here!" I exclaimed, and my face grew a slight grin. 

"I know." She said a bit too calm, then called, "Shadow!" 

Oh yes, 'Shadow', the one with the magical eyes. Eh, I could easily get her to help us out with my extreme charms, and absolutely awesome charisma. 

Shadow came out from behind me, this lead me to believe that the pack lead by Alpha/Sunset was right behind me. Sometimes it's too easy. 

Alpha started to walk off, glaring at me as she walked, "See' ya!" I called, and watched Shadow step in the middle of us. 

I'm so clever.