Curse of the Snake Demons

Chapter 2: Deadly Responsibility

Author: Next chapter owo;;; hopefully more interactions/monologues with Jake and Claudia x3

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in Rango but I do own any Oc's and the plot to this fan fiction.

The next time Jake started to come to the soft voice of someone had reached his unseen ears. His heavy eyelids started to open reluctantly as he put his tongue out to check the air, to his surprise he tasted something editable, probably crickets. This caused him only to stir slightly before he started to fully wake up and hear the voice that he had only thought was in his dreams.

Oh say can you see by the dawn's early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,

It was a soft and low voice that was obviously female, he didn't know who was singing it but they were pretty decent despite being so low. This caused him to look to the source to find the human female from before sitting on her bed and having a notebook and pencil out.

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?

What was she singing he first thought through his head as he continued to watch with curiosity. How could she be so calm when she was sitting right next to the creature that she was so obviously scared by?

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Finally she finished as she continued writing in the notebook she had sitting on her bent legs. Since she was done, it was time for him to make his move and to start it off he chuckled softly, but enough for her to hear him. Her pencil stopped in mid stroke and her heart skipped a beat as she realized that the snake beside her was awake. He noticed this and proceeded onwards

"Never thought you'd be singin' when sittin' next to a creature yer kind fears" he said with a small grin. She didn't look at him but she knew that he was talking about how she was scared of him, and he was right, she just didn't want to admit it to his face.

"Y-you… heard that?" she asked shyly, putting her notebook closer to her face to hide the embarrassed flush of red that was on her cheeks. It was hard enough for her to sing in public, but it caused her to feel so shy when she realizes that someone was listening especially when she was singing to a creature that was bent on killing her.

"O'course, every word that came out of that pretty little mouth of yers" he replied, semi-amused with the look on her face. She shrinked down a little bit more as embarrassment filled her thoughts though wondering what he thought about her singing, she dared not ask though. She also didn't know what to say afterwards, giving the snake time to start moving towards the taste of crickets that, he assumed, she put in the container to feed him.

He slowly moved towards his prey, tongue flickering in and out as he stalked the crickets. Then, in one movement, he caught several and chewed them in his mouth before swallowing. Curious Claudia looked over and watched him eat before returning to her notebook, afraid he'd feel her gaze on him. "Tell me, what kind of song was that?" he asked her, generally curious. It shocked her a little, but not a whole lot

"It-its… our…" she said as her notebook was over her mouth from shyness, mumbling the rest of the sentence. The rattler looked over his shoulder

"What was that? Did you say somethin'?" he asked, giving her a stare that made her choke on her words.

"It-it's our national… anthem" she said a bit louder now, knowing that he didn't appreciate her speaking so low in tone. He gave her a raised brow, not knowing what she meant "Our country… i-it has a national anthem to help raise th-the spirits of the people" she explained. She heard a few more crunches as he ate more of the crickets she put in his glass container in order to feed him. She could tell that he was hungry and she couldn't blame him, he hadn't eaten in, at least, over a week so he probably needed something in his stomach. As he did so she started to write again, trying to get her mind off of him and hoping that maybe he would just be quiet while he ate.

"Kind of stupid if you ask me" he commented as he continued eating

'Well when you're trying to get the people's hope up for freedom in war it's kind of a smart idea' she thought to herself as she continued to write. It was comparably slower now that she knew he was awake but she was still writing, trying to look too preoccupied to talk. But he knew better, he could tell by her movements that she was stiff as a board and was frightened by his presence, it made him chuckle darkly.

"You were so talkative earlier; I wonder what happened" he said seemingly to himself though he was intentionally wanting her to hear it. He slowly started to move to the side of the container where he was closest to her, not taking his eyes off of her. She started to get nervous again with the snake so close to her yet he was still in the container. But she was sure no container could hide that hellish glare of his and she really wished he'd stop staring at her.

Looking to her palms Jake saw that her hands were quivering as she tried to hold the pencil steady which gave him all the more satisfaction. It was almost as good as killing her since he was mentally attacking her with fear, but he still wanted to get sweet ol' revenge. But that wasn't going to happen then, no he was going to have to wait to strike, just like if she was a giant prey waiting for him to eat.

"Say, what do you call yerself, human girl?" he suddenly asked, wanting to know her name and give a reason to talk. To hear that quivering voice and the shakiness of her body; he wanted to see it all and more if he could.

"C-Claudia…" she said softly, but loud enough for him to hear so that he wouldn't yell at her to speak up. "Ara… w-what about you? You have a name?" she asked, slightly looking to the side only to get stuck on his eyes.

"People 'round here call me Rattlesnake Jake" he told her as she saw him starting to curl around a toy prop in the cage. His smirk on his face never left and neither did his gaze on her so that she didn't have the chance to look away; he wanted her to see him. "I'm the biggest, baddest outlaw there is in the whole West and there's NO one who doesn't fears my eyes" he continued as he now had his coils around the inanimate figure. "You best remember that 'cause when time comes, these eyes will be the last things yer ever going to see" he said as he then squeezed the object so hard it broke.

He was proud of himself now; he could see the fear in those blue eyes of hers, just like he wanted. Sure he gave himself a bit of pain, but it was worth it; the good way to corner your prey was to get them frightened then they wouldn't be able to think straight. He could see her whole body trembling; scared about what he was going to do to her once he had gotten out of that cage. Her hands tightly held onto her notebook, crinkling the pages as her lips quivered, as if she was trying to say something.

"Th-that is…" she started to say, his eyes trained on her still as he waited for her to speak "If you can get better and get out". God this human was weird, she was still going on about him healing; he thought he just rendered her speechless with fear. Even though she didn't seem very brave she still had the gall to have such a comment to him. It caused him to snort before turning away from her, not wanting to look at her as he was puzzled on why she would care.

The girl seemed to relax a bit since Jake's eyes were not on her anymore, but she couldn't let herself be too relaxed cause she would be caught off guard if he did so again. Her hand started to move again as she continued writing, which was another thing Jake was a bit confused about, what was she writing? A diary? A science report? Hell if he knew, not that he was going to ask at the moment.

"Claudia!" cried a voice that sounded like her little brother as he started to approach the room. A gasp escaped her lips as she realized her brother was getting near the place where danger could come at any moment from Jake. She looked slightly back at the snake who was now looking towards the door with curiosity as his tongue flickered. He had heard her gasp and it made him look to her at the moment before looking at the door. "Hey sis…" he said as he was now right at the door, causing the female to jump off her bed quickly and run towards it. Before opening the door more than an inch she slammed it back closed; this made Jake give a questioning face.

"Jacob what did I tell you about coming into my room?" she cried, cause the snake behind her to blink. She couldn't be serious… her little brother's name was—

"Sorry I kind of forgot about the totally dangerous snake that was in a container with no way of harming me" he said in a sarcastic tone. The girl gritted her teeth as she kept her hands on the door

"He is very dangerous little bro, which is why I'm not letting you in!" she told him. For a moment her eyes looked back to the container where Jake was watching her with his hell eyes. She swore she could see him smirking before prying her eyes away and looking towards the door once again.

Of course Jake was smirking, he figured out what was getting the girl all riled up in knots. The boy, who was ironically named Jacob as well, was her younger sibling whom she sounds very protective of. She was scared, scared that he, the diamondback outlaw, would harm her precious younger brother. When their eyes met again he smirked more as he was trying to get across to her that he knew why she wasn't letting him in.

"What do you want anyway?" she asked as she kept her body on the door to keep him from coming in.

"Can I have that game you said you'd let me play?" he asked her "That Legend of Zelda game" he added to be more specific. His older sister sighed at him as she got off the door

"Stay right there, I'll get it" she said as she walked to the other side of Jake's cage to grab something off the white desk. She could feel his gaze on her, but she ignored it as she took the game off the table and walked over to the door and opened it a little to give him the game. "There now leave" she ordered before she closed the door in his face; heart beating for the fact that he almost saw Jake.

"What's wrong? Thinkin' I'm gonna git your precious little brother, I'm gonna squeeze the life outta him?" Jake asked her. For the first time the two of them had met the girl turned her head to him with determination in her eyes instead of fear.

"You better keep your fangs/coils away from him or so help me I'll make you wish that my dad left you to die on the road" she told him with a growl. Her little brother was one of her most precious people on the planet… other than her two best friends that did not come with her on the trip. Jake could see the desperation, not anger, but he did not back down, he knew that the human wouldn't do anything to him; she was just using desperation to look like anger in order to cover up her fear. Jake laughed a little, not threatened at all

"You say that now, but would you really do so if the time ever should appear?" he asked her, as if he meant was he said earlier. She looked at him and he looked back, though she did not say anything "Thought so" he said at last with a hardened glance. He then turned away from her, causing her to feel a little bit easier as she tried to think whether to stay in the room or leave. In the end she decided to go somewhere else in the house. Jake could hear the door to her room open and close as the human left him to ponder his own thoughts

Dinner that night was about the same almost, well except for the fact that her father asked her if the snake had woken up.

"…" she wasn't sure if she should tell him considering that Jake might end up hurting him since he seemed to be revved up in hurting the rest of her family. "Yea… he's awake and I fed him earlier… before he woke up" she told him, hoping her father would not try and get a look at him.

"Well good, I just hope he'll understand that we're just trying to help him and that we'll put him back in the wild where he belongs" he told her.

'Yea right not before trying to kill me' she thought to herself after thinking about all the threats that Jake had given her so far. Right now he wasn't much of a threat as long as she didn't put her hand in his cage while he was awake… but that would be a different story once he was healed. He'd probably be able to get his gun un-jammed… and then she'll be the first one to die since he seemed to be the most hostile towards her. Then again he hadn't encountered anyone else in her family. "That'll be pretty hard to communicate to him" she said to her dad after thinking about Jake.

"I'm sure he'll understand eventually when you don't do anything to harm him and you respect his space" her father said to her. She doubted that but she would just have to feed him when he was sleeping… though she had a feeling he would realize that and start trying to stay awake all the time. She really didn't want to think about it that much and wanted to go to bed, though that was where the problem was in the first place.

A steady yawn rose to her lips as Claudia knew she was getting tired despite the fact it was still early in the evening; around nine o'clock. Despite this she decided to get ready for bed as she headed for the shower and the wrapping herself in a white robe. Now here came the hard part, getting into her room and changing while Jake was in there. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but with the realization that he can talk and understand everything she did and said she felt highly uncomfortable changing in front of him. Despite this she walked towards her room slowly as her bare feet went against the new wood floor.

She stood in front of it, shaking slightly as her heart was beating with nervousness as the thought of facing that hell snake again. But she had to do it; she needed to grow up and realize that he can't hurt her no matter what with those injuries and that she still had a few days for peace. Having this piece in mind, even if it was only a small peace of mind, she placed her hand on the knob and turned it as slowly and carefully as possible. When she had the ability to enter she gave the door the tiniest of cracks to look through it and see if he was awake.

Judging by the way he wasn't moving she thought he might have fallen asleep again but a flick of his tongue and slight movements told otherwise. 'Fuck he's still awake' she thought as she pondered her next move, thankfully she didn't have to think as the move was made for her by someone else.

"Don't you reckon I can tell that yer starin' at me through that doorway?" came the voice from the cage as Jake made no sudden moves as his lips talked. It made her put her head back a bit, embarrassed that he could tell she was looking at him. It's not that she was rude or anything it was just… she felt more comfortable in her room when he wasn't awake. Not that you could blame her he was a poisonous snake and he was an outlaw… and those two were not good combinations. "You gonna come in or what?" he asked cause Claudia to get out of her current thoughts and to remember why she was there in the first place.

Knowing that she had been found out the human opened the door slowly and entered her room. It would be fine if she was just getting regular clothes but she was getting her pajamas which were in her dresser that just so happened to have Jake's container on top of. Oh well, she might as well get this over with now than later since it was obvious he wasn't going to go to sleep with her in the same room.

Swiftly she went to her dresser and kneeled down and opened one of the drawers and began to search for some pajamas. She could feel Jake watching her but she ignored it the best she could as she rummaged around like there was no tomorrow. She wasn't sure why he decided but after a while the snake started up a conversation again, but this time about a topic she didn't think he'd care about.

"Tell me, why is it that you were so desperate to keep yer little brother away? What compels you to protect him?" he asked her. She didn't look at him but she did answer

"It's because I love him" she replied "I care about my little brother a lot so I'll do anything to protect him, as well as the rest of my family". She wondered why he was asking and the purpose of the answer he was going to get.

"Love?" he asked with a slight laugh "You gotta be pullin' my rattler" he told her, not really believing that she would protect her brother out of love.

"It's true… don't you have anyone that you love so much that you'd put your life on the line for them?" she asked. This time she looked up at him even with the feeling that he might yell at her with such a question. She wanted to know if he knew the feeling too, the feeling that someone was so precious that he could not afford to lose them no matter what.

"O' course not!" he told her "There ain't anything that I could love so much I'd stake my life on it, NOTHIN'!" his eyes held anger. Though, for some reason, it was hard for her to tell if it was at her or something else.

"Are you saying you've never fallen in love or something?"

"I'll NEVER fall in love is what I'm sayin'" he said before he whispered something "Not ever again". Did she just hear that? It was hard since his voice was so low. But it didn't seem to matter since she finally found her pajamas and proceeded to leave her room to go change in the bathroom. Not before looking back to see that he was not facing her anymore and was facing the back wall to his container instead. For some reason she felt sorry for him… maybe her answer hit a nerve that he had buried long ago.

When she came back into her room with her short sleeve pajamas Jake was still in the position he was in when she had left. She began to feel concerned but there was nothing she could do considering he would probably bite her head off –not literally- about the subject matter. She remained quiet as she went up to her ceiling fan and turned the light off, letting the moonlight from the window next to her bed light up the room. She saw Jake move slightly at the change of the light but didn't do much after that as Claudia went into her bed next to his cage. She took her purple glasses off and put them in the glasses case next to her before darting her eyes to Jake's cage again. His eyes were hidden by his hat but his tongue was still flickering, indicating that he was still awake or at least trying to get to sleep.

She went down into the several blankets in her bed and put her hand on the two pillows that supported her head. Her eyes went to his cage one last time before turning away from him to try and get to sleep.

"…Goodnight Jake" she said softly, though he gave no indication that he had heard her. With that she closed her eyes and let her dreams envelop her mind and try to forget everything that has been happening to her in the last twenty-four hours.

Author: Wow I got this up quick... probably because I liked the interactions and threats between Jake and Claudia. I was also in a patriotic mood considering I started this chapter on the Fourth of July so that's the reason I have my country's national anthem as the song she chose. The reason I had Jake asking and commenting about love is because of a song I plan on having Claudia sing that will fit with it nicely owo;; I won't say what it is cause, hopefully, it'll point itself out in time. Anyway that's all the time I have for today, see you guys next time 8D.