Two days later. Friday

He was freezing when he woke up, but at least he was dry. Stretching out his legs he braced himself for the tingling sensation that was all the blood rushing back to them. Slowly but surely his blood began to move again and he knelt to push open the lid on the recycling dumpster that he had slept in for the past two nights. Standing up he took in a deep breath of air that stung his lungs and looked around. The sun was clear in the sky, causing all the snow and the icicles to sparkle like diamonds. Oh goodness. How am I thinking like that this early?

Maneuvering himself out of the dumpster he stomped his feet on the frozen pavement to try to get them warm. His hands he shoved into the pockets of his jackets, which didn't help tremendously but it was better than keeping them out with only his thin gloves to cover them.

With the urge of a breeze he made his way out of the alley and down what was now a familiar path. The day before he had wandered the city in search of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene building and had found that it wasn't terribly far away. He had scouted out where the doors where him and the other soon-to-be-normal-humans would line up to get the cure.

Pulling up his hood and holding his head down against the wind he wondered how many people would be there, and not just to line up for the cure. He knew that the cure caused a lot of strife between all the communities – the anti-mutant humans and the pro-mutant humans- Though I can't believe that there really is such a thing… - and the self-hating mutants and the self-loving mutants. I hope that Riley won't be there, or Aaron.

After a few minutes he rounded a corner and slowly but surely the volume of hundreds of voices got louder. Looking up he realized that he was already down the street from the clinic and he swallowed. Well here goes everything… Pressing forward he slowly melded into a group of people heading towards an already thick line, not unlike a snake, that stretched around the corner from the front doors. It was barricaded off with fences guarded by policemen in full riot gear. On the same side of the street stood hundreds of anti-mutant protestors. Across the street, spilling off of the confines of the sidewalk, hundreds of pro-mutant protestors stood with signs and shouts in full force.

Caim stopped to read a sign or two: We Are People Too! People, yes. Human, no. Homo-Sapiens Are The Disease! There are more of them than there are of you, so good luck ridding yourself of them. Don't Do It! Too late.

Winding his way through the people towards the end of the line he heard a voice that stopped him. "Get off of me! I'm not doing anything!" Turning his head Caim saw Aaron a couple metres away with a policeman holding him by the upper arm and directing him back towards the mutant protestors. How do they know that he's not coming to line up? Then he noticed the sign in Aaron's free hand that simply read: Don't Let Them Win. What is he talking about?

Sighing he stepped up to the confrontation. "He's looking for me officer, he's not going to do anything."

The officer and Aaron both looked at him, then the officer did a sweep over of the both of them. Letting go of Aaron's arm he moved his hand to the baton at his hip and didn't move. Sure. We're totally going to start brawling right in front of you. Caim looked up to meet Aaron's eyes for a moment before looking away.

"Is Riley here?" he asked.

"Yeah," Aaron replied. "He's actually looking for you. Well, looking in the hopes that he won't find you. Kyle, don't do this."

Caim didn't say anything as his heart stopped. Glancing around he was glad not to spot the snake-boy amongst the crowd. "Tell him not to worry about me."

"That's the thing though, he will. He cares about you Kyle, he worries about you."

"Then don't mention that you saw me." He took a step back, aiming to slip into the shadow of the neighbouring building and move through it until he found the end of the line.

"I can't do that. I'm not going to lie to him."

"It's not a lie if you don't say anything." Then there it was again, that feeling like a switch had been flicked in his brain. He looked up and met Aaron's eyes.

"You have no idea how much it's going to crush Riley when he finds out that you've done this. Getting this cure is like cutting out your eyes so you don't have to see."

Caim swallowed and tore his eyes away. He shook his head. "I…" He sighed and tried to get rid of the feeling that someone was poking at the emotional button in his head. "I didn't know… I…" His hands started to shake and he took a step back.

"Kyle come on. Let's go find him and we'll leave. You can crash at our place for the night."

No no no no no. Don't say that. Don't.

"I have to go."

"Kyle-"

Caim quickly turned around and it felt like he had just ripped a Band-Aid off a particularly sensitive spot. Anger and annoyance and depression all flicked through his head as though his mind couldn't figure out how to feel, and he felt several ripples under his skin. No. Not here. Not here. He clenched his hands into fists and hurried away, not listening to hear if Aaron was calling after him.

Finding the end of the line was like finding a sanctuary. Around him were other mutants of varying ages, colours, genders, and appearances who all understood his need to get rid of his extra… sense, as Aaron had put it. With this world, I wouldn't condemn someone for wanting to rid themselves of sight either, since he brought it up. That was when he wished he couldn't hear.

"Kyle!"

He flinched and kept his eyes on the ground. Earth, swallow me whole, please. Do me a favour and just swallow me whole.

"Kyle!" Riley's voice was growing louder, and behind his voice the shouts of the protestors grew. He sprinted over and grabbed onto Caim's arm, pulling on it. "What are you doing?"

"I'm doing what I need to."

"You don't need to do this though."

Caim sighed and pried Riley's hand off his arm, holding onto it for a second longer than he should have before he let go. "Ok, then how about I'm doing what I want to?"

"But why-"

A crash came from down the street and they both turned to see that the two groups of protestors had broken past their respective barriers. Most were yelling in each other's faces, but a couple fights were breaking out and the riot police were swarming forth to break them up. Caim grabbed Riley's arm and pulled him away from the fights, then stepped between him and the violence.

"Holy crap," Riley whispered.

If you think this is bad…

"Riley. Leave. This is only going to get worse," Caim told him, glancing over his shoulder to address the snake-boy.

"I can't leave-"

"Yes, you can-"

"Aaron'ssssss sssssstill over there!"

Of course. Caim was quiet, then turned to face him. "Go down this street and stay out of sight, I'll get him."

Riley was quiet for a moment. "You won't take no for an ansssssswer will you?"

"Go."

"Be careful-"

Caim barely heard him as he ran back towards the riot.