WARNING: Contains distressing content.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Why Me?

"What have you done?" Angela asked, "What have you done!?"

"What do you mean? What has he done?" Ravage asked "Diablo just saved his life! Chastity gave him the water! You gave her permission to!"

Samson placed his hand on Ravage's shoulder and shook his head before turning to Angela.

"I'm sorry." He said, "But it was the only way to save him."

Angela looked away from Samson and down at Solomon who opened his eyes, and he looked up.

"Huh? What the? What's going on?" his vison was blurry, and he blinked several times.

"Solomon?"

Solomon heard Angela's voice and he turned to look at her. Her face was pale, and her eyes were red from the tears she had cried.

"Angela?" he cried "What's going on? What happened? Why are you here?"

"Well…" Angela started to say but she then saw Solomon look at his hands which were human but covered in short white fur.

"The fuck…?" Solomon cried "What happened to my hands?"

He then brought them to his face, and he felt his nose was a lot longer and his nostrils were larger also wet as well as furry.

The other Disciples held their breath waiting for the new mutant's reaction as he started to feel up his face and towards his ears which were now pointed up as well as the horns on his head.

"What's happened? What's happened to me?" Solomon demanded "A mirror? Where's a mirror?"

Chastity swallowed hard in worry and reached for a small mirror she had near her sleeping bag and held it up before him.

As she did that, Angela looked at Solomon and the other Disciples took a step back as they waited for the new mutant's reaction.

At first Solomon said nothing as he stared at his reflection, he blinked then put his hands up to touch his face and his eyes widened as the realisation sank in.

"What the…What in the name of...?" he said quietly then he shouted in horror and fell backwards.

"No! I'm a freak! What have you done to me!?" he yelled and turned to face Angela and it was then he saw the other Disciples behind her as well as Chastity who had pulled back the mirror so it wouldn't get broken.

"Angela!" he screamed as he stood up and looked himself over "What happened to me? Where are we?!"

Angela was shocked but she wanted to calm her friend down as best she could.

"Solomon!" she cried "Please! Please calm down!"

"What have you done to me?" Solomon screamed and he grabbed at his horns and pulled on them in frustration.

"What have you done? What have you done?!" he pulled on his horns harder and at once, Samson, Rex and Ravage ran over and grabbed him.

As he was grabbed, it only made things worse as Solomon struggled and yelled.

"Get off me! Get off me!"

Angela stepped back and she bumped into Diablo who held her shoulders whilst Regan, distressed at what she was seeing turned and hugged Lamia who had started to hold her close and stroke her hair.

Chastity stepped in and tried to calm Solomon down, but it was no use as the mutant Oyrx failed and tossed his head and the three male mutants tried to avoid the horns.

"Look at me! Look at me!" Chastity tried to reason with Solomon, but he still continued to fight back.

"Get away from me!" he shouted "Get away! Get away!"

Angela started to cry again feeling upset at her stressed and frightened friend.

Diablo was worried and he turned to Lamia who caught his eyes.

Seeing the Raven's look, the Eel knew she had to do something, so she coaxed Regan to let go of her and the Vampire Bat though reluctant realised she was needed to calm the situation and let go.

Lamia then walked over to Solomon and took off her glove.

"Stand back Dove!" she called to Chastity and the dove mutant looked over her shoulder to see Lamia's bare hand reaching for Solomon.

She instantly moved and Lamia went over to Solomon before reaching for his cheek.

Samson, Rex and Ravage saw her and they let go quickly and before Solomon could realise what was happening, Lamia touched his shoulder and he jumped in shock before collapsing on the ground.

As that happened, Angela screamed.

"No!" she ran over to Lamia "What did you do to him!"

But before she could attack the Eel, Chastity's wing appeared and stopped her.

"Relax Angela." She said, "Lamia merely gave him a slight shock to stop him."

Angela blinked and stared at Lamia.

"Shock?" she blurted out.

Lamia didn't turn around, but she knelt to Solomon who shook off the shock and rubbed his head.

"Calm down." She said in a soft but firm voice, her bare hand still above him and ready to touch him again.

Solomon blinked and looked at Lamia.

"What…. what did you do?" he asked.

"Merely gave you a slight shock." Lamia replied calmly, "You were so hysterical."

Solomon looked at his hands then touched his face and tears started to erupt from his eyes as the shock from both the realisation that he was a mutant as well as Lamia's touch hit him at once and the emotions began to pour out.

"Why?" he sobbed "Why? Why me?!"

As he sat there and sobbed, Angela moved away from behind Chastity and knelt to Solomon pushing Lamia away.

"Hey!" Lamia snapped but Diablo shook his head holding out his taloned hand to help her up to which the Eel placed her gloved hand in his and he helped her up.

"Don't take it personally." He reminded her "This is a big thing for them both."

Lamia sighed and she nodded as she only knew too well how it felt, and Samson and Rex were also in agreement.

"Solomon." Angela placed a hand on his shoulder and Solomon looked up at her and glared causing Angela to almost fall back with fright.

"What did you do!?" Solomon snarled through his tears.

"Solomon!" Angela said "Please! Listen! Diablo did this to save your life! You were overcome with toxic smoke from that house fire!"

"House fire…" Solomon repeated, then he remembered the smoke and how he had tried to find his parents, but he had passed out in the hallway overcome by smoke.

"These guys tried to save you." Angela continued "But it was too late, so Diablo and Chastity gave you the water and you…well…." She trailed into silence as she gestured to Solomon's body.

Solomon looked at his body then at Angela and he began to remember what happened and everything began to sink in.

"No…." he murmured shaking his head "No…My home…my parents….my life…NO!" he screamed, and he shook his head "NO! Everything I know is gone! NO! NO! NO!"

He grasped his head and pulled on his ears and horns.

"Solomon…" Angela cried "I'm so sorry…"

Solomon grunted then he looked up and glared at Angela.

"This is your fault!" he screamed.

Angela's eyes widened.

"What?" she cried in alarm.

The Disciples jumped and gasped as they heard those words.

"You did this!" Solomon screamed as he looked at Angela "You're to blame!"

"Why me?" Angela cried.

"You asked me to go with you to meet that Raven!" he pointed at Diablo.

"Hey!" Diablo snapped.

"You asked me to go with you and because I'm such a good friend I agreed! I agreed to go with you!"

"No!" Angela cried "Diablo didn't do this! He didn't…"

"SHUT UP!" Solomon screamed "Just go! Go away!"

Angela blinked as tears of heartbreak fell at her friend's words and the other Disciples looked uncomfortable at what they were witnessing.

"Solomon." Angela gasped.

"If I hadn't gone with you! This never would have happened!" Solomon shouted as he pointed a finger at her "You're responsible for this!"

Angela opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out and Chastity decided to step in.

"Solomon." She said, "I understand what you're feeling, but Angela was not to blame for what happened to you."

Solomon glared at the dove then at Angela.

"Just leave me be!" he barked "I don't want to hear anything from you!" he grabbed his ears and put his head between his knees.

"Go Away! Go Away!" he grunted "Please! GO AWAY!"

Chastity swallowed hard and stood up before turning to Angela who knelt there with her hands out and shaking with shock and sadness.

"Angela." She said, "It is best you leave your friend to gather himself."

Angela looked at the dove and she glared.

"He hates me!" she said, "He fucking hates me!"

"People say things in anger…" Chastity started to say but Angela stood up and covered her ears before running to the stairs in sorrow.

The Disciples watched her go, yet Diablo turned to follow her.

"Damn that was hard to observe." Samson said softly.

"Tell me about it." Ravage agreed as he looked at Solomon who was rocking back and forth in stress as he was clutching his ears and horns whilst Chastity and Lamia stood close to him just in case, he started getting hysterical again.

Angela ran up the stairs and Diablo as he followed her turned to the others.

"Stay down here and look after our new mutant." He said, "I'll look after Angela."

Rex saluted in response and Samson nodded as well as patted Regan who was standing close to him still distressed from what she had witnessed.

Meanwhile, Angela had made it outside and was running as fast as she could to get away.

She wanted to run away from the situation, run away from that nightmare, after seeing her friend get mutated, after suffering near death and then hearing him blame her for what happened, she didn't know how much she could take.

She ran a few meters but then she tripped and fell on her knees, and it was then she let out a frustrated scream.

Diablo wasn't far behind, and he flew over before landing next to her.

"Angie?" he said placing a taloned hand on her shoulder, but Angela slapped his hand away.

"Don't touch me!" she screamed, and she sobbed hard on her hands and knees.

Diablo was shocked but he respected her wishes to leave her be.

He wasn't sure what to say, after what he had witnessed, he remembered how he had reacted to Jake and Monalisa when he had mutated, and he wondered if Angela was feeling how his older sister and brother had felt when he had snapped at them.

He had never imagined how they must have felt when he was angry at them for mutating him when he was close to death and seeing how Solomon had reacted to Angela, it had been hard to watch.

The Raven watched Angela sob then attempted to speak to her.

"Angela." He said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry that happened, but it was the only way…."

"Shut up!" Angela growled then she looked up and turned to Diablo "He hates me!" she shouted "He hates me! My friend, the one who was there for me after Nigel's death! I've lost him!"

Diablo blinked as he listened.

"I've lost him!" Angela sobbed "I've lost my friend, because of you! You did this!" she screamed "You lost me my friend, the one who was there for me after Nigel's death!" she pointed at Diablo as she stood up.

"You caused this! You caused this!" she screamed "Why! Why me!" she gripped her hair "Why did I choose to meet you? Why did I go to the caves that day and run into you! I wish it hadn't happened! I wish I had never met you!" she shouted.

Diablo said nothing but he felt hurt and appalled as he heard Angela's words.

"I though life was bad enough when I lost my brother, my best friend, and then when I thought I was coping, I lost another dear friend, because of you!" she screamed at Diablo "FUCK YOU!" she shouted at the top of her lungs then turned to run away back towards the town of Spencer.

"Angela!" Diablo called after her, but Angela covered her ears as she ran, not even once, looking back nor slowing down as the Raven flew after her.

So Solomon hasn't taken well to his mutation, and he now blames Angela for what happened, and Angela has blamed Diablo for everything that happened.

Rather distressing for everyone right? How will things go from here? Well, keep checking back to find out!