Give me all of your dreams
And let me go along on your way
Give me all of your prayers to sing
And I'll turn the night into the skylight of day
Jim Steinman--Heaven Can Wait
It was late at night when Kyle sneaked out of the mansion and walked to the sight of Remy's accident. He carried with him his penknife and a flashlight. He shone the flashlight down the cliff where the car had crashed. The car was still down there. I wonder if...if the body is still inside? he thought. He closed his eyes for a moment, scanning the area with his mind, the way Aunt Jean had taught him, to see if anyone was around.
He picked up the faint thoughts of someone. Biting his lip, Kyle concentrated on them, trying to pick them up more clearly. The thoughts were fuzzy, fading in and out, but one thing was apparent.... Whoever belonged to these thoughts was in a great deal of pain.
He's still in the car, Kyle thought. An' he didn't die. He probed further, trying to see through the pain, to who this person was and to see if there was any reason for what they had done. It was hard, harder than anything he'd ever done before, because he could actually feel the pain this person was in. Go beyond that, he thought. Get beyond the pain... you can do it...
Beyond the pain, there was a black wall of hatred, so intense that Kyle was almost knocked backwards from the impact. He didn't know a mind could be so dark, so full of such a choking emotion. It took every bit of concentration Kyle had to work his way beyond the wall, to explore this man's memories.
The memories were cloudy, due to all the pain and hatred in the man's mind, but Kyle kept probing. It was a scary experience. The only minds he'd ever probed before were Uncle Hanks' and Aunt Jean's, and not only had he gotten permission from both of them before he did it, but they had also been able to close off parts of their minds from him. This man had no defenses. For a few minutes, Kyle was doing more than probing his mind, Kyle was becoming part of his mind.
My name is Joe Richardson, he thought... N0! His name is Joe Richardson.... Richardson... that name is familiar... Uncle Hank mentioned that name to me before, or someone did.... Who...
He sorted through Joe's memories, as well as his own, trying to discover why the name was familiar.... then it came to him... "Richardson is the founder of SCAM!" he murmured.
Scam was one of the later additions to the every growing mutant hating groups. The name, which actually stood for Societies Citizens Against Mutants, would have been a source of amusement to the X-men, if the group itself wasn't so scary. They believed God was on their side, and that the fight against mutants was a holy war. No matter what anyone tried to say or do to convince them that mutants were people too, they didn't listen. In their minds, God believed in what they were doing and that was all the logic they needed.
Kyle probed deeper... This wasn't the actual founder of Scam, but his son. His oldest son. From the memories that swam up, Kyle was able to piece parts of Joe's life, at least from his perspective.
Joe's father, Douglas Richardson, was a cold man, fueled by his hatred for Mutants. Joe spent most of his childhood trying to get noticed and loved by his father, only to have his father reject him most of the time. Somehow, in Joe's twisted perspective, he grew to hate mutants, not for the reasons his father did, but because he sensed that they were responsible for his father ignoring him. Twisted, unloved and unwanted, Joe had decided the only way to earn his father's love and approval was to try and exterminate all mutants, single-handedly. Never mind that the task was absolutely impossible, Joey's mind wasn't capable of bringing that piece of logic into view. He was a man with a mission. Anger, hatred directed to the wrong sources filled his mind, blackened his soul.
And while Kyle explored his mind, for those few minutes, Kyle was all a part of that hatred. For a moment, Kyle was Joe Richardson. And he didn't like that at all. He jerked his head back, opening his eyes, quickly escaping that terrible mind lying below in the twisted wreckage.
"The sad part is that the real wreckage isn't the car, it's his whole life," Kyle muttered. He could still feel the effects of Joe's insanity, inside him, like a poison that wanted to work it's way through his system.
Slowly, he started climbing down the cliff towards the car. It was slow going at best, the cliff was steep and he had to be careful. He put the end of the flashlight in his mouth. It wouldn't show where he was going, only where he'd been.
I should go back to the mansion, Kyle thought as he inched his way down, forcing his fingers and feet to find holds in the dirt. He's still alive... I should get Uncle Henry to come here.... What am I doing? I'm just a kid, I can't help him...
His mind suddenly seemed to split and he was arguing with himself. Yes Kyle, the one half said. There is something you can do. You can help him.
How? The other half argued back. I'm just a kid... if this guy can be healed... Uncle Henry can do it... his body at least. His mind...
That's it exactly, he shot back at himself. You can't do a damned thing to help his body, but you know what you can do to help his mind. Nothing can cure him, Jimmy, and YOU know it.
He froze at the mention of his real name. He almost fell down the rest of the way, but barely managed to continue his precarious hand and footholds. Kyle?
Yeah, it's me... The part of his mind answered. Or at least what you perceive to be me. It can't really be me, remember, I'm dead... but when you took my ability... you maybe took a little piece of my soul. The ability faded, but the piece of my soul didn't. I'm locked inside of you.
This is to weird for words! He shot back at himself.
You're telling you!
That's not funny. Am I losing my mind?
No. You're just delaying the real truth. This half of his brain was calm, controlled. It was this half that was helping him find his way safely down to the bottom of the cliff. You know what you have to do.
No!
Jimmy, you're being a wimp.
I've always been a wimp!
Look what you did to Dad!
And I'll pay for that the rest of my life!
How? Calm controlled.... His feet were on firm ground now, and slowly, he started making his way towards the car. By LIVING? C'mon Jimmy, what is the crime in that? You KNOW Dad would have eventually lost it and killed you. He transferred the flashlight from his mouth to his hand and started using it to sweep the ground in front of him.
What about Mom?
Mom was stupid. She loved him so much she could look the other way when Dad was hitting us. She didn't WANT to see.
Is she okay?
How should I know? I'm part of you. I don't know anything you don't know. It's not like I have a window to look out of heaven or something.
Sorry.
He was at the car. Slowly, he swept the flashlight over the wreckage. The light gleamed off the windows. Kyle peered hard, looking inside. "Oh God!" he blurted out. "There is so much blood!"
Duh! the controlled part of his mind snapped back at him. People are full of blood. Remember me? I bled all over the place.
I don't want to remember that,Jimmy/Kyle shook. It was awful...
I know. All that blood... and brains...
CUT IT OUT! He whimpered. I wish I was back at the mansion right now. I wanna be in bed... I want Uncle Henry.
Gesh, Jimmy, get a grip! You know what has to be done.
I don't know if this has to be done or not! he argued back. Maybe he can be helped...
And maybe he can't. Are YOU willing to take the risk? He'll live Jimmy. With the proper medical care, his body will live... and soon enough he'll be well and then....then...
THEN WHAT?
Then he'll probably go right back to what he was. And who will be his next victim? Aunt Jean? Uncle Henry?
STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT! The anger was building up in him. Not hot anger, but cold anger. Hatred. For a moment, Kyle slipped back to probing Joe's mind... It was weak, mostly clouded by his pain and hatred. "DO YOU WANT TO LIVE?!" Kyle shouted, out loud and into Joe's mind.
The response was weak... yes... yes i do.
Kyle closed his eyes for a moment, shaking. Slowly, he felt the energy flowing through him...
This power... it was too new to him, too scary. But he knew what he had to do. He let it surround him, bursting into flames.
Gas and oil dripped from the car. Slowly, Kyle walked over and extended his hand out, touching the trail of fluids with his arm.
WHUPF! The fluids ignited, rapidly burning their way to the car. Kyle stumbled backwards as they made their way to the car.
The car lit up for a second, and exploded, the nose echoing through the cliff. Kyle kept himself burning, knowing that as long as he was in this condition, the fire or explosion couldn't hurt him. "That's for Remy, the one you didn't get," he whispered. "And for Kerri and all the ones you did!"