Good Lord, show me the way ((Liam McKellar Intro Thread))

((I wanted to re-do this, so I edited it and I have re-posted it.))
Liam sat in the back of a church in Aberdeen, listening to the silence resonate off the walls and ceiling. Sunlight was streaming in through the stained glass windows, the colored light adorning the pews and the altar. He had taken residence in the church the previous night, much to his dismay. But, he had no choice: this was the only place he would probably feel comfort. Since it was the middle of the week, it was usually deserted, except for the occasional wanderer that came in to pray or confess a sin.
It had been a couple days since Amelia’s death, and Liam’s subsequent evacuation of Kirkcaldy. He knew that he would be haunted by Amelia’s death until the day he died; his photographic memory would preserve every minute detail. His mind was his prison.
He stared at the crucifix at the altar, the image burning into his brain. If there was one thing Liam was determined not to lose after this ordeal, it was his faith.
Liam’s mind wandered back to Kirkcaldy. His mother had undoubtedly searched the area for her son, but would turn up fruitless. Liam was over two hours away by car, and more than a day on foot. He wanted to disappear from Kirkcaldy, and he did.
He didn’t want to think of the undoubtedly morbid scene that someone would’ve happened on during a walk in the park. A teenage girl, lying in the woodchips by the swing set with blood leaking out of her ears? What would that look like to the police?
Liam mentally kicked himself for thinking about it, and took another bitter sip of coffee. He grabbed his mangled backpack and pulled out his Bible, given to him by his mother when he was younger. He had given it to Amelia for safe-keeping, and she had just returned it at the park, right before she died. He thumbed through the Old Testament, and found Exodus 20:13.
Thou shalt not kill.
Did he really, truly murder her? He didn’t try to, and he certainly didn’t want to. He wasn’t even entirely sure what happened.
Liam wanted to forget everything.
He had undoubtedly possessed Amelia, but how or why, he didn’t know. What was he? He thought back to his childhood, searching for any indication that this would happen. He remembered a few incidents where he had moved objects, and then his discovery of mutants. There weren’t any mutants in town that he knew of, but he read as much as he could about them. He read up on telekinesis, which is what he thought he had. But, the more he read, the more he was discouraged. Telekinesis was moving objects, but Liam’s was different. When they were moving, it was like he was part of the object, possessing it, if you will.
No, he was not a freak.
Liam shut the Bible and harshly stuffed it in his backpack. He didn’t want to face what he thought had happened. He had to think about how he was going to survive on his own.
Did he want to?

Vader used to love trains. The way they sounded, the way they moved, however her favorite part was looking out the window and watching everything go by. Then Aiden happened. It was one memory, one stupid memory and her enjoyment of trains was suddenly no longer something that existed. It hadn't even been her memory, it had been Aiden's, but she was almost positive that her memory had been similar. How could it not have been? She was distracted from her thoughts by the screeching of the brakes as the train began slowing down. Vader flinched as she heard a particularly high pitch and the train lurched backwards, coming to a final stop at the Aberdeen train station.

She was searching for a mutant who had moved recently, she'd been on her way to somewhere in Scotland, when another psychic (Vader thought her names was Tracy) had called and said that the mutant had moved to Aberdeen, so she'd gotten another train ticket and switched routes. Now that she was here, she needed to hurry and make sure that the mutant didn't move again. Vader sighed and began to move quickly through the streets 'listening' for anything that a only mutant would think. After fifteen minutes, Vader began to get extremely bored, and cold. Despite her warm clothes, she felt the chill of the air. A few people had though about a small pub just down the road, and Vader figured she'd try that. She was passing a church, when something felt different, almost tingly. Vader stopped suddenly and walked towards the church, curious at what she would find. As she approached the church the weird sensation increased slightly.

She paused at the door of the church, realizing that she hadn't been inside of a church in a very long time, if ever. Vader shrugged it off and stepped inside. She smiled at the warm air that came rushing at her as she stepped in, no longer cold. The thoughts of those inside flooded her mind, but only one stood out. An image of a girl, clearly dead, flooded her mind. Thoughts soon followed. Though shalt not kill. Did I kill her? She was positive that these were the mutants thoughts. She knew that she was supposed to bring this mutant back to the Institute, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to, especially if he was a killer, but Vader wasn’t one to judge. She was fairly sure from his thoughts that it had been his ability that had killed her. Regret filled this guy’s thoughts as well as a desire to forget everything and feeling like a freak. She shook her head knowing how he felt and walked quickly towards the pew he was sitting at. She watched him stuff a book into his backpack as she took off her gloves, Vader could tell from his thoughts that it was a Bible. “You know, I don’t remember picking up a Bible. Ever. But that’s not saying much, forgetting everything does that to you.” She said with a small smile as she sat next to him.

Liam jumped at the disruption in the silence, and looked at the girl that had been the source. She sat down next to him, waiting for him to speak. He supposed she was pretty, but he quickly averted his eyes. He didn’t want to possess and kill her, too. He still didn’t know how he managed to possess Amelia, but he felt like it had something to do with the few seconds he spent looking into her eyes.
“I can’t forget. Having a eidetic memory will do that to you.” Liam said stoically, his eyes concentrating on the crucifix at the altar. Who knew? Maybe that would move too, and confirm the fact that he was a freak. His emotions weren’t raging anymore, and he was left with a sense of numbness.
At least it was better than his father hitting him with a bottle.
He knew his calmness was an effect of being in the church. Being a man of faith, he always felt at home in a church. He hated living here, though. He felt like he wasn't welcome in a house of God, because of Amelia's death. Her funeral probably would have been today. He regretted not being able to go, but felt like going would've been a bad choice. He didn't know how the police were treating the case, and he most likely wouldn't like the answer.
God was the only one who would listen, but Liam was afraid to pray. He needed to confess, but knew that if he told the pastor here that he killed a girl back home, he would have been hauled to jail faster than he could say "it was an accident".
He wouldn't be able to tell anyone.
Something about the girl sitting next to him was different, though. It was almost like she knew what he was capable of. Liam hoped that she could sense the guilt that shrouded his mind. He thought about telling her what happened, but wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to be in trouble for it, first:
“You’re not a cop, are you?”

“It’s better than forgetting all you ever had, everything you were…it’s nice that you have a photographic memory though, you can remember the good moments as well, those are the most important after all is said and done.” Vader said, wishing she could convey the truth in her words. She didn’t care who she was before; she simply wanted to know. A little bit of her old self had been brought back, but not all of it, and it never would.

Vader sighed. The guy’s thoughts weren’t that interesting at the moment, and she’d never really been one for conversation, but that didn’t matter now. She had a job to do. She did get a few things from his thoughts; the first was that the girl had been named Amelia, the second was that her death had been an accident, and the third was that he wanted to tell someone about it. “Accidents happen, especially in situations where a ‘gift’ is involved.” Vader said, her fingers formed little quotations as she said the word gift. That would give him a hint that he wasn’t alone in the world, so to speak, and maybe he wouldn’t freak out as much. This was her first mission in which the mutant didn’t really know about his powers. Tobin had used them quite obviously and Aiden…well, Aiden had just been a special case.

She laughed when he asked if she was a cop. “If I was a cop…well, that would be interesting. I’m far from it though, too young.” Vader said, with a smile. She paused for a moment, thinking of how to explain it. “It’s sort of similar to beyond the police in a sense, but not exactly. I’m from a school called the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, it’s as school for gifted people like you and I, or, the more common term is mutants.” Vader explained. “But I know you want to tell me something, so go ahead and tell me, you’ll probably feel relieved afterwards.” She added, knowing full well that he wanted to talk about Amelia’s death.

Who is this girl?
Liam was relieved to know she wasn’t a cop. The idea of a special school intrigued him, but the when she called him a mutant, he was taken aback.
“Mutant? Listen, I would hardly call what happened a ‘gift’. I watched my best friend die because of it.” Liam stood up, still averting his eyes from the girl. “I don’t even know what happened. I just…I just…”
Finally, he felt his emotions come back, and they were crushing. He released a few tears as his hands began to shake. He collapsed back onto the pew, his chocolate brown eyes spilling tears out onto his cheeks, but still not sparing a glance at the girl.
“I just want to know why. I want to know why I’m still alive while she’s dead.”
He would be haunted with the memory of Amelia’s death for the rest of his life, and he felt entitled to an explanation.
“I suppose your school would try to help me? What could they possibly do to make this better? I’m afraid to look at people in the eye after that day! How am I supposed to live every day, knowing that I was the cause of her death, and there was nothing I could do to save her?”
Liam wiped the tears off his face, and looked at the crucifix again. He tried to rally his thoughts when a Bible passage popped into his head:
Isaiah 41:10 – Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
He felt himself come back to Earth; God must have planned this for Liam, no matter how horrible it was. Liam gathered enough strength to look at the girl in the eye. It seemed like she genuinely wanted to help him, and he decided to take a leap of faith, as it were.
“I...possessed her, if that makes any sense. I WAS her...I had her voice, her body, everything. It was like I took residence in her head. I tried to get out, and when I was mildly successful, it was like we were sharing her brain. She said her head hurt, and she was crying. I gave a final push, and when I appeared as myself again, she was laying on the ground. Blood was coming out of her ears, and she didn't move. She...she was dead. So let me ask you, what can your school do for me? I can't bear the thought of killing someone else. I already barely feel welcome in this house of God, and the church has been my only safe-house throughout my life."

Who is this girl? Vader almost answered, but the the guy started to talk and she decided that introductions could wait until later. She shrugged in response. “Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t. I know it’s hard, believe me, but this happens to most of us in some form or another…” A dark look crossed her face as she remembered Aiden telling her about their past, the experiments, the men who went after them, life on the streets…A sudden flood of emotional thoughts came into her head. Vader wanted to tell him to calm down, but knew from experience that telling him that would only make matters worse. Vader waited, knowing that an outburst would come next.

He wanted to know why of course, and naturally that was the one question that Vader was still asking. “I don’t know. Heck, I’m even asking myself a similar question. We might never find out, I doubt we will.” She replied, there was a slightly harsh tone in Vader’s voice that she tried to amend in response to his next words.
“Ok, look. This school, isn’t just a regular school, they train you on how to use your talents, how to control them. One of my…” Vader coughed as she trailed off, she wasn’t sure what to refer to Aiden as, her best friend or simply her friend? How was she supposed to explain their friendship in a singly term? She coughed again, deciding to simplify it, then continued. “One of my best friends had a similar problem…he can travel through time, and he tried to help two different people, they were in danger and well, one of them didn’t make it through the jump. The other one lost everything she had. There are people who can relate, which helps too.”

Isaiah 41:10 – Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Vader wasn’t sure if she appreciated the religious aspect of this conversation. She’d always stayed clear of religion, it wasn’t really something that she wanted to here. But the guy calmed down, which was good, so Vader let it slide, knowing that she would never even comment on something like that.

As he explained what had happened to Amelia, Vader also saw the images in his head. She swallowed, trying to push down the bile that was rising up her throat. She’d never been good with someone else’s blood. “I-it’s called possession, I think, for the obvious reason. I’m sorry what happened to Amelia. I really am. But Liam,” Vader said, picking the guy’s name out of his head. “You need to come with me. The school can protect you, and help you. If you learn to control your powers then you won’t be able to kill anyone else involuntarily, if anyone can prevent you from killin’ anyone else on accident it’s the teachers and students at the Academy.” She finished.

Liam knew that this girl was being deathly serious. He believed every word of what she had to say. It was time for him to get to the bottom of this…mutation, or whatever it was. She was right: if he wanted to prevent himself from repeating his actions, he had to control this. If the teachers at the school said they could help, then he decided to try it. If they couldn't help him, he'd go on his way.
At least he'd be out of Scotland...maybe? Where was this place?
He sensed the girl was uncomfortable about something, and looked around at the church to comb over the conversation to see if he said anything offensive. The only thing that came to mind was his quip about not feeling welcome in the church, and he thought that he should keep his religion out of things. He supposed a lot of mutants had lost their faith after discovering who they really were, and he knew that religion wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
“I want to go…to the school. I need to get out of Scotland for my sanity.” Liam said, standing up off the pew, and slinging his backpack over his shoulder. He felt the Bible slap on his back, and the straps dug into his shoulders a bit.
“Where are we headed?”

Vader smiled, as he accepted what she’d said. Then he started focusing on why she was uncomfortable, and Vader winced slightly. It had been obvious. Fortunately for her he soon veered off in the wrong direction. “It’s not religion…just to let you know, like I kind of mentioned earlier, I don’t remember ever picking up a Bible, or any religious book for that matter. It was never important to me. It’s something else.” Vader said, with a tone of finality that basically said that the particular conversation was over.

She stood and walked out into the isle. “I don’t think I’d ever leave Scotland for my sanity, I love it here. Actually, I think I’d go to Scotland for my sanity, but that’s just me.” Vader said, thinking of all the time she’d spend abroad, specifically in Scotland. Liam asked where the Academy was and Vader smiled. “New York, Salem Center to be exact. It’s only about an hour and a half away from the Big Apple.” She replied. “Oh. Right. I’m Vader Chandler, I specialize in telepathy, but I’ve been working on Telekinesis as well. I’m an avid traveler and I do bite. And has anyone told you that you look a lot like David Tennant?” She asked with an easy laugh as she walked towards the door of the church.


((Meh. I'm loosing my muse...I'll get it back tomorrow probably))

((That's okay!))

Telepathy, eh? Liam would have to keep his thoughts under wraps around this one.
He smiled at Vader's last comment.
"Yeah, I get that a lot, actually." He said as he pulled the door open, and allowed Vader to walk through it first. When they exited the church, he addressed her other comments.
"I think if I stayed here, I'd constantly be running, wondering when the police would come knocking about Amelia. I think getting out of the country will keep me sane."
Liam hadn't realized how cold it was outside, and he shivered a bit. He didn't grab his winter coat before his father threw him out of the house.
"I really want to know about this school. I consider myself a scholar; with my photographic memory, I remember everything. There’s only one thing I’ve ever mastered, though. I’m an omnilinguist; I can speak every language that has ever been spoken on Earth, even the dead ones. Maybe that’s part of my…mutation, too. Anyways, I’ve always wanted to become a linguistic archaeologist. I’d be pretty darn good at it, and I’d be providing the world insight into past civilizations through their writings. I’d be a hero.”
Liam sighed. “Well, enough about me. Let’s figure out how we’re getting to New York. I've never been out of the country before.”