Once Upon A Time... discussion

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Landon laid in the grass, looking up at the sky. He was once again trying to remember his past and thought the fresh air and quietness might help. He sighed, knowing that he could probably lay out here for years and not remember a thing.

Ali noticed Landon Lying on the grass as she was walking on the edge of the forest. She hesitated for a second, then walked over to where he was.
"Hi" she said timidly. Ali couldn't tell if he had heard her. He continued to lie still. His eyes trained on the clouds with a blank look on his face. So she started to turn around and walk away...

Landon realized the girl had been talking to him, so he sat up. "Hey, don't go," he said as she walked away.

Ali turned around slowly, looking into his brown eyes. She stepped forward with out noticing and sat across from him.
"I'm Ali. Well Alice but I like Ali better." She usually didn't babble like an idiot. Ali looked down quickly embarrassed.

Landon smiled at her. "I'm Landon. So, what are you doing out here?" he asked. The field wasn't really the center of social activity.

Ali didn't know what to say. She wasn't a good liar. At all. So she tried to stick to the truth as much as she could with out telling too much.
"umm. I have to go through the forest to get back home." which wasn't a lie seeing how she lived in the forest. She continued, "The field seemed like a nicer way to walk so I could see the flowers" Plus Ali didn't want to run into the guy her and Emily had run away from earlier in the week. He was probably looking for them. She didn't know, and didn't want to chance it.

Landon listened, and heard her heartbeat speed up a little. He figured that she wasn't telling him the whole truth, but why should she? They had only just met. She seemed a little worried though. "Is everything alright?" he asked, frowning slightly.

She pursed her lips knowing he didn't completely believe her. He did seem worried though. Ali smiled before she answered "Not everything, but when is everything right."
Ali paused after she said that, almost continuing to tell him what had happened with Emily. But then shut her mouth just as quick. Dang, his eyes seemed to be pulling random words right out of her mouth. Urging her to keep talking. Or at least that's what it felt like.
Ali picked up the nearest flower, barely looking at it. All she wanted was a distraction, so she didn't have to look at Landon without seeming rude.

Landon sighed and watched her pick the flower. "Nothing ever seems to be right for me," he said, instantly wishing he hadn't. He didn't want anyone's pity, he had enough self-pity to last him a lifetime. He ran his hand through his hair, a nervous habit of his.

Ali was so surprised by his response she looked back at his face. He looked angry. But not at Ali, more at himself. Landon ran his hand through his hair absentmindedly. Ali's breath caught as she saw a jagged line along his shoulder, disappearing under his shirt.

"Well." she said nervously, "What do you mean by that? I mean if you want to tell me..." Ali's cheeks were flaming red when she finished the sentence. She felt embarrassed for asking about his private life only after knowing each other for like five minutes.
She was suddenly scared of the dark look on his face, and his scar. What if he was dangerous?
She shifted the sword around her waist so it would be easier to unshalf if he attacked her.

Landon noticed her looking at his shoulder. He also saw her shifting her position. Great, now she's scared of me. he thought. This was definitely not a good first impression. He supposed he might as well tell her, it couldn't make things any worse.

Landon took a deep breath before speaking. "Ok. I'm guessing you want to know about my past and the thing is, I don't know. I can't remember anything before a year ago. I woke up and had no idea where I was or what had happened. I could barley remember my name." He looked at Ali, trying to gauge her reaction. Landon continued, "The scar you just saw runs across my chest and I have another one on my back. A year ago, they weren't scars, they were gashes. I have no idea who did it or why." Landon sighed again, and rubbed his temples. He had never told anyone that much about him before. He wouldn't be surprised if Ali got up and ran away.

Landon seemed to be telling the truth and she was shocked to the core. She felt foolish for being scared of him, but even so, she was still a tiny bit scared.

"Wow." said Ali her tone light. She was at a loss for words. All she knew was even though she didn't know who Landon was, and neither did he, she wanted to help him. And Ali knew just how she could.
"Well I can heal people, I'm not sure if it works on memories, but I can try" she shyly stands up and offers Landon her hand.

Landon frowned slightly. He had always wondered who he really was, but now that he had the chance to find out, he wasn't sure he wanted to. He stood up and looked at Ali's hand, he was surprised she was helping him.

"Um, ok," Landon said hesitantly. He placed his hand in hers and waited.

Ali felt her hands turn ice cold and let it flood into his like she had done for others so many times before. Landon started shuddering, his eyes rolling around in their sockets. Her hands didn't heat up like they usually did when she was done healing. They just kept getting colder until they were so cold it burned like frost bite!
Ali dropped her hands and started backing away form Landon, his face flushed with pain. Her voice stuttering as she tried not to cry. "I'm so, so sorry!"
Her hands were still burning, but they were ice cold.

Landon felt his body getting colder and colder. He wanted to let go of her hand, but he couldn't. Something was keeping him there. The cold was beginning to get unbearable. Landon felt his body shaking and it took him a moment to realize that Ali had let go. He looked up at her, trying to focus. "W-what was that? What happened?" He wrapped his arm around himself, trying to warm up his body. He was so cold it hurt and he was having trouble concentrating.

Ali was still fighting tears, her throat closing up. She was still stuttering, her teeth chattering from the coldness, "i don't know, nothing like that has ever happened before! I'm sorry if I hurt you, but I don't think I will be able to help you. Who ever did this to you will not let you remember anything without a fight."

"G-great," Landon said, trying to stay calm. He should have known it wouldn't be that easy. He closed his eyes, his head was pounding. "It's alright," he reassured Ali. "You tried. I can't expected more than that."

Ali was frustrated with herself. She shouldn't have suggested this, she should have known that she wouldn't be able to help. But no. Now they were both cold and shivering, and it was her fault. She looked down guiltily. "Maybe we should build a fire."

Landon nodded. "Yeah, we should. And don't worry about it, this isn't your fault." He smiled comfortingly at her.

Ali knew he was sincere. He didn't believe it was her fault, but that didn't stop her from thinking it.
She walked slowly to the edge of the forest taking her sword from it's case as she walked. It's blue blade glistening from the sun. She walked to the nearest tree and cut of branch with one swish. She would usually marvel at the blades magical properties. But right now she was too bummed.
She continued to chop the branch until it was in small pieces. Ali walked back to the field, stacking the logs into a pile. She looked up at the sky and out of nowhere clouds started forming right above her head. She thought of a small bolt of lightning striking the pile and lighting it on fire. As she thought it, it started happening. The fire was bright and warm, she moved closer to the flames soaking them in, casting the clouds away with her mind.

She called out to Landon "Hey! Got a fire" he had been not far into the woods gathering sticks. He walked around a tree and cracked a smile at the fire, then looked at Ali. She just shrugged and turned her eyes back to the flames.

Landon walked back to Ali and put the sticks he had gathered beside the fire. He sat down and smiled at her. He could tell she still blamed herself for what had happened. He smiled at her, hoping she knew he wasn't angry. Landon stared into the flames and his mind started to wander.

Ali watched Landon from the corner of her eyes. He was looking at the fire with a thoughtful yet Blank look on his face. She grabbed the flower she had been looking at earlier and tossed it at him, "Stop smiling at me" she added as an afterthought. But Ali ended up smiling as she said it, so she could tell he wouldn't take her seriously.

Landon grinned at her. "Can't help it," he shrugged. He picked up the flower and examined it. "So, you heal people, what else can you do?" he asked, wanting to know more about Ali.

Ali didn't even hesitate before answering, he already knew enough to hurt her. So it was pointless to hide anything else. Plus, she kind of wanted him to realize she could hurt him as easily as he could hurt her.
"Well I can influence the weather..But nothing too cool, or I guess i don't know. I haven't actually tried anything to drastic. I'm seventeen. Oh. I'm also a shape-shifter." Ali winked at him as she said shape-shifter and turned into a bunny, then turned back in the same second.

Landon blinked, "Wow, that's pretty cool," he said as she turned back into herself. He was slightly surprised she had told him that. Landon struggled for a second, wondering if he should tell her everything. He really didn't want to scare her anymore than he already had. Ali had trusted him though, so he supposed he could trust her. "I have really strong senses, I can can hear your heart beating right now. I can also manipulate electricity and move thing with my mind," he said, raising the flower into the air and giving it back to Ali.

"That's not intimidating at ALL!" Ali said sarcastically. She studied the flower for real this time after he had floated it back to her. It had purple petals with green around the edges. It was beautiful. She had never seen anything like it. She tucked it into her Blonde hair. Looking back at the fire, it's cracking flames now bright blue.

Landon smiled and watched as Ali put the flower in her hair. He noticed just how beautiful she was. Landon realized he was staring at her and quickly looked back at the fire, hoping she hadn't noticed.

Ali continued to watch the fire, the colors started changing more rapidly. Blue then Silver to Green back to blue again. She looked up at Landon, "are you doing that?"

Landon frowned, "I don't think so, but you started the fire with a lightning bolt right?" He studied the fire, "It could be me..."

Ali looked at the fire, entranced. "It's really pretty" she muttered.
She Glanced at Landon and beamed, then turned her attention back at the fire...

Ali spoke softly knowing he would hear her."So. What exactly were you doing in the field?"

Landon kept looking at the fire. The colors were still changing. How am I doing that? he wondered. "I was thinking, trying to remember stuff about my past," he answered.

Ali ventured out, seeing how much information he'd be willing to tell her "Well I figured as much on my own thanks. I was asking more along the lines of, why are you in the middle of nowhere?"

Landon looked at her. "Well, I haven't really stayed in the same place for very long this past year. The city is too crowded and this place seems more, I don't now, peaceful."

Ali met Landon's gaze and didn't look away this time. "You mean like, you don't have a home?"

"Uh, no," he said, looking into her eyes.

Ali looked down when Landon's brown eyes looked into hers. She was having an internal battle with herself. She wanted to invite him to her house, but didn't know what Tyler would do. But then again didn't want to because there was still one remaining factor, they had just met!
Ali continued to look at her hands in silence.

Landon could tell she was struggling with something. He decided not to say anything, he didn't want to cause her any more trouble.

"Do you have anywhere to stay tonight?" Ali decided to leave the decisions to him, and leave the aftermath to Tyler.

Landon looked back at the fire. "No, I don't," he replied. "But, it's ok, I'll find somewhere..." he trailed off.

Ali was disappointed for a second. Did he really think that little of her? That she wouldn't want to help him at all.
"That seems hardly fair. You should come stay with me and my sorta-not-really-brother, after all. It would be my fault if you died out here...you know considering the freeze-out." she smiled apologetically, and continued, "you don't have to make a decision right now, I kind of like it here. Plus it probably won't be dark for a couple of hours."

Landon nodded and smiled at her. "Thanks, that would be nice."

Ali was suddenly nervous. What would Tyler think of Ali bringing a strange stranger into the house.
But she was more nervous about Landon. What would happen now?

"What are you going to do...about the memory thing?" Ali replayed the words in her head and realized how stupid she sounded. Ali started twirling her hair around her fingers. Waiting for the answer to her question.

Landon could tell she was nervous about bringing him back to her house. He was grateful for somewhere to stay.

He looked up when she asked about this memory. It had been almost a year since he had found himself alone on the street, and no memories had come back to him yet. He wondered if he would ever remember his past.

"I don't know," he answered, running his hand through his hair again. "I haven't had any flash backs or anything. I don't even know who I was before a year ago." He looked at her, worry in his eyes. "What if something horrible happened, and it was my fault?" he knew she couldn't answer his question, but he felt like Ali was a good person the talk to. He had only known her for a couple hours and he already trusted her more than anyone else he remembered meeting.

Ali continued to watch Landon. He was obviously frustrated, he looked kind of scared behind his cool face. Ali lied back on the grass. She was finally warm again. She was lost in though, thinking about what had happened when she had taken his hand. It brought a cold chill to her spine just remembering it.
"what happened to you? I mean, when you touched my hand, did it change anything?" Ali said tentatively, not wanted to upset him by asking.

Landon hesitated, he honestly didn't know how to explain what had happened earlier. He had felt vulnerable and didn't want that to happen again. "Well, I don't really know what happened. I touched your hand and then my whole body went cold. I couldn't move, and all I could think about was was cold I was. It was so painful, I didn't even notice when you let go. I'm not sure if it changed anything, maybe it's too early to tell, but right now I still can't remember anything." He stared into the fire, thinking. "I'm guessing that doesn't usually happen?"

"Well the coldness is normal, but not that cold!" Ali didn't really know how to explain it, "But not the paralyzing, and your only cold for as long as it takes to heal, then heat usually rushes back." She watched the sky, the clouds darkening. The sun slowly reaching the tops of trees.

Landon nodded. "Well, that explains why I didn't warm up again. I guess I'm sort of hard to heal."

Ali muttered "No kidding."

Landon smiled at her. "It's getting darker," he said, looking up at the sky.