Once Upon A Time... discussion

(Awkward Entrance Placed Here!)

Hayden walked through the dense forest, encased in shadows. This was just perfect. Landon was Mandy's brother and now he was caught in the middle.

Ginny just happened to run across his path at that moment, and she squirmed to the left to avoid physical contact. She hadn't been looking for him, but of course, in a place like this, how could she not run into someone like him. "Fancy seeing you here." she said, disgusted.

Hayden looked at her, all of his earlier charm gone. "What do you want?" he snapped. "Because I'm really not in the mood."

"Well, you could stop fronting me, because i'm not buying it." she retorted, her tone just as harsh. Ginny paused a second, to calm down before she added, "And I wanted to talk to you about Landon. He's have a memory problem. Ironic, eh?"

"Yeah, ironic," Hayden muttered. The last thing he needed was people putting two and two together. "I don't see why I should care," he said.

Ginny's expression darkened, and she dared him to contradict her next words with her eyes. "I care about my friends, and when people hurt them. Mandy doesn't deserve what's happening to her, and neither does Landon. But right now...I find it kind of funny, how your not surprised, nor do you look particularly innocent."

She knew she probably wasn't that intimidating, but that didn't stop her.

Hayden glared at her and took a step closer. "I really don't care if you find it funny," he hissed at her. "I don't have to prove anything to you." He was trying hard to keep his anger in check, but he was close to losing it.

"That's one opinion." she snapped, just as angry. "You may think your oh so godly just because your attractive. But your looks aren't helping your personality at ALL."

Hayden closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I don't pretend to be perfect. I know what a bad person I am and I don't need you to remind me," he said. "Speaking of being a bad person, you really don want to get me angry right now," he warned.

"You'd think if you know how off putting you are, you might change." she commented, although she was surprised he had so openly admitted at. She had been expecting him to make some sort of snarky reply because she had implied her was attractive. Ginny's eyes flashed green at his second statement, "I'm not scared of you, you don't know anything about me."

Hayden's eyes snapped open. They were completely black, no whites were showing at all. "I can't change," he said simply. "And if you had any sense at all, you would be scared of me. You know next to nothing about me, so don't act like you do."

Ginny tried not to react to his appearance, but it was rather difficult to appear fearless. "I know enough." she hissed.

Hayden laughed. It was a harsh, humorless sound. "Oh really. Why don't you tell me what you know," he challenged.

"That would defeat the purpose." she said, smiling sweetly instead of a glare. It was much more demeaning.

Hayden was losing his patience quickly. "What purpose!" he yelled. "Why are you even here? What do you want from me?"

Ginny flinched, and her eyes burned. Screaming. It was one of the things that made her quiver in fear...it just brought up so many memories. None of them good. "I don't remember." she said quietly, seeming confused. Lost in thoughts of her past.

Hayden could see he'd struck a nerve, but was past caring. "You come storming over here, accuse me of something, and now you can't remember? I don't like having my time wasted," he snarled.

Her eyes flashed green, then lit up entirely. Ginny's aura was visible around her, and her expression was annoyed. It was her reflex, when someone screamed at her. "You did it." she said, breathless.

Hayden knew what she was talking about, but asked anyway. "Did what? What did I do this time?" he demanded, his hands clenched into fists.

Ginny took a step back, more than ever-keeping her distance from physical contact. "You took his memories." she replied simply.

Hayden paled visibly. This could not be happening. He wouldn't let it. Hayden looked at his hands and realized he was shaking. "No. No, I didn't. Why would you say something like that?" he asked, his voice hoarse.

Ginny's eyes narrowed, "Don't lie to me."

Hayden's anger disappeared, replaced by what looked like fear. It was the first time he'd actually shown vulnerability. He met Ginny's gaze. "It was an accident. I didn't mean to," he said. He took a step towards her. "You can't tell anyone... Please," he begged.

Ginny stepped back, and almost stumbled. "Don't touch me." she snarled, fearful. She paused to watch him, and was disappointed. "I believe you."

Hayden sank to his knees. He looked tired and weak. "When I shook Mandy's hand. I saw him. I saw Landon. I thought he was dead. I thought- I thought I killed him," he said, his voice barely a whisper.

Ginny wanted to help him, she just didn't know how. She couldn't know, and not say anything. An idea came to her, and she ground her teeth. "I won't tell anyone if I don't know. We'll shake on it." she said, implying what he was to do.

Hayden shook his head. "No, I'm not doing that to you. I can't control it," he told her. "It's not safe." He blinked, and his eyes switched back to their normal blue. He looked up at her, helplessness in his eyes. "I don't know how to reverse it either."

She touched his arm lightly, knowing the risk. "Its okay... I trust you." she said, showing him by giving him her memories. All of them. No matter how brutal.

Hayden flinched when she touched him. He hadn't been expecting that. All at once, images flashed through his mind and he stared ahead, eyes unfocused. A man, empty bottles, a closed door. But most shocking of all, the yelling. "I'm so sorry," Hayden said, looking at her. "I appreciate you showing me that. But I won't do it," he said, standing up.

Ginny rolled her eyes, "If you think I'll keep your secret, your wrong." she said, testing him. It was probably true...the look on Mandy's face. Ginny had always been a terrible liar.

Hayden sighed. "I know. I can't expect you to. I was only trying to erase the last hour from Landon's mind and I ended up taking away his whole life. The only reason he's not insane is because I was weak and I passed out before that happened. I may be a bad person, but I'm not a monster and I won't willingly take memories away from you," he said.

She shrugged, "Maybe I'd like to forget."

Hayden looked at her, his gaze serious. "No you don't. You'd always be wondering. And once you found a way to get them back, youd wish you hadn't. Getting your memories back isn't fun. It feels like having your head hacked away piece by piece with a chainsaw," he said, grimacing.

"Why don't we trade lives for a week? Maybe you'll feel differently." she said, annoyed. Ginny was trying to help him, and he was being a prick.

Hayden ran a hand through his hair. "Ginny, why can't you understand? I can't control it and I don't want to hurt you!"

Ginny rolled her eyes, and reply was sarcastic. "Ohmygosh! Could have fooled me, I didn't know you could care that much about me! Or at all."

Hayden frowned. "Do you think I'm some kind of psychopath or something? That I go around torturing people in my spare time? In all honesty, I don't like you very much, actually I think you're rather irritating, but that doesn't mean I'm going to hurt you," he said.

"You act like it." she commented, ignoring the rest of his comments. "And you've got a temper. What was so important of Landon's memory in the last hour before you took it?"

Hayden hesitated. He wasn't sure if he wanted her to know. But he really had nothing left to lose. "I killed someone. My twin brother," he said, not meeting her gaze. "He was irritating me. Trying to see how angry I could get. Turns out, I got pretty angry. I shapeshifted, into this monster I'd read about somewhere." He paused and swallowed before continuing. "My brother kept taunting me and I lost control. I ripped him apart," Hayden said, pain evident in his voice. "Landon saw everything and tried to stop me. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I cut him up pretty bad too. There was so much blood. I thought he was going to die, but I had to make sure he wouldn't tell anyone if he happened to survive. So I stole his memories," he finished. He didn't want to look at Ginny, he was too ashamed.

Ginny sat on the ground, and pressed her fingertips against her temples. It was all too much. "Please stop." she whispered, getting a sharp pain in the back of her skull. "Its this place." she muttered, "I can feel them here. Everywhere."

Hayden had not expected that reaction. He looked down at her. "Feel what? Who's here?" he asked in confusion.

"The Destroyers." she murmured, eyes glazing over. Ginny was about to slip into one of her more dangerous frenzies.

((I'm pretty much winging this. LOL. XD I wanted something interesting for her...and I have no idea what I'm doing. Any Idea's?))

((Haha nice. Well I guess the first thing to do would be to figure out what the destroyers destroy :P))

Hayden dropped to his knees next to her. He put a hand hesitantly on her shoulder. "Ginny? Ginny, what are you talking about?" he asked, glancing around worriedly. He drew thick shadows around them. They would simply be overlooked, unless someone was looking for them specifically. He didn't even know what Destroyers were.

((Ahhh..Your totally not helping my cause Bro!))

Ginny flinched away from his touch, and almost panic'd when everything went dark...well, darker than it already was. "They're coming." she whispered, "I'll kill them, I swear."

((Maybe they could destroy souls or something. Or maybe something related to the earth, like they use Ginny's connection to the earth to whisper to her or make her do stuff, I don't know :P))

((Whoah...The second one sounds super creepy :D ))

((Haha thanks))

"Ginny! What is coming? What's wrong?" Hayden asked desperately. This was the last place he wanted to get stuck in. And especially when Ginny was acting like this.

((Rose! Where did you disappear to?))

((I sorry...))