Welcome to the Jungle
A/U Arnold and his parents never moved back to Hillwood from San Lorenzo. Helga is just a few days shy of turning 18 when she and her classmates take a senior class trip to San Lorenzo. Little does she know that her arrival has been long anticipated by both friend and foe. And what ups with all the strange dreams she's been having?
Welcome to the Jungle Part One
She was running. From what, she didn't know. All she knew is that she needed to get as far away as possible from whatever or whoever was chasing her. So she ran. Running wasn't easy in the jungle. It wasn't like the track field or the running trails at home, no, there wasn't really a pathway and there were trees and other obstacles in the way with every step she took. Her blonde hair was drenched from sweat and clung to her back as she ran. Her chest and legs began to burn painfully and whatever was after her showed no signs of slowing down. In fact, they were gaining on her. Whoever it was had obviously navigated the jungle before. Suddenly, her foot came in contact with a vine and she fell onto the jungle floor hard and painfully.
She was too exhausted to move anymore. Giving up, she closed her eyes, preparing herself what was to come. They snapped open again when she felt a presence standing over her. There was a man standing over her. It was dark, so she couldn't see and specific features, except for his green eyes. Somehow, even in the dark they sparkled like emeralds. He lifted a finger to his lips and she understood. Don't make a sound. Gently, he scooped her up in his arms and she felt safe. He ran off the path she had been taking and they disappeared from sight into the thick jungle.
She clung to his neck as he ran with her. It didn't take long for him to realize he had managed to lose whoever was after her and he slowed his pace. He eventually stopped near a river and placed her down, so her back was against a tree. She didn't realize how heavily she was breathing until she tried to speak. He handed her a canteen that was connected to his shorts and she greedily drank from it. "Who are you?" She asked, still slightly out of breath.
He said nothing. Instead, he just handed her a football. She looked at the football very confused. A football? Where did he get a football from? And why did he hand it to her? She looked up at him, even though she could see nothing but his emerald eyes.
"I'm not going to hurt you." His voice was soothing, "You don't need to be afraid of me."
There was something in his voice that her gut told her to trust, "I'm not."
"Helga."
Helga jumped in her seat. She blinked. She was sitting next to her best friend, Phoebe and was still on the plane to their flight to San Lorenzo. "What? Was I sleeping?" She rubbed her eyes; of course she was sleeping and she was having one of those dreams again. This one in particular had been a reoccurring dream that she started having a few months back.
"Are you alright? You were talking in your sleep for the last five minutes." Phoebe looked at her friend, clearly concerned. "Were you having a nightmare?"
"Something like that." Helga mumbled. She looked out the window. It was still dark out, but she suspected the sun would be rising soon. Their flight out of Texas had been delayed, so they were now set to arrive in San Lorenzo around sunrise. "I wonder how far away we are from San Lorenzo." She paused, "What was I saying in my sleep?"
"A lot of it was hard to make out. It was mostly mumbling, some whimpering. I did distinctly hear you say football. What were you dreaming about?" Phoebe asked curiously.
"Honestly, I'm not sure." She admitted with a shrug, "It was just kind of weird." In fact she had been a lot of strange dreams lately. She figured it was the anxiety of graduation being right around the corner. "I was running." She was always running in the dreams. "I think I was running from someone and I fell. I thought I was a goner for sure, but then someone else showed up and took me away from for whoever was after me. I don't know how to describe it Pheebs…When he picked me up I felt so safe." She paused, "I felt like I belonged there in his arms."
"Really? Then what happened?" Phoebe wiggled her eyebrow suggestively.
Helga rolled her eyes at her friend's suggestion. "Nothing really. He just brought me by a river and handed me a football."
Phoebe furred her eyebrows in confusion. "A football?" She repeated. "Well, I guess that explains why you said football. Though I wonder…Why a football."
Helga shrugged, "No idea." She combed her fingers through her blonde hair, "I cannot wait to get off this damn plane and stretch my legs."
"Me too." Phoebe agreed. The flight from Seattle to Austin had been a relatively quick flight. For some reason the flight from Austin to San Lorenzo seemed to drag. "Are you getting excited for your birthday next week?"
"I'm excited the drinking age in San Lorenzo is eighteen." Helga grinned, "We are going to sneak out of our hotel room to have a drink one night, aren't we?"
"I believe that can be arranged." Phoebe giggled, "Do you think we can get passed Olga though?"
Helga had forgotten about Olga. Her parents gave her an ultimatum. Either Olga chaperons the trip or Helga didn't get to go. As much as it pained her that Olga had to come along, she wanted to go on this trip. "Pfft." She rolled her eyes, "Of course. Give me some credit. Besides, if all else fails all I gotta do is get her to cry. She'll be distracted for hours."
Phoebe laughed, "You're terrible." Though Phoebe knew she couldn't exactly argue with that. She had witnessed it herself on several occasions. The older woman was a bit of a wreck. The littlest things made her cry and she would stay in that state for hours. It was kind of jarring to see a thirty year old woman act in such a way.
The girls fell silent when the pilot spoke over the intercom, "This is your Captain speaking. We are ascending into the San Lorenzo International Airport and should have a smooth landing in approximately twenty eight minutes..."
Helga ignored the rest of the announcement. She turned to look out the window, squinting to try to any bit of land.
She was in danger. He could feel it in his bones that she was. He should have known that they knew about her too. He had to save her, he just had to find her first. He had been spending more time out in the jungle since one of the elders of the village, a soothsayer, predicted her arrival. If his village knew she was here, they did too. He had to be sure he got to her before they did. She was valuable and not just to the people of his village. They wanted her too, and they would do absolutely anything to have her.
He was sure to stay out of sight and moved quietly and swiftly in the shadows of the trees. It wasn't long before he heard it. The snapping of twigs, the sound of leaves being crunched under someone's feet, someone was running and by the sound of it they were being chased. His heart seized. It was her. He could feel it in his soul that it was her.
He stepped out the shadows just in time to see her trip over a vine and fall hard on to her hands and knees. She collapsed on her back, seemingly giving up out of pure exhaustion. He needed to act quickly, before they caught up with her. He looked down to her, taking in her beauty. She was even more beautiful than the seer had described. Her hair was the color of the sun and when she opened her eyes, he saw her eyes truly were the color of a clear blue ocean. She looked up at him wide eyed and afraid. He held up a finger, hoping she would take the hint and stay quiet. He was relieved when she did. He scooped her up into his arms and began to run, holding her tightly. Despite the situation he smiled to himself when he felt her arms wrap around his neck.
It didn't take long for him to realize that he lost them, they must have continued on the path she had been on. She was breathing heavily from running and he knew she needed something to drink. He carefully set her down, resting her back against a large tree. He handed her his canteen and she quickly gulped the water down. "Who are you?" She asked once she caught her breath.
It took him a long moment to answer, her beauty rendering him speechless. "I'm not going to hurt you." He whispered, trying to sound reassuring, "You don't need to be afraid of me."
He stared into her eyes as she looked into his, "I'm not."
His eyes snapped open. This wasn't the first time he dreamed of her. The dreams began when he was just a little kid. They had varied over the years, up until recently, most were rather mundane. Some were simply her just reading a book or writing in her journal. In others, he saw her in all the different sports she was in. Just as it was foretold he could see what a fierce competitor she was.
It wasn't until the last few months that his dreams started to become more intense. Before she was never in the jungle, but now it's the only place she was when he dreamed of her. She was always running from someone. From whom, he had a pretty good idea.
Sighing, he decided he needed some air. He got up from his bed and quietly made his way outside. It was late and the other members of the village were still in their huts, sleeping. It was a clear night and the stars and moon were shining brightly, so he could see pretty clearly as he took a walk around the village.
He was running, chasing his prey. He had waited years for her and there was no way in hell he was going to let her get away now. She was a fast runner, faster than he was, but she didn't know the jungle like he did. There was only a matter of time before he caught her.
He smiled when he heard the sound of someone falling. The girl must have tripped.
He woke up with a groan. He always woke up when she tripped; he never was able to get to her. Frankly, it kind of pissed him off. He wanted to know what happened next. He wanted to get to her, damn it.
She would be there soon. He could feel it. It was why the dreams had started.
It was only a matter of time.
With that thought he turned to his side, falling back to sleep with a smile on his lips.
Helga stared out the window as the plane touched down on the tarmac of San Lorenzo's airport. The sun was just beginning to rise and the sky was a beautiful shade of pink. She let out shaky breath as a sudden wave of anxiety swept through her. She tried to shake it off, but it lingered. "Well, we're finally here." She forced a small smile, "After months of waiting we are finally here."
"I have a feeling this will be a trip we will never forget." Phoebe told her friend as she unfastened her seatbelt.
If only the two friends knew how true that statement would end up being. As Helga stepped off the plane another feeling washed over her…
Her life was never going to be the same again.
The old woman's eyes snapped open. "She has arrived." She spoke aloud even though she was alone. She slipped out of bed, putting on her slippers. She quickly made her way outside in search of the young man. She knew about his dreams and she knew he would be out walking somewhere in the village. The sun was beginning to rise and the rest of the villagers would be waking soon. She waited outside her hut, knowing he would walk by soon.
"Arnold." She greeted the moment he came into view. He seemed surprised that she was waiting for him. The old woman was slightly amused that he wasn't used to it yet. She was the village's soothsayer after all; didn't he begin to suspect that she would know these things?
"Geneva." Arnold greeted with a friendly smile after his confusion wore off, "What are you doing up at this early hour?"
"I could ask you the same question." Geneva pointed out, "But I suppose I don't really need to. You have had the dream again, haven't you boy?"
"Yes." Arnold shuffled nervously, tunneling his fingers through his messy blonde hair. He would never get used to Geneva's gift. She always seemed to be one step ahead of everyone else in the village. It was slightly unsettling that she knew of the dreams before he even spoke of them.
"She dreams of you too."
This surprised him. "She does?"
"She does, though she does not understand the dreams. Not to worry though, she will understand soon enough." Geneva told him, grabbing the young man's hands. Her green eyes bore into his, "She has arrived. She is in San Lorenzo. You must find her before they do. You know damn well that if I know she's here, he does too. You also know what will happen if they get to her first."
Arnold nodded, "All of us in the village know that. It's just…." He paused, "How will I find her? We don't even know who she really is." Arnold knew he would know her the moment he saw her. He had been seeing her in his dreams ever since he was a small boy. He just didn't know how he would ever find her. The jungle was vast, how was he supposed to find the young woman?
"Even though you have never met, you share a connection. Surely, you've felt it. Now that she is here she'll start to feel it too. That connection will lead you to her. That I am sure of." She placed her hand over his heart, "This will lead you to her. I have a feeling our animal friends will help you along the way too."
Arnold swallowed nervously. "Have you seen it? Have you seen me finding her?" He questioned and the old woman shook her head, "Then how can you be so sure? What if I can't find her?"
"You will." Geneva assured, "It has been written in the stars far before either of you were even born. I just worry they will be after her." She explained quietly, "You need to prepare, I will let you know if I see anything helpful. Now go tell your parents what I told you. Tell no one else of this yet."
Arnold only nodded before running back to the hut he shared with his parents. He ignored the overwhelming feeling of anxiety as he ran.
What if he failed and couldn't find her in time? What would happen to the village if they got to her first? What would happen to her if they got to her first?
The moment he opened his eyes he knew. She was in San Lorenzo.
He tore himself out of bed. He needed to alert his men to be on the lookout.
It was time.
I didn't plan on posting this. I really didn't. I have been having some nasty writers block and when this happens I write random things, just to get the creative juices flowing. I never post them though, but after writing this I have so many ideas for this story and just got really excited for it and I felt compelled to share it with you all. I'm still going to work on everything else I have going on, I just needed to get this out because I haven't stopped thinking about it for the past week. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this first part and if you did please review.