So what is this? I don't know. xD This was just a random idea that came to me while browsing Death Note fanart.
And then I made a stupid, weird, drabble fic of what would happen if Helga found a Death Note.
So really, this is just for laughs.
"Criminy...I'll bet Miriam forgot to make dinner again..." Helga grumbled to herself as she headed off home from school. "And Bob's probably working overtime again... so great, no one to notice me at home. Perfect."
She sighed to herself, and looked back behind her toward the school, and saw Arnold, her dear beloved, talking with...Lila.
"Stupid Little Miss Perfect...just who does she think she is?! She has the most amazing boy in school practically throwing himself at her and she just pushes him away like he's an old sock!" Helga grumbled, ducking behind a row of garbage cans. "Stupid football head, what a nerd, what a geek, what a dense moron...and yet....oh, how I love him!" She took her locket out and stared lovingly at his photo. "Arnold my love, someday I will rid all competition and we will be together forever...oh my dear love...how I long for you, long to be with you...to be by your side for all time!"
Wheeze...wheeze...wheeze...
"Uggh!!" Helga growled, back-punching Brainy and then walking off.
But then her shoe stepped on something.
"Hmm? What's that?"
Helga lifted her shoe aside, coming to see a thin, black notebook laying on the sidewalk. Written across near the top in white, creepy-looking letters, were the words "Death Note".
"...Death Note...?" Helga wondered curiously, and picked it up. "Who the heck would have a notebook with such a weird title like that?"
She opened it up to the first page to try to find some kind of information regarding who it might have belonged to. But the page was blank, though there was more of the white writing on the other side of the cover page, which looked like a list of instructions and guidelines.
"The human whose name is written in this notebook shall die..." Helga read off the first line, now very confused. "....Oh please, this is stupid. Someone just probably wrote this up as a silly prank and write down a hit list or something. ...Whatever, it's mine now, so I'll keep it. I do need to start on volume thirty-two of my poems about-"
"Helga?"
"Arnold?!" Helga jumped, nearly dropping the notebook. "I mean...don't sneak up on me like that, football head! What do you want, anyway!?"
"Well, I noticed you were over here and I wanted to know if maybe..." Arnold blushed a little. "I could walk you home?"
Awwww!!! Arnold wants to walk me home?! What a sweetie!"Oh please! Wouldn't you rather walk home with Geraldo, or heck, even Little Miss Perfect?" Helga snorted.
"Gerald is actually walking Phoebe home, and I did ask Lila, but she turned me down again." Arnold sighed. "And, well, I noticed you were a little lonely and thought maybe you'd want some company."
"I can go along just FINE, Arnoldo." Helga muttered, hugging the Death Note to her chest so he wouldn't see it. "Don't even try taking pity on me! You don't HAVE to, you know."
"I know I don't have to." Arnold said patiently. "But I want to."
Helga softened a little, and gave shrug. "Well...I guess so. Whatever floats your boat."
Arnold smiled at her, making her blush, and they started to head off to her house, walking together side-by-side.
Aaahhhh....Arnold's walking me home!!!
"So Helga, what's that notebook you have there?"
"Huh? This? Oh, uh, it's...it's nothing! Nothing at all!" Helga said, and quickly shoved it into her bag. "Nothing to see!"
Arnold stared at her oddly. "So if it's no big deal, then why are you so bent on hiding it?"
"Jeez, can't someone have privacy, football head?"
"I never said that. ...Sorry Helga, I just got curious."
"Nah, don't worry about it. Let's just forget it."
"Okay."
The two continued on to her house, making occasional small talk along the way, and even sharing some laughs. It was one of those times that they were actually getting along. How nice!
"I'll see you tomorrow, Helga."
"See ya tomorrow, football head."
Arnold smiled and waved to her from the sidewalk, and then waited for her to shut the door before he walked off home.
Helga smiled dreamily and made her way upstairs, now ready to write a new poem.
But then a thought came to her.
Helga sat on her bed, staring at the Death Note. It was still really ridiculous to her, but something was very intriguing about it.
"This is some elaborate notebook prank..." Helga mused. "If I don't write down a cause of death, the victim will just die of a heart attack in 40 seconds. Either that, or I can make them die at any given time I wer Huh, THAT'S original." She muttered sarcastically. "...Oh, whatever. I'll write a name down for the heck of it."
With a pencil in hand, she then wrote down Lila Sawyer across the first line on the first page.
"Cause of death...oh whatever, let's just say she dies of a heart attack at, let's see, mmm...oh I know, at 7:45 PM tonight! Before she has that heart attack, at 7:43, she'll be doing the chicken dance, admitting she's nothing more than a little perfect attention grabber and loves to toy with Arnold's feelings because she enjoys the shower of affection and praise from him, and every other boy in our class!" Helga's eyes gleamed with evil as she wrote this information down.
Once done, she simply smiled and placed it aside. She'd had her fun, and of course, had no idea that the Death Note was indeed true to its name.
Now it was time for some poetry! She placed the Death Note on her bedside table and went into her closet, ready to bow down to her Arnold Shrine and worship the football-headed boy she loved.
"Arnold, my love....my football-headed love God..."
--
That evening, around 8:15, Helga had just finished her homework, when the phone then rang. Upon answering it, it was Phoebe.
"H-Helga! Helga! Oh-Oh my gosh...you won't believe what happened!" Phoebe cried over the phone, sounding shocked.
"What happened, Pheebs? Are you okay? What's wrong?" Helga asked, growing a little concerned. Phoebe never sounded this shocked unless it was absolutely serious.
"L-Lila...she...she....she was found in her room....she...was dead...! The para...para-paramedics...they said she just collapsed dead of a heart attack! At...around...7:45, her father heard a noise from her room, rushed upstairs and found her...oh...Helga, I...I'm so...it's so shocking!"
"WHAT?!" Helga yelled, jumping up from her bed in shock. "Lila is DEAD?!"
"Yes! She died...of a heart attack!" Phoebe stammered. "I-I don't understand it! Mr. Sawyer said himself that Lila didn't have a history of heart problems!"
"...." Helga couldn't believe it.
This was EXACTLY how she had written it out in the Death Note. A heart attack at 7:45 PM that evening. But how could that be? The notebook was a notebook! There's no way it could have seriously caused Lila to die! Impossible!
But...it hit WAY too close to home for it to be considered a coincidence.
"I...I... don't know what to say..." Helga uttered, unsure of how to feel. She may have really disliked Lila for having Arnold's affections, but there was no way she actually wanted her to die! She never wished death on anyone, unless of course they deserved it, like heartless criminals. "I....Is Arnold okay?"
"Gerald called me after Arnold called him when he heard the news." Phoebe managed, a little less shaky then. "He said Arnold was shocked...and he was really sad."
Helga's heart broke then, nothing made her feel worse than seeing her beloved so sad. She could imagine how he must have felt. Was this really her fault? Did she really cause Lila's death after writing her name in the Death Note?
No, that couldn't be true. And yet...
"...Pheebs, I'll call you back. I-I need to think about this." Helga said.
"Okay, Helga. I'll call you if I hear anything else, okay?"
"Sure. See you tomorrow." Helga hung her phone up and went to her bed, sitting down and then taking the Death Note, staring at it intently.
This was stupid. How did writing someone's name in a notebook cause them to die? It didn't make sense.
"...It can't be true...It just can't be. Writing someone's name in a notebook is not what can kill someone." Helga said, biting her lip and getting more and more nervous by the second. "The world doesn't work that way! It-It just doesn't! Criminy, what do I do now?!"
An idea came to her then. An idea to help her confirm this probably-not-so-bogus Death Note.
"If the cause of death is impossible, then the victim will simply die of a heart attack... I need a name, and a face..."
She turned on her stereo, tuning it to a local station and listened to the news.
"In other news, channel 14 will be featuring a live feed from the Hillwood courthouse about today's hearing regarding criminal Harvey Jenkins, who was charged for assault, child molestation, first degree murder, theft..."
Helga gulped, but decided to give it a try. She took her pencil, opened the Death Note, and wrote under Lila's name. She knew who Harvey Jenkins was, she'd seen him on the news an in the newspaper a few times. She had his name and face for this. Lila was a no brainer.
"Harvey Jenkins .Cause of death, at 8:30 he will make a complete fool of himself, confess all of his crimes left and right, will dance around, bang his head against the ground seven times, and then will fly to Paris where he will die in front of the Eiffel Tower at 8:35 PM." Helga narrated as she wrote this down. She looked at the time, it was 8:22. "So if this really works, he'll die of a heart attack at 8:35 because it'd be impossible to go from Washington to France in a matter of minutes then."
Placing the Death Note under her pillow, Helga tried to act as normal as possible and headed downstairs. Lucky for her, Bob was watching the news on channel 14, which was airing a live feed from the front of the Hillwood courthouse.
"Man, can you believe this guy? He's crazy! Crazy as a loon!" Bob said to no one in particular. "He deserves the Death Penalty."
"Uh...yeah, sure." Helga said quietly, sitting down and watching the news.
"Hey Olga, you mind getting me a beer?"
"It's Helga, Dad." Helga grumbled, and went to the kitchen, getting Bob a can of beer from the fridge, and then went back to the living room, giving it to him before she sat back where she'd been before. Anxiously watching the TV.
The clock struck 8:30 PM.
"I'm not guilty...! I'm-" Harvey Jenkins then all of a sudden looked up strangely. "Okay, it was me! I committed all those crimes! I'm a stupid idiot! I was the one who murdered Jane Grisham, I was the one who molested those kids, I stole a lot of money and items from all those stores, I assaulted those high school girls, and I shot those police officers! GAAAAAHHH!!!"
"Mr. Jenkins! You will remain calm!" Yelled his attorney.
"I'M DANCING AROUND!!! LOOK AT ME GO!"
"What the heck?!" Bob exclaimed, surprised. "What's that loony doing?!"
Helga stared in disbelief, her heart sinking to her stomach again. Oh no, what if the Death Note really DID work?!
This was scaring her. But she had to see it through.
On the TV, Harvey continued dancing around, yelling things, making a fool of himself, and then banged his head against the ground...exactly seven times.
The clock struck 8:35 PM.
And that was when Harvey collapsed dead with a heart attack, in front of the Hillwood courthouse, with the entire city to see.
"Whoa!" Bob exclaimed in shock. "Did he just drop dead?!"
"Ladies and Gentlemen, it seems that Harvey Jenkins has just collapsed dead of a heart attack!" Said the reporter on TV.
Helga was beyond shocked at this point. She couldn't believe it. It was true! The Death Note actually worked.
The human whose name who is written in this notebook shall die. Helga thought, now trembling. It worked...the Death Note actually does kill the person who's name is written in it! Oh no...no...no...that means I was responsible for Lila's death! Oh no! Oh, Arnold...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry! I didn't think it would...
In a hurry, she ran upstairs to her room, bursting into tears, and ran into her closet, bowing down in front of the likeness of Arnold, her little shrine.
"Arnold, Arnold my love, I'm so sorry! I would never have written Lila's name in the Death Note if I knew it would really kill her!" Helga sobbed. "I'm so sorry... oh my love I'm sorry...I would never have wished death on her! Sure I wouldn't mind if she moved away, but death? Come on, I'm not that heartless! Criminy...what do I do now?! I have the power to kill people single handedly just by knowing their name and face! No...no...I can't do this! I will never use the Death Note ever again! NEVER!"
Going back into her room after some much-needed praying and writing more poetry, she was then greeted by the sight of a horrific phantom creature standing near her bed.
"!!!!!!!!!" Helga screamed, stumbling backward and falling onto her bottom.
"Helga?! Helga, are you all right?!" Miriam suddenly opened the door, followed by Bob. "We heard a scream, what happened?"
"Th-Th-Th-Th-There's...a...a....a..." Helga trembled, pointing a finger toward the strange, tall creature near her bed.
Bob and Miriam both looked, and saw nothing.
"Honey, there's nothing there." Miriam said tiredly.
"Quit screaming, we're trying to watch the news! Sheesh. Probably just a rat or something."
Her parents left the room, shutting the door behind them.
Shaking hard, Helga regarded the creature, and finally managed to bravely speak.
"W-Who are you...?! Or...rather...what are you!?"
The creature chuckled. "Well, my name is Ryuk. And I'm a Shinigami...or better known as, a God of Death."
Helga stared incredulously, and then managed to stand up. She was still scared, but now mostly confused.
"A Death God?! What the heck...why are you even here?! And how is it that I'm the only one who can see you?! What kind of a name is Ryuk, anyway?"
"You're a pretty mouthy one, I see." Ryuk said, amused. "You see Helga, when you touched the Death Note, you became the rightful owner to it. And because of it, you could see me. I am the original owner of it, and therefore, anyone who touches this Death Note can see me. That was why your parents couldn't see me."
"...That's impossible...just impossible. I'm going crazy! That's what's happening here! I'm going nuts!" Helga groaned, and fell back on her bed. "So what the heck?! Why did you give me a Death Note?! Why?!"
"I didn't. I just dropped it."
"You DROPPED it?! What kind of Death God is so careless?!" Helga scoffed.
Ryuk laughed. "You'd be surprised, but even us Shinigamis can make mistakes."
"MISTAKE?! Because of your stupid notebook, I ended up killing someone! Someone who meant a lot to the boy I...I..."
"Ah yes, Arnold." Ryuk smirked. "Arnold, he's in your class, nine years old, has green eyes, a football-shaped head, and has a tendency of being the neighbourhood peacemaker. As I can see, you're in love with him, aren't you?"
"W-What?! No...no I'm not! He's...he's just a classmate!" Helga blushed.
"You can deny it all you want, but I think you should know that a God of Death knows everything. I know all about you, your classmates, and especially your love for Arnold."
".....Criminy. So what can I do now?! I can't just tell him I was responsible for Lila's death!"
"Indeed, you made use of the Death Note right away I can see. Impressive."
"IMPRESSIVE?! That was NOT impressive! I killed someone!"
"Well, you didn't seem to like this Lila Sawyer very much. Is her death such a problem?"
"OF COURSE it's a problem! I didn't want her to die! Sure I never liked her and I'm mad at her for having been Arnold's crush, but that doesn't mean I wanted her to die! That's just...that's just low! I would never wish death on someone like that! Come on! I'm not that heartless!"
Ryuk gave a laugh. "I guess I should have figured that. But I'm afraid the effects of the Death Note can't be reversed. What's done is done."
Sighing hard, Helga palmed her face with both hands. "I can't believe this...I...I'm a murderer...I'm a murderer. I can't believe I actually killed someone...if Arnold ever finds out about this, he'll hate me forever!"
"Who says you have to tell him?"
"Huh?"
"Not many people who take hold of the Death Note would actually be stupid enough to reveal this power, the power to kill people by simply knowing their names and faces." Ryuk explained. "So no one says you have to tell anyone about it."
"But...it seems so wrong! I know I should keep it a secret, but this is wrong! I can't just sit back knowing I was responsible for Lila's death!"
"In your defense, you were naive enough to think that the Death Note was nothing more than an elaborate prank."
"I know that! But it doesn't excuse the fact I killed Lila! ....Look, just shove off right now. I want to be alone."
"Suit yourself, Helga." Ryuk winked at her, and then walked off, disappearing through the wall.
Helga sighed, falling back on her bed. This was going to be a very long night.
--~~--
The next morning, Helga went to school just as always. Much to her dismay, Ryuk was following her.
"Why are you following me?!" Helga hissed under her breath.
"It's my duty to follow the person who holds my Death Note." Ryuk said with a shrug. "Relax Helga, unless someone touches the Death Note, no one can see me."
"Whatever." Helga muttered. "Just stay out of trouble, bucko."
Ryuk snickered. It was still pretty funny to know someone who didn't seem at all intimidated by the fact he was a Shinigami and was given a hard time.
Up ahead, as they approached P.S. 118, Helga caught sight of Arnold sitting on the front steps with Gerald talking to him. To make sure she wasn't seen, she ducked behind some nearby trashcans to eavesdrop on their conversation.
"Come ON man, don't worry about Lila! I know...I know it's shocking to hear she died...but you gotta move on." Gerald was telling him.
"I-I know, Gerald." Arnold said sadly. "I just...I really liked her...and now knowing she's...you know...I...I don't know what to think."
"Arnold...if Lila were here now, I bet you she would be telling you not to mourn her passing, that she was happy wherever she was, and that she would want you and everyone else here to move on. That's the smart thing to do, to be strong." Gerald said.
Sighing, Arnold gave a nod. "You're right...you're right, Gerald. I guess it'll just take some adjusting."
"Exactly." Gerald patted his shoulder. "I'll leave you alone a few minutes, see you in class."
They did their little secret handshake and Gerald went inside.
Helga's heart broke again. She hated seeing Arnold so sad. She knew why Lila had died, it had been her unintentional doing. And she felt all the more worse for it.
"Why don't you go talk to him?" Ryuk then said. "I'm sure he could use a friend right now."
"I'm probably the last person he wants to see." Helga sighed.
"Not if you be nice to him. Come on, I think you can put down your bullying walls for five minutes. Lila died, so I doubt anyone's going to care that you're being nice to someone who's grieving."
Sighing, Helga nodded, realizing he was right.
She stood and went to the front steps, nervously stopping before Arnold.
"Um...hey, Arnold." Helga said softly.
Arnold glanced at her, and then back at his lap. "Hey, Helga. I guess you heard."
"Y-Yeah...I did. Phoebe told me all about it last night on the phone...and yeah. You know." Helga managed, rubbing her arm nervously. She looked down at him with sympathy, remembering the time she'd been there when he was dumped by Lila. "...You okay, Arnold?"
"I'll be fine." Arnold sighed. "I really miss her, and it's going to take some adjusting, I guess.... I mean, that's what she would have wanted."
"Y-Yeah, true." Helga sat beside him on the steps. "...I'm really sorry, Arnold. I can understand how you must feel. I'm so sorry about all this." Little did he realize that she was apologizing to him literally.
"Thanks, Helga." Arnold said. "I guess I just need to look at the bright side, and remember Lila for the days she lived, and not just on the day she died. It'll be hard to adjust, but...I know I can do it. I'll just have to keep trying."
"It's all you can do." Helga shrugged. "...Um, you sure you're okay to go to school today? I can take you home if you want."
"No, I'll be fine." Arnold shook his head.
"Well, okay." Helga stood up, and he did too. "Um...I can walk with you to class if you want."
Arnold gave her a small smile. "That's nice of you Helga, thanks. I'll take you up on that."
She smiled sadly in return, and they walked up the steps together and into school, followed by Ryuk.
But the horror didn't stop there.
--
In class, while Mr. Simmons was giving a respectful speech about Lila's passing, with everyone listening in and feeling sad for their fallen classmate, Helga sat back in class, with Ryuk wandering around, completely unseen. She didn't throw spitballs at Arnold today. She just didn't have the heart to do anything to him. Not now, not when he was grieving. She didn't have the heart to be mean right now.
All she wanted to do now was go back in time, take back writing Lila's name in the Death Note.
She'd brought the Death Note with her to school, so that she wouldn't risk Miriam or Bob finding it at home. She hated this thing, and made a point to ask Ryuk later on if she could destroy it.
But it wouldn't undo what she did.
Helga watched him, all the while scribbling a little poem, making a plan to be as nice and comforting to him today. She owed him that much.
Upon closing the note book, horror struck her then.
She had just written his name in the Death Note.
"NO! NO NO NO!!" Helga screamed in terror.
"Helga? What's wrong? Why are you shouting?" Mr. Simmons asked, and everyone turned to look at her.
"I...I...." Helga wasn't sure what to say. She only had forty seconds until Arnold died.
She began to cry then, uncontrollably. How could she have not seen that?! How could she have written her own beloved's name in the Death Note?!
35 seconds.
"A-Arnold...." Helga sobbed.
"Helga? What's wrong?" Arnold got up from his desk and went to her. "Are you okay?"
"Arnold..." Helga uttered, not even caring anymore. He was about to die soon, why push him away. "I have to tell you something..."
"What is it?"
20 seconds.
"I...I'm sorry...I'm sorry about everything!"
"What's she talking about?" Sid asked Stinky, who shrugged.
"Helga, what is going on?" Mr. Simmons asked in concern.
But she ignored them. Nothing mattered.
"Arnold, I want you to know...I...I love...I...I...love..."
"What, Helga? Tell me." Arnold encouraged, his hands on her shoulders.
10 seconds.
"Arnold I love you! I love you so much! And I'm sorry, I'm sorry for everything I did! I'm in love with you! I..."
"Huh? Wait, what? You love me? You-"
Zero seconds.
Arnold suddenly froze, cutting himself off in mid sentence. Before anyone could react, he grabbed at his chest, groaning in agony.
"Arnold! Arnold what's wrong?!" Mr. Simmons rushed over to him, as did their other classmates. "What's going on?"
Arnold didn't reply, he only let out a choked gasp, looked at Helga, and then, fell to the floor.
Dead.
"Oh no! Arnold! Arnold!"
"Arnold! Are you okay?!"
"Speak to me, man!"
"Arnold!"
"Arnold! What happened?!"
"Is he dead!?"
"He's...he's dead!"
"We're gonna die! We're all gonna die! MOMMMMYYY!!!"
All the voices of her classmates rang on, yelling and crying, surrounding Arnold on the floor. Helga just sat there, a blank, stricken look on her face. She felt so empty. So lifeless. Tears ran down her face, and she sat there, unmoving. She had just witnessed her love drop dead in front of her. BECAUSE of her.
"A...Arnold...." Helga uttered in a tiny voice.
As if under a strange whim, Helga picked up her pencil, and then did something she didn't think she would do. But she didn't care. She wrote something down in the Death Note.
Then, she stood up, pushed through the crowd of students, and knelt down next to Arnold, who lay dead on the floor, looking peacefully asleep.
"...So you all heard." Helga said softly. "I love Arnold. Yes, I did, all this time. And it was because you guys made fun of me for liking him that I snapped and became the bully I am now. Well now, he's dead! And it was my fault! ...But now I'm making up for my mistakes."
Everyone stared at her, utterly perplexed. She didn't care that she was pouring her heart out now. Nothing mattered.
"I love Arnold! I love him! And there's NOTHING you geekbaits can do about it now!" Helga shouted, and then looked down tenderly at her beloved. "Arnold, I'm sorry...I love you."
She then softly kissed his dead lips, tears running down her face and falling onto his cheeks. She kissed him, kissed him and kissed him. And then she closed her eyes, laying against him, keeping him close to her.
All the while, Ryuk glanced down at the Death Note laying open on her desk, realizing what had just happened.
Helga had written her own name down in the Death Note.
Cause of death: Dying of a broken heart next to my beloved.
"Well I'll be." Ryuk said to himself, taking the Death Note and tucking it away. He took one last look at the two dead kids, and then flew off.
--~~--
"ARNOLD!!!"
Helga yelled as she sat up in bed, confused and in a daze. What had just happened now? Wasn't she supposed to be dead? Impossible! She had written her own name in the Death Note!
"Where...where is it?!" Helga cried, flouncing out of bed and searching frantically around her room. "Ryuk, Ryuk where's the Death Note? Ryuk?!"
No answer.
She looked around her room, and then in her closet. No Ryuk, and no Death Note. What had happened?
"...Arnold! If I'm not dead, then that means Arnold isn't dead...right?"
No time to wonder.
Helga hurried to her phone, and hurriedly dialed a number. "Please, please pick up football head...please my darling...please..."
"Hello?" Came Arnold's voice after the third ring.
"Arnold?!"
"Huh? Helga? Hey, Helga. Why are you calling me? Is something wrong? Did you forget last night's homework?"
"You're...you're...alive?"
"Uh, yeah. Of course I'm alive. Why wouldn't I be? Helga, are you feeling okay? It's Saturday, there's no school today, so if you need to rest, maybe you should."
Ohhhh Arnold....you're so sweet!!!
"N-No! No...I'm fine. I just...just...."
"Just what?"
The trauma of what had happened must have affected her mind, since she found herself saying a lot of things she wished she didn't.
"I just found a...."
Wait a minute.
It had just been a dream.
A dream! She didn't possess a Death Note, she didn't have a God of Death following her around unseen by everyone else, she didn't kill Lila, she didn't kill Harvey Jenkins, and she especially didn't kill Arnold!
"Helga?"
"Huh? Oh...nothing. I just had a weird dream and I'm a little shaken up, I guess."
"Oh, okay. I understand, we all sometimes have weird dreams that leave us feeling weird in the morning. What did you dream?"
"Uh...I can't tell you."
"Why not?"
"I-I just can't, okay?"
"Okay. I won't force you to tell me if you don't want to."
Helga sighed in relief, glad that it all had been just a dream. Still, she didn't feel right about just going back to the way things were. At least, not completely. Maybe it was trying to tell her something... That had to be it. It wasn't just a strange, weird freakshow nightmare.
It's trying to tell me that if I don't patch things with Arnold, I could lose him forever...
She sighed a little. Maybe, just a little bit...
"Um, Arnold?"
"Yeah, Helga?"
"....Do you, um, want to go get a milkshake later on? They're...uh...having a two for one deal at Slausen's this weekend. Then um, you can walk me home after if you want."
"Really? You want me to go with you?"
"I just said that, didn't I? Doi, I wouldn't have invited you if I didn't want you to! I mean...yes, football head, I do."
She could almost swear he was grinning on the other line.
"Gosh Helga, that's really nice of you. Sure, I'll come along. I'll meet you there at two, okay?"
"Sure, see you then."
"All right. See you later, Helga!"
Click.
Helga managed a small smile and hung her phone up. Maybe that dream wasn't so bad after all.
--~~--~~--
"Hey Light, what's with you today?" Ryuk asked, curious.
"Nothing in particular. I just had an odd dream last night." Light replied, laying back on his bed. "I dreamed of Helga G. Pataki from that cartoon show Hey Arnold!...actually found a Death Note. She also thought it was just a silly and elaborate prank, and then wrote down Lila's name in it, just to humour it somehow, since she didn't know that it was actually true. Then Lila died, and Helga was really shocked by it, and then she tried it again to make sure it worked on this American criminal, and it worked then, too."
"Wow, sounds like it was quite interesting."
"It was...and then you show up in her house, apparently being her Shinigami. Weird, huh? So the next day, at school, she accidentally writes Arnold's name in the Death Note, and he ends up dying of a heart attack. She's broken hearted, and then she wrote her own name down in the notebook and died with him. ...I have to say, it was really bizarre." Light said, and sat up.
"Heh, guess that kid was more unstable than you thought."
"Maybe a little. But it kind of got me thinking. What if I ever wrote down the name of someone I cared about, even by accident?"
"Well Light, there isn't much you can do about that." Ryuk shrugged. "Once a name is written down and you have a face, it's over."
"Yeah, I know." Light waved it off, and then looked out his window. "But still, death is a very serious and final thing. Some people deserve it...but when they don't, you just seem to realize how ugly death can be."
With a sigh, he got up from his bed, and stared at the Death Note sitting on his desk.