"Alright run this by me one more time." Helga muttered as Lila sighed, digging her head in her hands as she pulled out yet another book from her backpack. Ever since discovering the missing clue to the case Lila had immersed herself in books about the supernatural, psychology references, and even a few works of fiction to get a better handle on the situation.
"Where did I lose you at?" Lila asked, bringing her head out of her fingers gently. Helga sighed and leaned back against the bed's headboard, her mind going through what Lila had said and picking out what she had understood.
"You were talking about not being able to fix the past, and working towards fixing the future with dominoes or…something…" Helga muttered. Lila frowned before lightly hitting Helga a top the head with one of the thinner books. Helga yelped and rubbed her head quickly.
"Helga you need to pay attention, if we don't understand the philosophy behind what's keeping you here we'll never be able to send you home." Lila placed her hands on her hips as Helga muttered and apology and twisted her body so that she was facing the girl.
"Alright alright, tell me one more time princess."
Lila hung her head before grabbing another book and flipping it open quickly, she pointed to a diagram quickly before pulling Helga's head into her so that she could see.
"What I was SAYING was that there's no way you can get every single detail of your world to match this one, it would take years and there's no guarantee that it would even work. According to this book the theory is that every person has a basic final soul, something that defines them, that is the same no matter what world or alternate dimension they may be in. If I'm right then what you have to do is not change our world, but in fact revert the inhabitants back to their basic forms. What makes them them."
Helga was obviously lost so Lila continued.
"It's like the difference between who you actually are and what you show people. Imagine you have a piece of clay in front of you, we'll say that that clay is Brainy, in your world whenever he experienced something it would shape and mold him, ever little encounter with you made a difference in how he would turn out, in this dimension he never had that and so his 'form' ended up being entirely one sided. He was depleted, and that one effort of kindness you showed him today triggered a dominoes effect into giving him a new outlook, in turn, triggering a new and 'original' Brainy." Lila concluded.
Helga held her head some and groaned before moving her hands clumsily through the air.
"So…I have to mold everyone into pots or something?" Helga asked with a groan. Lila smirked and shrugged before nodding cautiously.
"In a poetic sense you're ever so right Helga. We can't recreate every little nick and crooney of how you affected them on a day to day basis, but if we look back and dissect it enough I'm sure we'll be able to find those big things that ended up making the people around you how they are. "
Helga mumbled and groaned in annoyance as she leaned back into the bed lazily.
"That sounds like a lot of work." Helga muttered. Lila giggled before placing her dainty hand on Helga's shoulder. Helga jumped a bit but glanced over at the girl as she tilted her head with a grand smile; she was enjoying this wasn't she?
"Don't worry Helga; I'm ever so sure together we'll be able to get you home in no time." Lila piped out. Helga sighed softly before nodding.
"I guess I don't really have a choice do I."Lila shook her head quickly. Helga let out a long breath before sitting upright.
"Alright then, where do we start?" Helga asked gently. Lila fumbled under her bed a bit before pulling out a notebook and some pens; she threw both of them up at Helga before hopping onto the bed beside her.
"Well I suppose we'll just have to start at the beginning…why don't you write down who you thinks' changed the most so we know where to start." Lila scooted closer as Helga nipped at the pen some. Finally she began to write down upon the paper.
"Well…Arnold I suppose would be first…then Phoebes…" Helga mused as she began to scratch down all the names in a family tree like fashion, near the bottom were the three that they had seen today, Gerald, Nadine, and Stinky. .
"Arnold huh…" Lila whispered sadly. Helga blinked a bit before putting the paper aside for a moment. Very seriously she turned her body to face the young woman.
"Lila…what happened to Arnold? He couldn't have always been like this." Helga whispered slowly. Lila nodded a bit before looking away, her eyes recalling something far away from the real world that they were in. Finally Lila seemed to gather enough courage to talk.
"When I moved to Hillside…Arnold was my only friend. We were both just kids, but…I really…began to like him. He was so..sweet, and charming…and brave…and honest…he was always so optimistic about everything and even when people began to hate me he'd always manage to cheer me up with t hat little smile of his." Lila smiled to herself as she rubbed her cheek with the back of her hand.
"Yea, he's still like that in my world…why'd he get so…so…"
"Bitter?" Lila finished. Helga scoffed and crossed her arms.
"I was gonna say bitchy but I guess that works too."
Lila smiled weakly before nodding again, her hands moving down her skirt gently.
"…It wasn't all of a sudden I suppose. It was a slow transition that I just pretended not to notice. He always looked on the bright side of things and so when they failed he was even more hurt…I guess it all started to snowball when Mr. Scheck got a hold of this part of town." Lila sighed heavily and bit her lip as Helga's jaw dropped.
"Wait a minute wait a minute, SCHECK actually won? But Arnold was supposed to stop him, and, and if he won then why are the old buildings still up?" Helga asked quickly. Lila laughed weakly before nodding her head softly.
"Arnold put his whole heart into stopping Scheck, but he was always one step ahead of him. Bob ended up pulling a loophole from the contract to shut them down before they could start bulldozing, but since Scheck still owned all the buildings he ended up charging everyone such high rent that they were evicted out. Now it's just an old abandoned street." Lila finished.
Helga shook her head quickly before groaning, Arnold was supposed to save the day, he wasn't supposed to lose. A bit frightened now Helga started to sprawl through what else Arnold must have faced without a push of help. At such a young age witnessing those little miracles around him Arnold grew up still believing in the good of everyone, but now-
"I-I see." Helga stuttered out.
"He had been losing that good-hearted nature for a while but after that incident it just seemed like everything went wrong for him. He just went from bad to worse and entered a horrible stage of gloominess when we reached middle school. Gerald and I struggled to keep him a float- then…that happened…" Lila paused and scrunched her fist together. Helga flinched and looked up.
"Then what happened…?" Helga whispered.
"…Arnold…was suddenly happier…and optimistic again…I was so thrilled…I had no idea that it was just a calm before the storm…you see, Arnold went looking for his parents…and…when we finally found him….when we found him…." Lila paused water rushing to her eyes as she struggled to keep her voice even.
"They were dead. He found them dead."
"..what…?" Helga whimpered. "No, no, no Lila we found them! We found them alive. I found them and then got taken-…got taken…captive…." Helga's voice faded as she remembered the event. The only reason that Miles and Stella were alive then was because Helga gave herself up for them, if she had never been there then once they found the green eyes village….there was no use keeping them around….
"Oh God…" Helga whimpered hiding her face in her hands quickly. Lila frowned and brought her knees up to her chest.
"Most of the kids say that the heartbreak of learning their children were dead was what killed his grandparents…Arnold was alone with his thoughts for a long time…I…I guess…he snapped…he didn't believe anymore, he thought since the world was scum he might as well be scum too. I loved him…but…I couldn't be with him after that…he wasn't Arnold anymore. He and Gerald started fighting more and more…Gerald was just looking out for him, he just wanted Arnold to stop fighting, but Arnold didn't like being watched after…they cut ties soon after that…Gerald and Stinky were both too opposed to what Arnold and his goofs were doing, so they broke apart."
"…when did it start…how…how could things have gotten this bad?" Helga whispered softly to herself.
"…do you know how, you can put some much faith and love into something, that it's like you're riding you're entire heart on it?" Lila asked placing a hand over her chest softly. Helga squeezed her hands before slowly nodding.
"Arnold once told me…when we were still dating…that…he had one of those moments when he was little…there was a girl, a daughter of one of his friends in the boarding house…she was missing…and so….Arnold wanted to find her- as a Christmas gift." Lila whispered with a weak smile. Helga suddenly shivered.
Mr. Hyunh….
"All Christmas Eve he worked and scavenged and prayed for her to show up at his door…he even had a lead, all someone had to do was type her name into a computer…and…they didn't. They turned him away…over a pair of boots." Lila whispered, her voice breaking as she shook her head, as if unable to believe the story.
"He always told me that…at that moment…that moment is when he stopped believing in any fantasy called miracles…"
