Disclaimer: I don't own Hey Arnold, or the songs 3 Libras, The Outsider, or Judith, all of which are done by A Perfect Circle. Really, this one is kinda weird, so it's ok if you don't like it – it won't hurt my feelings. If you do like it, I'm willing to extend. Also, for these kinds of fics I like to keep the characters older, but I'll leave you to decide just how old. Read, Review, and Spread the word.

HA

Dark. That was the first thing Arnold noticed when he opened his eyes. He was in a room on an old crimson cushioned love seat. He didn't remember where he was or how he got there. All he knew was that he belonged here. Slowly, he sat up, trying to allow his eyes become adjusted to the darkness.

Suddenly a door opened, and he found himself staring at an elegant blonde, an elegant beauty. Her hair was cropped short at the chin, and she wore a deep purple 1920s flapper dress. Her lips, a bright and striking red, were a strong contrast to her fair skin. She smiled, and Arnold suddenly knew her.

Helga . . . ?

"I'm glad to see you're awake. She's ready to see you. Everyone is waiting." All of a sudden she was right there, in front of him, and he didn't even remember seeing or hearing her move. She was holding out her hand for him to take, and he didn't fail to notice the blush cross her cheeks when he did. Helping him to his feet, she surprised him again when she turned and handed him a black fedora with a red ribbon and a white feather in it. Smiling, it felt right when he put it on his head, right in the middle of his parted and slicked back blonde hair. She adjusted it quickly, before smoothing out the shoulders and chest of his black zuit suit.

"Perfect." She smiled genuinely at him, then turned to show him out.

He followed her down a long hallway, their heels clicking on the wood floor. Slowly, the sound was drowned out by music and laughter; the loudest of all emerging from a set of double doors they had somehow approached. She pushed them open, motioning for him to enter first. As soon as he did, she entered and shut the door, standing behind him with her head bowed.

Arnold noted that room most definitely held a party. Old furniture similar to what he awoke on was scattered about the floor, along with many large Hookahs. Next to each large piece of seating was an oak table, were crystal stemware with wine, and crystal bowls sat contentedly. He noticed also that the wine was red, and the bowls held what appeared to be some sort of orange candy.

He also recognized almost everyone in the room as people he knew, but for some reason couldn't figure out where he knew them, or who they were. He still didn't have very many memories, but all the ones that came back seemed to have had Helga in them.

"Helga." A soft yet stern voice broke the calm flow, and quickly Helga was at his side.

"Yes Lila?" There was a red head sprawled out across a dark blue love seat, Hookah hose in one hand and a wine glass in the other.

"Why don't you get Arnold some wine?" She asked, and Helga sent him a coy smile before she sauntered off to retrieve one of the wine glasses. The red head now identified as Lila nodded for Arnold to approach her, and he did without hesitation. He watched with sinful delight as she took a drag from whatever drug was in her bowl. She turned back to look at him with half lidded eyes, and opened her mouth to allow the smoke to escape in a single, white, perfect cloud. She smiled, and Helga had handed him a small flute of red wine – Pinot Noir without a doubt.

"Now, Arnold, what can I do for you?" she asked as Helga held out one of the bowls for her, and Lila took out one single candy with long fingernails painted red.

"Help me if you can. It's just that this, is not the way I'm wired. So could you please help me understand why you're giving in to all these reckless dark desires?" He asked, and Lila smirked, knowing all too well where this was going. She had to bare witness to it many times before. If only it wasn't Arnold, she was always fond of him.

"You're such an inspiration for the ways that I'll never ever choose to be. Oh so many ways for me to show you how the savior has abandoned you." She took that orange candy and placed it carefully on her tongue, before bringing it back in, allowing the drug to take its course through her system. Helga, meanwhile, frowned. Arnold always meant the world to her, and now he was going down the road many had taken before.

"Threw you the obvious and you flew with it on your back, a name in your recollection, thrown down among a million same. Difficult not to feel a little bit disappointed and passed over. When I've looked right through and see you naked and oblivious." She whispered, ignoring the underhanded glare Lila shot her. Meanwhile, Arnold was growing frantic. Why couldn't he remember anything? Why did it feel like there was a void in his soul?

"You're... Lying to yourself again. Suicidal imbecile, think about it, put it on a fault line. What'll it take to get it through to you precious? I'm Over This. Why do you wanna throw it away like this? Such a mess. Why would I want to watch you disconnect and self-destruct one bullet at a time? What's your rush now? Everyone will have his day to die." It was starting to come back to him. He and Lila – he and Lila had a thing. A terribly beautiful thing; sinister and twisted and sick and altogether beautiful. He quickly fingered a cross he had found around his neck he never noticed before. But Lila noticed, and her eyes narrowed at the action.

"Fuck your God, your Lord and your Christ! He did this! Took all you had and left you this way. Still you pray, you never stray; never taste of the fruit. You never thought to question why." Lila had gone from shouting furiously to speaking softly again, taking Arnold's hand and brushing it against her breast. Her corset was constricted so tightly, her breasts had been forced to sit high and jut out with every breath she took.

Helga saw the action, and sighed quietly to herself.

"And you don't see me." She responded forlornly to anyone who would listen, before sitting in one of the desperately overstuffed chairs, watching the whole affair. What did she think would happen when she fell for Lila's favorite?

But Arnold was having none of it, and harshly ripped his hand back from her grasp.

"Medicated drama queen. Picture-perfect numb belligerence. Narcissistic drama queen. Craving fame and all it's decadence." He made his point by motioning to all of the extravagant things she held in her possession, from the Hookahs to the wine, the music to the sexual debauchery he was certain was occurring in the other rooms.

Lila was having none of it though. She desperately clung to his hand, then viciously threw him onto the love seat, before tackling him and ripping at the silver cross and chain around his neck.

"It's not like you killed someone. It's not like you drove a hateful spear into his side. Praise the one who left you broken down and paralyzed. He did it all for you. He did it all for you." She mocked, then kissed him full on the mouth. Helga was certain her heart was breaking, so she turned her gaze back to the man who was holding a flame for her to light her cigarette she had placed within its gold holder.

"But I threw you the obvious just to see if there's more behind the eyes of a fallen angel, the eyes of a tragedy." She muttered to herself as the man turned back to her close friend, Phoebe, whom he had been trying to seduce all evening. Taking a long, soothing drag, she turned her attention back to the feuding couple.

"Lying through your teeth again. Suicidal imbecile, think about…Put it on the fault line. What'll it take to get it through to you precious? I'm Over This. Why do you wanna throw it away like this? Such a mess. Why would I want to watch you disconnect and self-destruct one bullet at a time? What's your rush now? Everyone will have his day to die." Arnold had gotten the upper hand, and was now laying agitatedly between the fiery redhead's legs. Suddenly, she smirked and flipped them over.

"Oh so many ways for me to show you how your dogma has abandoned you." She countered, leaning down and capturing his lips in a delightfully corrupt kiss.

Helga turned to away, she could watch no more. And there, to her right and holding out his hand with a wicked grin, was Lila's second favorite, looking lonely and just as heartbroken. She smiled sympathetically, and took his hand.

"Here I am expecting just a little bit too much from the wounded. But I see, see through it all. See through to see you." As the two rejected ones made their way for a separate door, Arnold caught sight of them. He watched Helga, and his heart screamed for him to stop her from leaving. Shoving Lila off of him, he made a move towards the young blonde, but his captor held him.

"They were right about you. They were right about you." He whispered tragically as she smirked in triumph, eying the cross she just knew Helga had given him as a reminder of what they had.

"Pray to your Christ, to your god. Never taste of the fruit, never stray, never break never---choke on a lie; even though he's the one who did this to you. You never thought to question why." She poked menacingly, but frowned when she saw Helga standing at the doorway with Brainy, both watching them with mild amusement. How dare that little chit try and take what's her's?! She wanted them both; and should very well have them both! Was it not she who supplied them all with the drugs, the wine, the music, and the place to experience it all?! Well, no matter, she will have them both, but first she has to replant the seed inside Arnold's beautiful head.

"'Cause I threw you the obvious to see what occurs behind the eyes of a fallen angel, eyes of a tragedy. Oh well. Apparently nothing. Apparently nothing at all." Helga whispered, and Brainy nodded his understanding, although neither really spoke to one another. They both desperately wanted they could not have.

Somehow, Arnold had gained enough ground for a more accurate power play. She was beginning to lose her control over him.

"Lying to my face again! Suicidal imbecile! Think about it, put it on a fault line!" He was shouting, but somehow the calm and mellow mood was never disturbed.

"Not like you killed someone! It's not like you drove a spiteful spear into his side! What'll it take to get it through to you precious? Talk to Jesus Christ As if he knows the reasons why." She kept driving, but he was shaking his head. He would hear none of it.

"I'm Over This." He told her, but she would hear none of it either.

"He did it all for you. Why do you wanna throw it away like this? Did it all for you." Everyone was watching them with clouded minds – everyone but Helga and Brainy. They were probably the most lucid of all.

"Such a mess."

"He did it all for you."

"Over this...Over this!!!" Arnold suddenly shouted, tearing away from Lila and backing up, pointing an accusing finger at her.

"Disconnect and self-destruct one bullet at a time. What's your hurry, everyone will have his day to die." He continued, and Lila began to realize he was beyond her control now. Helga was wearing a smile that plainly said freedom had a cost.

"You don't see me. You don't see me at all." She whispered, but Arnold heard. He sent her a courageous smile, then turned back to Lila with a fierce gaze and clear eyes.

"If you chose to pull the trigger, should your drama prove sincere, do it somewhere far away from here." He placed one hand to his forehead and the other over his heart. He then turned to Helga with his arms opened wide, and she ran to him, laughing and kissing him. Their reunion was cut short, however, when they heard the cocking of a gun. The two young lovers turned to find Lila aiming a small pistol at them. At their expressions of shock, she smirked sadistically.

"You insisted." was all she offered, as a loud pop rang out through the building.

***

Arnold shot up, nearly hitting his head on his lamp in the process. Trying to slow his heart rate, he sent a quick one-over his room. His history books were open to the early to mid nineteen hundreds' mobster era with his yellow notebook carelessly laying next to it. His pencil had started to roll off the desk, but was stopped by the bowl of M&Ms Grandpa had brought up earlier; the majority of which were orange. He sighed and stretched, whipping away the drool on his chin as he sent a glance at his clock. 11:58 pm.

"Man, that was a weird dream . . . I think. Man! I can't even remember what happened!" he exclaimed, before giving up and grabbing for his pencil. This wasn't the first time he had fallen asleep while studying for a project and had a strange dream he would never remember.

"'The 1920's was the decade of extreme gluttony, in every thing, but mostly drugs, alcohol, and – ' Hm, that's where I must have fallen asleep." Arnold deduced as he turned back to his books to finish up these pages of notes, then call it a night.

"I better have at least five pages of notes to work with before tomorrow; otherwise Helga will be upset. Ugh, this is such a mess." He told himself as he read over his sloppy and tired handwriting. Wait, 'such a mess'?

Déjà vu.

Arnold thought about it for a minute longer, before shrugging and deciding it wasn't important. Quietly he shut his book and switched off his light; climbing into bed and ready for a night of dreams to invade his head again.

HA

AN: I know, weird, right? So, it's ok if you didn't like this. It was just an experiment I wanted to try by meshing three songs together and seeing what happened. Overall I'm not too disappointed, but hey, you're the reader.