Jaguars
By Cybra
A/N: A small nod to my (much) earlier fic "In Those Eyes". A possible scene from The Jungle Movie. And no yelling at me for not having Arnold/Helga interaction. I pictured it with Phoebe, and I'm sticking with Phoebe. Also, I have a feeling that Arnold wouldn't tell them about his father's journal and the Green-Eyes since the subject of his parents seems to be rather touchy.
Disclaimer: Hey Arnold! belongs to Craig Bartlett.
It was hard to believe they were really in San Lorenzo, a country very different from their own. Phoebe was excited and nervous by turns, excited to be seeing something completely new and nervous about making the locals unhappy.
The friend of Arnold's parents, Eduardo, had met them at the airport, giving a cry of welcome and hugging the blond boy tightly. There was the almost classic line of "You've grown so much since I last saw you!", and the boy had looked equally happy to see the man.
Perhaps a bit too happy, she thought. When Arnold had picked San Lorenzo as the prize for winning that contest, he had dodged numerous questions about why he'd picked a country none of the others had heard of. The only hints they had were from the numerous newspaper clippings and the map of the mysterious place that he'd kept on his bulletin board like some sort of fanatic. That was the only thing she could be sure of: San Lorenzo, for whatever reason, was important to Arnold, too important to pass up a free trip to go there despite the rest of the class whining and trying to talk him out of it.
However, Arnold didn't seem too interested in seeing the sights. If one of the others didn't grab his attention, Phoebe could see him staring off in the direction of the jungle.
And sometimes she saw a jaguar staring back.
Phoebe noted the odd purchases he was making. None of the trinkets from the souvenir shops. Instead, he bought things like a sturdy backpack and nonperishable food that he never seemed to eat. It was as if he was planning to go somewhere.
But he never let on what the purpose behind his strange buying habits was. He didn't lie. Yet he didn't tell the truth either. He simply avoided answering by distracting the others with something else.
All the while, the boy was talking with Eduardo, discussing something apparently very important. She'd "accidentally" walked in on them once, but their conversation suddenly halted before Eduardo started up another topic, this one including her. They were hiding something, but she couldn't, for the life of her, figure it out.
And still Arnold would gaze out at the jungle where a jaguar would gaze right back.
The bespectacled girl heard him leave. The hotel room she shared with Helga, Rhonda, and Nadine was right next to the one Arnold, Gerald, Sid, and Stinky shared. She heard the soft click-clunk as a door opened and shut. Quiet footsteps passed outside their door.
Carefully, she slid out of bed and pulled on her robe. Slipping on her shoes and glasses and making sure she had her key, she also left and followed the blond boy.
Their path took them outside to the veranda. Beyond that was the jungle that never ceased to send shivers of excitement and fear up her spine.
Arnold paused at the stairs leading down from the veranda and towards the dense patch of foliage. He turned back to her—not looking in the least bit surprised to see her—and asked, "Come to see me off?"
"Where are you going?"
He nodded towards the tropical forest. "In there."
"Why?"
"It just seems like—"
She cut him off with a surprisingly sharp, "What's the real reason?" When he didn't answer right away, she continued her barrage of questions, shocked at herself for being so assertive. "What were you talking about with Eduardo? Why did you pick San Lorenzo? Why is this place so important to you?"
He stood silent for a moment. She considered apologizing before he said, "You can't tell anyone."
"Tell anyone what? That you snuck out to go get eaten by jaguars? I'm not going to keep that to—"
"My parents are in there."
Her mouth shut with an audible click of teeth as her eyes widened. "Y-Your parents…?"
"We used to live in San Lorenzo. This is the closest spot to where I was born," he continued. "They came back here for one more mission in the jungle and disappeared."
Phoebe felt her mouth slowly fall open as tense silence filled the space between them. "But, Arnold…"
He ran his fingers through his hair fitfully, and she could see he was on the verge of coming apart. "I know it was horribly selfish to drag all of you down here just so I could go looking…" His green eyes turned flinty. "…but I've waited years to get down here. And an essay contest where you get to choose anywhere in the world to visit for a week? Of course I wasn't going to pass that up. I slaved away on that essay, hoping to get the grand prize. The opportunity was there, and there was no way I'd give it up!"
She stood there, clutching at her robe as he spoke, his voice lined with long years of hope against the odds and fierce wishing. After a moment, she asked, "What if you only find their remains?"
"It's better than sitting at home, waiting and hoping!" he retorted. She could see tears in his eyes that he refused to release. "At least I'd be able to grieve." He fixed her with a penetrating look. "Do you know what it feels like to wake up every morning for seven years and know that a piece of you is missing? That there's a hole inside of you that, no matter what you do, you can't fill it?" He took a step towards her. "I could help a thousand people, and it would never complete me because I still wouldn't know why they didn't come back. Have you ever felt that way, Phoebe?"
The Japanese girl held her ground but said softly, "No. I haven't."
His features turned gentle if mournful once again. "I have to do this. If I don't, I'll regret it forever. I want to be whole."
There was such longing in his voice that she finally felt how incomplete he was. If their situations had been reversed, would she have done differently?
No, she decided. She would've done the exact same thing.
A growl nearby drew their attention. Arnold turned his head towards the bottom of the stairs as she walked over next to him to take a look for herself.
The jaguar was sitting at the foot of the steps, tail swishing lazily back and forth. The creature wasn't in the least bit afraid of being this close to civilization. And, now that she could see it up close, she saw a strange pendant around its neck. It looked much like a green eye.
She saw the boy reach into his pocket out of the corner of her eye. When she looked up, he was holding out a folded piece of paper to her.
"This is a copy," he said simply though a copy of what he didn't elaborate on. "Could you tell Eduardo that I'm sorry I didn't wait?"
With a shaking hand, she took the paper.
He gave her a grateful hug. "Thanks."
He released her before she could return it and descended the steps to where the great cat waited. She tried to warn him to be careful, but her voice stuck in her throat as the jaguar rubbed its head against Arnold's hand before turning towards the jungle.
The blond didn't look back as he followed the cat into the dense foliage, disappearing within seconds of entering. For a moment, she thought she saw a second jaguar in his place.
She stayed on the veranda for several minutes, watching in case he reappeared before she finally unfolded the paper.
It was a map.