For Every Sane Reason in the Universe

By Ame no Chikara

Chapter 5: System

When she came to, she didn't bother opening her eyes at first. It seemed futile to her- why should she have to wake up and face her own insanity? She would rather stay with her eyes closed and imagine she was elsewhere. Attempting to keep her breathing steady, she listened intently for the hustle and bustle of the hospital, the barely audible whisperings of doctors, or the sound of Phoebe sobbing by her bedside, but none of those were there.

Strange… How could it be so oddly- And there was the sound she had been waiting with dread to hear. Heavy and raspy breathing was close and it unnerved her to no end. Her heart beat began to escalate and she knew that there was no way out. She had to be back in the hospital again. They were going to tell her how unfit she was for society, drug her, brainwash her, and then-

Her eyes had opened and she was greeted by a pure white ceiling. The hospital she had been in before had textured ceilings. Tuning her head to the side, she saw a fine oak nightstand. What the hell?

She sat up in the bed and looked around with piercing eyes. Her sense of alarm subsided and was replaced with a new sense of extreme apprehension- why was she in a house? The room was tidy, but the decorations were dull. She wondered who could have lived in such a dull place.

The breathing had gotten closer and she turned. There in the doorway was a tall man in his early twenties, a fine china cup and saucer in his hand. His hair was of the finest silver, cropped in a military cut. His orange shirt was way too large for him, but he didn't seem to care, and wore it proudly over his faded blue jeans. Dulled behind bright silver frames, the man;s blue eyes shined, although the intensity was still almost too much for Helga to handle. She stiffened immediately and backed up against the headboard.

The man chuckled in response and didn't move, but kept a careful eye upon his prey. "Miss Helga Pataki… it's been quite a while, now hasn't it?" Helga's heart sunk and her stomach did flip-flops. The man was smiling, but it was the smile of a predator. "Do you recognize me?"

She simply nodded her head, fear shinning in her eyes. It was the Boss… the one from the hotel room in Vegas. The one that had taken Arnold and kidnapped her and… Suddenly, it hit her. That had all been in her mind. That had been—what had Arnold called it? It had been so long since she had even considered it… After all, what did it matter anyway? She had been insane…

"Oh…" The man said dully, heaving out a long sigh, "I see you only recognize me from the System." She froze and watched him with wonder. Did he just say…? "Horrible place for me, really… the System." He chuckled yet again and brought the china cup to his lips. "It always portrays me the wrong way." His eyes sparkled with something that Helga could not define.

Her head was swimming with questions as she studied the man before her- how did he know about the system? Did the system truly exist? Had she escaped from it on time? Who was he? Was he anyone she had known? How did she get here, in his house? Why did he care? What the hell was the system, anyway?

"You're speechless, I see." He approached the bed and sat down on the edge of it, a gentle smile playing on the corners of his mouth. "Ah!" He rapidly set his cup down on the saucer- (Helga was a bit worried that he was going to spill it all) - and leaned across the bed to set it on the nightstand. Sitting back up again, he looked her in the eyes. "I bet you don't know me exactly. Or, more to say, you don't remember. I always had problems talking to you- as you probably remember me anyway.

Do you remember me from your days at your… oh, what did they call it… yes! P.S. 118?"

Helga blinked and thought long and hard about it. The man in front of her was lean and slightly feminine… she wondered what color his hair had been in school. They certainly didn't have any silver-haired boys in… unless… "Brainy?" She asked in her most uncivilized way. Her tone was more of surprised disgust than anything else. He was always a creep, but not a talkative creep…

The man beamed from ear to ear and reached up to remove his glasses. He cleaned them on his shirt while humming happily. "Why, yes, Brainy. I'm glad you remember me." He slid his glasses back up on his nose and cocked his head at Helga. "What is it?"

Helga had since cradled her head in her hands. This was all too much. When she had woke up that morning she had admittedly felt different, but she hadn't expected… this. She hadn't expected to be belittled by a best friend she barely knew anymore. She hadn't expected to find out that the reason Arnold died had been her. She hadn't expected to wake up anywhere but the mental institution- let alone the house of some creep that stalked her in elementary school. And, maybe the biggest shock of all (even though her murdering Arnold was a hard one to contend with) was that maybe, just maybe, they had lied to her about the System's existence. If they had lied to her about that, who's to say that they hadn't written some article about her killing Arnold?

She took in a deep breath and looked back up at Brainy again. How could he look at her with such affection? Such compassion? She might be a murder- she was definitely insane… they would be coming for her any minute. "Brainy… you're housing a criminal. You need to hand me over."

She began to get up, but he grabbed her wrist. She wanted nothing but to rip away, but she froze when she caught those sharp blue eyes. "The law is not after you anymore. The people from the hospital aren't after you anymore. I'm here to take you back home."

A chill ran up her spine. Brainy just became creepier by the minute. His raspy breathing had always been the thing to get on her nerves, the way he followed her around like a puppy dog, but the way that he seemed to know everything always unnerved her the most. She wrenched her wrist away and walked toward the window. She had to get some sense of where they were. "I have no home." She said, bitterly. Brainy just watched her calmly as she pulled the curtains open. She stared outside in disbelief. "W-What's this?"

"If it displeases you, I can change it." He muttered, looking down at his dull grey carpet in boredom.

Below her, Paris sprawled out in its glory. Cars raced steadily down the highway and the Parisian streets were full of color and life. It should have been cold and snowy, but everyone outside was enjoying a perfect summer day. The sun was high in the perfect cloudless azure. Everything that she was seeing seemed so real, but she knew it was impossible. "It's not that it's displeasing." She said, softly. Closing the curtains again, she walked in a daze back to the bed.

Sitting down next to Brainy, she cradled her head in her hands again. She didn't even flinch when the man slid an arm around her, rubbing her back. "I'm insane… how can I be so crazy? I killed Arnold, tried to kill myself, created some alternative reality in my mind, and now I'm in some shitty Parisian penthouse-"

"If you don't like it, I can make it look however you wish." He said again, quietly, seemingly unaffected. Helga gritted her teeth- what didn't he understand about the insanity of it all? Unless he, too, was a figment of her own deranged mind.

"I don't care what it looks like! I really don't! I just want something to make sense for once! I want everything to be real!" She closed her eyes tight. How could this be…? Opening her eyes up again, she began to shiver as she surveyed her new surroundings.

Everything around her was dark- she had been sucked into nothing. The only things that occupied it were her and Brainy. She whipped around and looked everywhere, until she finally looked at Brainy again. This was the same as the darkness she had fell through when she had realized Arnold was dead. "Where are we?" She hissed at the man in front of her. "I demand that you tell me where we are!"

Brainy wheezed out a sigh again, this time looking rather impatient. "Helga, I realize now that you've been in here for about 3 years that this wasn't the path we should have taken." He held out his hand to her and smiled. "Come on, I'm taking you home."

A/N: Next chapter is the last and should be a wonderful explanation to all your wonders. If you would, you could mention your wonders in a review so that I made sure I was clear with everything I thought I had been. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this. If you're enjoying it, I absolutely just adore reviews. If you don't review it makes me feel like… er… well… that I suck at writing or this story isn't something you really want to see. Or else it's not surprising, which would break my heart the most XD So… Read and Review 3 (Subtle hints, really :P)

Ame