Authoress: Kyla, you better love me. This bunny bit me, and it's dedicated to you~

Claim: I own my original character, Annetta.

Disclaim: Dammit, I don't own anything.

Sweet Escape

Chapter 00

"Damn it..."

The curse fell from his lips with ease, and it was quiet enough to not attract attention, because no lights went on, and so his room was still shrouded in shadows that bathed his form in welcome, though he curls into a tighter ball against the wall.

At least the walls weren't padded like he thought they would be, and it was a grotesque bright side to things as he observed the two bracelets on his wrist, the plastic one identifying him as patient two-oh-six, Allelujah Haptism. The metal one was cold against his skin, and it read the medications that he was to be given each day at six in the afternoon.

This place is morbid and lackluster to the point of hilarity, though he didn't feel like laughing. He felt like screaming until someone either let him go free or shot him to put him out of his misery. Leveling a weak, two-tone eyed glare at the small rectangle that served as some sort of window, he sighed.

'You could let me out and let me have my fun,' hissed Hallelujah from within the santity of his mind. Allelujah's eyes narrowed, and he gritted his teeth as he smoothed back black hair from his face, directing his irritation towards his counterpart who isn't even a tangible being, but a being inside his head.

In a way, Hallelujah was indeed a tangible being when he was in control of Allelujah's body. Which is rare, if Allelujah had any control over it. There had been a few times that he had allowed Hallelujah to emerge - or rather, Hallelujah had forced his way out.

It had always been in battle, or at first, when he was in close vicinity of Marie, his childhood friend. But it had been a while since he had lost control and allowed Hallelujah to take control. And in this place, he wasn't about to let his psychotic counterpart have his way.

Sighing softly, he closed his eyes and tried to think of a better place than this hell hole, which was virtually anywhere else. He wished that he was back on the Ptolemaios with his friends, people who treated him like he wasn't some kind of failed experiment. Or a freak, like they treated him here.

The orderlies were horrible, and so was the food. Which was to be expected, seeing as they were served from warming trays everyday at set times so that no one could sneak utensils and try to off themselves with a spork or something like that.

The cold click of a lock either being slid into place or being taking out of place caught his attention, and he lifted his head as the visage of Kate - one of the orderlies - made itself known in the small window, her ratty brown hair hanging in her face, a disarray that made her pimples and wrinkle infused age spots seem even brighter.

"You're being allowed time out of here on good behavior, Haptism." The scowl on Kate's face darkened as the young man rose from his place on the floor near his army-issue cot. "If I had my way, you'd be in confinement. Freak."

She was trying to get a rise out of him, and Hallelujah was snarling about ripping her to pieces. But all Allelujah did was hold his hand out for the prozac and take it obediently before slipping past Kate to be led down the hall. The hallway brightened from the dark, lonely aspect into an almost surreal cheer as they slipped through the children ward.

It was disheartening to think that small children were kept here as well because people thought there was something wrong with them, and he kept his thoughts to himself as he followed towards the large, thick door that lead outside. Outside was another matter entirely.

As he crossed the thresh-hold, barefoot, it felt like stepping into another world - no. An entirely different dimension completely. The air held nothing but a peaceful ambience as a yellow and black butterfly flickered past, taking flight into a pure, Robin's Egg blue sky as the sun shone down.

It felt like something out of a fairy-tale as the door closed behind him, keeping him away from the evil place that he had been stuck at for at least a couple of weeks. The grass was slick with dew beneath his feet, and his toes struggled to find purchase so that he wouldn't slip and fall onto the ground.

Warm wind played with the hospital-gown like attire that he was wearing, and he lifted a hand to brush hair from his face with the gentle, haunting clink of his bracelets. Figuring it was best to wander around and get a layout of the wonderful place while he had the chance, he began to walk aimlessly.

He seemed to be the only one allowed out today, because there was no one around but himself. If he had to say, he would call it abandoned. Was there something wrong even with this perfect wonderland?

The unmistakeable sound of an ocean distracted his thoughts from taking the melancholy road that had been traveled many a time before, and he directed his pathway in that direction, watching as slowly, past shrubbery that had half-heartedly been shaped into animals of various kinds, the blue-green tint of the ocean became exposed, stretching onto a cloudy expanse that promised a storm later on.

Movement caught his eye and pulled him from his quiet admiration of the sea before him, and he found his gaze rooted to a small figure. Previously having thought that he was the only one outside the institute, he took a few, hesitant steps closer, not wanting to approach the unnamed being without getting a better look.

Upon closer inspection, he found the stature too slim to be male and figured the gender to be female. Height wise, the girl seemed to probably reach his shoulder. The girl was unware of his presence as she dipped down to scoop a few beige stones from the ground beneath her feet - she too was barefoot - and straightened up.

She held them in a fold of her gown so that her hands were now free, and she plucked them and threw them one by one, leaning forward off the rocky outcliff to watch the stones descend into the bottomless froth of ocean that crashed against the rocks below. The outcliff was at the height that, if someone were to fall, if they fell in the wrong direction, it would spell certain death. Even if they made it out alive, they would certainly be injured.

He moved closer until he was a good twenty or so feet behind her, just simply observing her. Ridding her attire of stones, she began to spin around in tight circles on the balls of her feet, arms spread out. She still seemed to be perfectly oblivious of his existance even as she rotated, her hair dancing around her in her quiet play.

She seemed amused by her game, because laughter would spill from her lips every now and then, though she seemed more entertained by how fast she could go, and how close she could get to the edge without tipping into the water below.

In her game, she seemed to have a lapse in judgement, because a tight turn took her too close to the edge, and momentum let her wobble for a moment in which her eyes snapped towards him, and he caught sight of startled, piercing green irises as her arms windmilled in a frantic attempt to regain her balance, but she lost the fight and pitched downward.

Allelujah's first instinct was to dive in after her. After all, he was a gundam meister. And what kind of person would he be if he let a girl drown? The water was bracingly cold on his body as he hit it with a splash, and he forced his eyes open, searching for the girl.

Finding nothing, he broke the surface to find a flash of color and a hand be submerged before reappearing a little further away. The waves were toying with her, pushing her up and down like demented buoy. Swimming towards her, Allelujah found it difficult to keep his head above the waves as he coughed and spat out salty liquid.

Reaching the girl, his fingers found purchase around her wrist and he began yanking her towards the shore that was tantalizingly in reach. There was a sharp drop-off near the shore that would startle anyone if they were going in for a leisurely swim instead of the impromptu dive that both of them had taken as he finally found sand and pulled the girl behind him until he met sand and slumped down, gasping for breath.

Water streamed down his face in rivulets that fell like rain onto the sand beneath him as the girl rolled and promptly vomited water, coughing violently in an effort to rid her lungs of the deadly liquid before she fell lax against the ground, gasping like a human starved for oxygen.

Once she had regained her breathing, she rolled her head towards him, too weak to push herself up at the moment. He stared back, and she observed him for a few moments before grinning as her eyes sparkled mischeviously.

"You have sand in your hair," she remarked in a voice that was neither soft nor rough, save for the raspy tone of having coughed recently. She laughed as she pointed, her hand moving against the sand that clung to the damp skin of her appendage.

He blinked before his eyes fell upon her own locks of hair which were a pale color of silver that seemed almost tranclucent, which contrasted brightly with her deep green irises that focused upon him with startling clarity for one who had almost drowned. "You do too," he remarked in return at last, and she lifted her hand to run it through her clumped mane of hair.

"So I do," she responded, laughing at her own predicament. Shouts caught both of their attention as Allelujah looked up, finding it to be two guards and the director of the insititute.

"What's going on here?" The rather portly man demanded, his eyes cold and adamant on an answer as Allelujah shared a glance with the unnamed girl who finally found the strength to at least prop herself on her hands so that she could look at everyone properly.

"It's my fault," she responded before Allelujah could open his mouth. "I was playing on the outcropping and I fell. This guy came in after me and pretty much saved me from sleeping with the fishes." Her nose wrinkled, as if she found her own story amusing.

The director sighed, snatching a blanket from the guard and walking forward, snatching the girl's wrist and pulling her to her feet. It was then that Allelujah took notice of the gown that clung to her frame, the color the same as his own before it was cloaked by a blanket, and one was thrown around his shoulders as well when he stood.

"You're both soaking wet," sighed the director before he leveled an almost scolding look towards the girl. "You know better than to play on that outcropping."

"I know better, but that won't stop me from doing it," she said, and the guards exchanged a bemused look between each other as the director's gaze hardened and he took her wrist again. "You're hurting me!"

"I am not," protested the man mildly as he began dragging her towards the building. "You're going straight back to your room once you get cleaned up."

"I'm not a child!"

"The way you act, you might as well be one."

She stuck her tongue out at his back before turning towards Allelujah, who blinked as she gave him a grin. "My name's-" The rest was cut out, having faded from his hearing range as she was pulled back into the building.

And even as he was ushered back in as well, he had to wonder what her name was.