OK, this is the story on how I met the greatest woman I know, its starts right after I got fired from my job, a high paying computer analyst for a major corporation. As I sat at my desk, my now ex-boss standing by me, saying how sorry he was, that there was nothing he could do because the computers were being outsourced to a cheaper analyst. anything to save a buck I guess.

I was not worried, I also worked for other company's, just not full time. But, even that did not stop the high note that sounded inside my head. at first, I thought it was the speaker on the computer in the next cubicle, then I thought it was just my ears ringing. but it never stopped, sometimes it got quiet, and sometimes it would be so loud that I could hardly hear a NASCAR race going on in front of me.

I saw doctors, therapists, even some other practices of medicine that would seem silly to most people. nothing helped, I was getting less and less sleep. So I turned this to my advantage. I started to beta test video games. Just playing and replaying a small section of a video game looking for glitches, bugs, anything not placed by the programmers. The pay was good, it was a stay at home job so I was not required to stay in my normal work outfit.

Now that's just to catch you up. here is where things really started. I was running through a section of a game, so far I had noted 16 bugs, I sent the level back to the developers, and an hour later, they sent back a newer version. Less bugs, but it was a bit laggy. The slow downs were hardly noticeable. But I took note anyway.

After my third run through, I heard my UPS beep, and saw that the lights dim. Brown out, parts of the house were on, others were off, and the rest was somewhere between. I sighed, saved what I could on the computer and shut it down. I lit a candle and shut the rest of the house down. After I did, I just laid down on my couch and closed my eyes hoping to get some sleep.

After about 20 minutes, I realized that the ringing was not going to let me get any sleep tonight, so I decided that I would go for a walk. I locked up the house, blew out the candle, got my jacket with a hood and started walking for Gregory pond.

After I passed the chapel, the ringing was calming down a bit, still I kept going. The ringing was not going to go away anytime soon. I got over the interstate and up the road leading to Gregory pond. When I got there, I saw a late night fisher on the far side. I was planing on walking around the pond, so I might stop by and say hello. I already know who it is fishing, so I did not need to worry about it.

I put my hood up and started a light jog. I was not going to stress my self over the ringing again tonight. After about 8 minutes, I reached the other side, Hope was sitting on her bench. Her husband died a few years back, and he had a tradition of fishing in the night, after he died, she felt that he wanted Hope to carry on that tradition. So she did. I learned it about five weeks after I stopped sleeping. It became a secret between us, the ringing, and the fishing. I would stop some times and have a chat with her, and some times I would just say 'hi' and keep going.

"Morning Hope." I said as I sat down on the bench stretching.

"Morning..." She said distractedly looking over the large pond.

"Fish biting?" I asked.

"Do they ever?" She asked.

We sat quietly for a few moments, as we did, the ringing started acting up again.

"Maybe its just the wrong season to be fishing here." I suggested.

"Might be, luv" Hope looked down away for the pond at her hands.

"Something wrong?" I asked. she was being so quiet tonight.

"Just everything... No money, no job, no fish... no Jerry." She said.

I sat there for a few minutes. I knew that she was jobless, and that Jerry was the money maker. I never thought that she would lose the benefits.

"Why didn't you come to me? I work two jobs and have plenty of space at my home."

"How could I ask so much when I can't pay you back?" She asked.

"It won't matter, just think about it. I am going on a business trip for a week, and I leave the day after tomorrow. Let me know when I get back." I said.

"... OK..." She said at almost a whisper.

I got up and started walking again. The cool night air was refreshing, and the pond was calm. The ringing noise was loud, but I was used to it. After I made it past the 3/4s mark. The ringing intensified, and it was getting painful now.

I sat down on the ground and held my head. It could not get any louder, and yet, it did. The pain was unbearable, my head was going to explode. I heard nothing, only the ringing. I pulled out my phone and dialed 911, even if the EMTs could not do anything, I could barely do anything myself.

I pulled my self up and tried walking to the end of the trail. But as soon as I stood up, I passed out.

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I felt the ground vibrate beneath me, rhythmic, heavy in bass.

Why was someone blasting music? I open my eyes and find my self someplace dark. not a hospital like I was expecting. My head was clear, no pain. After a few minutes, my eyes adjusted to the darkness and I got a better look at my surroundings.

I could see that I was under some sort of platform with support bars running everywhere. I saw a opening that was away from some flashing blue lights, I pulled myself over to the opening and pulled myself up into a closet of some sort. There were thick cables running from the opening on the floor to fuse boxes on a wall in front of me. Behind me was a door. I twisted the door knob to no avail, it was locked from the other side.

I knocked on the door loudly, and after about 5 minutes, the door opened and a worker with two guards from the look of the uniform were on the other side. The guards grabbed me and dragged me out without asking anything. I asked them what happened to me, but they ignored me. I was dragged to a room and they tossed me in and shut the door.

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It had been two or three hours sence I was tossed in the room. There was a table and some very comfortable folding chairs. There was a mirror on one side of the room, though I knew it was a one way glass. By the side of the glass was a intercom.

I was sitting on a chair just twiddling my thumbs when I heard the music change tempo again, then it stopped. It had several times and I figured I am back stage to a concert. It was nothing that I recognized, and seemed like something that I might like, but could not tell from all the distortion.

I did not hear the music start back up, was it over? I heard some hushed voices and then lights on the other side of the glass turned on, showing two more guards, a woman in a suit with hair that was short, still covering her ears with purple highlights.

And then, there was another woman there, behind the one in the suit, she looked to be around her early 20s, had a sizeable chest, the longest hair I had ever seen. It was colored neon blue and was put up into two p to keep it off the ground. She was holding her arms to her sides and frowning at me.

"Might I ask whats going on?" I say into the intercom.

"Well you tell us." The woman in the suit said.

"I passed out while out on a late night jog and woke up under the stage or what ever that was. Where am I?" I asked them.

"You don't know?" I heard the blue haired girl stepped forward as she ask me. When she did, I saw that she had a sliver necklace around her neck. After she stepped forward, I saw her eyes widen a little and she closed her hand around her necklace.

"No, I don't, I was out by a pond in North Carolina when I passed out. I just want to get out of here and go back home." I told her.

She did say anything, she was rubbing the pendent between her thumb and fingers.

"Miss... you alright?" One of the two men spoke.

"... Yes, fine... Let him go... I will take care of him."

"But miss-" The guard started.

"Did I stutter?" She shot him a look, and the guard backed down. He had a computer strapped to his wrist and he pressed on the display a few times. The door opened and the blue haired woman walked over to it and beckoned me out. I followed her, I asked her where she was taking me and she said that we were going to leave the concert building, but other then that, she kept quiet. I took notice of how she was dressed, blue skintight top made from a material I did not recognize, and a short skirt on that barely covered her butt cheeks.

As we walked along a huge maze of cement hallways and stairs leading down, I noticed that all the other people we passed had a necklace, but each one was differently shaped and only had one side. The woman I was following had a full one. Were they worker passes or something?

We eventually made our way to a limo that was waiting. It had blacked out windows and was separated from the driver by a wall.

We sat down in the limo, I sat down opposite from her and she intertwined her fingers and crossed her legs.

"So..." She said quietly as the limo rolled out of the ally it was in.

"So?" I asked.

"Who are you, and where is your marker?"

"I am Jacob, and whats a marker?

"Are you from earth?" She asked me, squinting her eyes, something I found very annoying, but I held my tongue

"Yes, Born and raised in South Carolina."

"It must be true." I heard her mutter to her self. Then she sighed and took a deep breath. "Every person on this earth, is born with a necklace. Each one is unique."

"I saw them on the people backstage to whatever that was back there. I thought they were work badges or something." I said.

"Well in this world, there is no... courting, you could say. Everyone has a match, the Necklace gets cold the further you are from your soulmate, and warmer the closer you are. Sure there are a rare few who don't look for there other half, and some that ignore the necklace all together. But everyone seems happy with the system."

"Then what did yours do when you were talking to me back in the interrogation room?" I asked. I remember the look she had on her face when she got closer to me.

"... It... got warm... like nothing I had ever felt before."

I nodded at this and started to wonder where in the hell did I wake up.

"My head was ringing so much that I passed out and..."

My head... the ringing was gone.

"And..?" She asked.

"No ringing... There has been a ringing noise going on in my head for months. And now..." I lightly smacked the side of my head. "Nothing."

"Odd... That matches too..." She said quietly

"Matches what?"

"I am Hatsune miku... and you're my soulmate."