Disclaimer: I DO NOT own digimon, Hellboy, Starbucks or any other copyrighted work that I may fail to mention. If I did, I probably wouldn't be writing fan fiction.

Author's Note: Sometimes I might post random songs that I think go good with the chapter if you would like to enhance your fanfic experience. This is just a prologue and it's not the best I can do by a long shot, but after much deliberation, it was the best way to get the ball rolling. The song is "How I Disappear" by My Chemical Romance (whom I also do not own, but that's what dreams are for). J Honestly, "The Sharpest Lives" would fit nicely as well (it seems to relate to the fic as a whole.) This is my first fic so please be gentle. I don't mind constructive criticism, but please no flames. Thanks! Now, on with the show!

Prologue

It was always raining. And it could never just be rain.

Thunder crashed overhead, as if the harsh winds themselves were signaling their collision. A vein of lightning crackled a pulsing blue against the ever darkening sky. Needles fell from the heavens, rapidly splattering against every and any surface they could find. The trees were mortified and howled their frustration as they swept to kiss the ground. Once calm waves roared against the shore, sweeping away everything in their path. It was deafening and a sight of sheer horrific beauty.

She still had no clue where she was.

Then the waves swept her, dragging her down into the black sea before she could call out. She was yanked and thrown like a rag doll. As she spiraled below the surface, she was faintly aware that this was all happening too soon. The pressure built, the shivers that racked her body brought about another unpleasant realization.

She was not alone…

Fighting the current, she struggled to press forward, away from the unwelcoming prescience.

Human.

Startled, she stopped. Her oddly dry golden brown hair twisted around her face, the water nothing more than wind. It tugged her back as if to steer her toward the voice. But whatever it was hadn't spoken. But… it had to have been said aloud. How else would she have heard it? And she wasn't hearing things. She couldn't have been. It was so clear, so unmistakable. So… forlorn.

The current continued to sweep her further out, slowly burying her into the watery vortex. She gave herself up to it, thankful for the strange ability to breath that she had experienced so many times before in this place. This voice was upset, down right desperate. And worse yet… it sounded in pain.

Human.

I'm coming, I'm coming.

She froze once again, this time in awe. She hadn't said it out loud, yet it was much more than just an inner monologue. Somehow she just knew that whoever was calling out to her had gotten the message. So it was telepathy then. There was no end to the weirdness of this place.

Curious now more than ever, she swam along with the current, eager to find this source. Maybe it would know just what the heck was going on.

You.

And there he was, right below her. Wide blue, blue eyes the envy of the sea itself and full of… surprise? His hair was lengthy, but it was just hard to tell just how long it really was as the water tossed it. The layers were uneven as it whipped about his face, but the hue was a silken spun gold that put her hair color to shame. He was alabaster and his face was streaked in scars, blood flowing into the water from a wound on his full lips. He was so pale, so lifeless looking, lips nearly blue and bloodless. She faintly wondered if he was suffering from hypothermia or if it was all blood loss. Nervous, she noted that blood loss could very well be a possibility.

His clothes were torn and thanks to the water's murkiness and the odd plant that curled around him from knees to torso, it was hard to tell what they looked like anyway. The shock subsided as his face screwed up in pain and he threw his head back, one of the most mournful noises she had ever heard in her life escaping his lips. The cruel force of the water muffled it, mockingly sweeping it away from anyone else who might be able to aide him.

Instinct took over and before she knew it, she was racing to help him, to help loosen whatever the hell it was that was squeezing him. Sque-

She was frozen in a brief heartbeat of shock until the epiphany began to take hold. Before she could even finish her thought, the plant was suddenly not a plant and she didn't know why she had ever thought it could be. Frightened, she was able to trace the long appendage back up to its owner, damning her perceptiveness. Large crimson eyes glowed eerily back at her. The shock was too much and she was forced to watch as what she could only describe as some sort of water demon slunk towards her. Lined in its mouth were rows of razor sharp teeth. The sinister grin across its face was needlessly less than reassuring.

The man screamed once again, the blue tentacle inching its way to his windpipe. Her attention was quickly turned back toward the beast before her when it spoke, voice unearthly and gurgling.

"Have you come to save him?"

This place… it wasn't real, right? If it wasn't real, then she was safe no matter what. So… why not play hero?

Her crystal eyes narrowed and her lip curled in a wolfish snarl. Unbeknownst to her, her nostrils flared. "So what if I am?"

This burbling hissing noise cut through the water. It… Was it laughing at her? That was it.

"Listen fish guts, I've had enough of this crap. This is my dream, or imagination, or whatever. Now, you be a nice little kraken and let him go."

The hissing was gone and there was nothing but the hush of the current.

"I wonder how you taste."

And then it gave a great roar and the current swirled to his anger. As she watched in terror, what she could only assume to be the man's voice echoed throughout her mind.

Go.

Suddenly, she was struggling to breath. The water was pressing in around her on all sides. So much pressure. It was as if she had been in some invisible air bubble before and now it had been breeched. She was drowning. And the worst part was, it felt so real.

Rachael.

Gasping, she flailed, her lungs betraying her and sucking in water. It was one of the worst sensations she had ever felt in her life. She had loved the water since she was a child and it was almost ironic that something that had been a big part of her life would be the thing that took it.

Rachael. Wake up, Rachael. It's Jay. Rachael.

Her eyes flung wide, pulse pounding so frantically that for a second she swore that it had shimmied up into her throat. It took a few seconds for the realization to kick in and a few more for her heart to settle down. She was alive. She was okay. Everything was okay.

She dared to slowly scan her surroundings, a bit startled to find a pair of nearly black, almond shaped eyes blatantly staring at her. She blinked, the pieces gradually starting to fall into place as reality sunk in. She fell back into her seat, relief being an obvious understatement for how she felt. Faintly she was aware that there was someone speaking next to her. Someone very impatient from the sound of it.

"Rachie, what the hell happened?"

She ignored the boy in front of her and turned to the speaker. Well, as humanly possible as it was to ignore a six foot tall half -Japanese man with a face full of metal and what amounted to a platinum porcupine on his head. The young man she now faced was a bit less intimidating, but that didn't stop him from being dangerous in so many other ways.

Jay had been working in a bookstore the first time she had met him. Even way back then, despite his initial shyness, he had always had the aura about him that life had more in store for him than a simple sales clerk. The way his hazel eyes had lit up with this… fire that she had no words for whenever he talked about music or art and pouring your heart out. It was inspiring. It was just… Jay. And now, four years later, here they were, on a plane to Japan, far more than two strangers who had discovered they had a mutual love of Hellboy comics in a little bookstore in Cleveland, Ohio.

Artist's fingers waved in front of her face and Jay's soft, nasally voice murmured what could have been her name again. Fully aware, she snapped back to reality, cursing that she hadn't had time to grab a frappuccino.

"Sorry, Jay. I didn't have time to take my pills."

His exasperated sigh was enough. "Great."

Mark's annoying giggle chortled too close to her ear for comfort. Mark was an odd character to begin with and the giggling just clumped together with his overall weirdness.

"At least she didn't have time for coffee. It'd be a thousand times worse."

Perturbed, Rachael retaliated the only way she knew how in her caffeine-deprived state.

The reaction was far from the desired effect. "Honestly, Rach, sticking your tongue out? What are you, five?"

Unaware that she was only solidifying his point, she crossed her arms, too well endowed to really pull off the whole "badass" look. It's hard to glare when you're cradling your breasts, but she somehow managed. Unfazed, mark's pierced lips stretched in a Chesire smile.

"How cute, Kitty's pouting."

"Kitty's gonna claw out your 'f'ing eyes in a minute or two if you keep it up."

An eye roll and huffed "Whatever" was hardly a victory, but at least he shut up and slunk back down into his seat.

"Rachie."

Oh God…

Her eyes, a soft blue grey with the hushed dark of the plane met his stunning hazel ones. She struggled not to fall into the soft swirls of gold and green that fought to be seen through the amber. What was it about this kid that turned her to mush?

With a defeated sigh, she finally fled from his gaze. "It was just a nightmare, Jay. I'm okay."

Gently, those long fingers traced small circles on the back of her hand. He meant it to be reassuring, but the butterflies still danced around in her stomach. "You've been having a lot of those lately."

Her chest tightened with the cool huskiness that Jay called a voice. When he sang, it was sort of high, nasally, but it got your adrenaline pumping. When he spoke in that soft almost-whisper… Her knees buckled and she was thankful they were sitting down. He was like a summer's breeze creeping in through your window, slithering over your skin and thrumming against your ear drums. So many times, she had wondered if he had been fully aware of how his voice had affected her. But that was just Jay, just how he spoke. He wasn't trying to get into her pants. Or at least… she didn't think so.

She tried not to sigh as she peeked out her window at the clouds below them. She was not falling in love with her best friend. He was like a brother to her. She had seen him date girls, seen what flipped his switch and she was not it. Maybe if she repeated that mantra enough, she'd actually believe it.

"Rachie, come on. I'm usually the anti-social one here." She didn't even have to look at him to know that he was giving her that cheeky little boy grin that made her heart flutter. That in itself was confirmation enough that she was too far gone to lie anymore.

"I'm fine, Jay. I'm just nervous, I guess."

He gave her hand a soft squeeze and she knew he had bought it. As his breathing changed and she knew he had fallen asleep, she was faintly aware that he had never released her hand. Her throat tight, she continued to stare out the window, too conflicted to let go. They were just friends… holding hands… She couldn't help sparring him a glance, despite her better judgment. It was quick, but as she turned back to the window, she couldn't focus on the clouds. All she saw was Jay, asleep and adorable with his ebony dyed hair puffed up in several different directions and his Cupid's bow lips half parted in a content slumber.

She wouldn't lie to herself anymore. But lying to everyone else was a whole different story.

So, this was just the prologue. Sorry if it's a bit lengthy, or short. I want it to be more in-depth so it might seem to drag on a bit, but trust me, it'll be worth it. The narration in this chapter is also a bit jumpy for a reason. It has a connection to Rachael's "problem" which will be revealed in later chapters. They all won't wonder off track as much.

You'll get a good taste of our favorite digimon characters in the next chapter. And anyone who can guess who the "man" in the ocean and the water demon are gets a hundred cyber cookies with imaginary chocolate sprinkles on top! YAY SPRINKLES!!

cough… sorry… Well, see you next time. Please read and review!