Hello readers! My name is Adelene and if you are actually reading this Authors Note then I just want to say Hello and I hope you enjoy my new story. This is my first ever Hellboy fanfic so I hope it turns out good. This is my first character that I've wrote in awhile that hasn't been insane (if you have read me Joker/oc story then you will understand what I mean). If you haven't read my Joker story than by all means go do that once you've finished reading (and reviewing *wink, wink*) this story. Anyway back on track I do you hope you like this new story. It will be a Abe/oc fic since I've recently rediscovered my love for him and my fan girl crush on Doug Jones! I always love the weird ones haha. The first few chapters will be when my character is still young but I hope to make it interesting. So without further ado please read and enjoy... and review.

Chapter One

A New Beginning

I was my father's daughter through and through. He showed me the wonders of the world and opened my imagination to unbelievable measures even for a child. On weekends when I was off from school and he was off from work he would take me to museums and art galleries. Together we would make up our own stories of how the art came to be and what the dinosaur's lives were like before they died. I was incredibly intelligent for a seven year old. My parents and teachers called me a prodigy and I was apparently something to fuss over. But when I was with my dad I felt just like a normal kid. My father always knew how to make me feel normal like every other kid even when I felt like an outcast.

I was only seven and half when I lost my father due to a car accident. My brain would never let me forget the events of that day. My mom and I rushed to the hospital to meet the ambulance. I saw my father laid on the gurney with blood covering him for head to toe; his blood. He died before the ER doctor's and nurse's got him to a room. I felt a piece of my heart die that day; a piece that could never be filled or regrown.

I was eight when my mom remarried to a man named Lance who was an accountant. He already had two children of his own; a daughter that was fourteen and a son who was twelve. I was the youngest and they didn't seem to like me very much. I unnerved them with my awkward social skills and unusual meaning of fun. No one wanted to take me to museums or art galleries. They all thought those places were boring… even my own mother wouldn't take me anymore. She said she didn't have time; but she had the time to go shopping with my step-sister. I felt forgotten by the only real family I had left.

When my mother remarried we moved a few hours away from my home town and I knew no one. The kids in my classes didn't understand me; I was eight while the rest of them were twelve and thirteen years old. My own step-brother didn't even enjoy my company. He always told me I was embarrassing and he wished I wasn't a know it all. Sometimes I wish I could just be a normal eight year old that played with Barbie dolls and braided their hair but that was something I would never be. I was destined it seemed to be the short eight year old that was always reading a book to advance for her age during breaks at school.

When I turned nine my mother and step-father started sending me to a therapist three days a week after school. It was my own fault because I had told my mother about the terrifying nightmares I had been having; nightmares that no child should be able to dream up and I barely slept at night due to fear. Needless to say Lance thought that I had finally went off the deep end. My school performance was suffering and I couldn't focus on my own thoughts with all the voices and faces from my dreams echoing in my head. It was only a few months after seeing the psychologist that I found out that I had no true family left. It was getting worse. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't focus and then my doctor suggested putting me in a mental hospital to keep a close eye on me. My mother quickly agreed. I felt like she betrayed me. She didn't even ask my opinion or ask for time to think it over. It was an immediate yes with no hesitation. I had no say in it what so ever.

They were glad to get rid of me. They had no room for me in their picture perfect family. I was a freak. I was the last link to my father and I felt like my mother was betraying him by sending me away. I wished my father was still alive. He would understand. He wouldn't think I was a freak. He would have known what to do.

I didn't like the hospital. Nothing they did made me any better. The nightmares were getting worse. I dreamed of monsters and fires of destruction. When I first started my therapy I told the doctors everything in hopes of getting better and maybe being able to see my family again and live a normal life. I lost hope after a while and stopped talking to them all together. My dreams haunted me and sometimes I had them when I was sure I was awake. My life was a constant routine that sometime I felt like I knew everything that would happen before it did. I felt like a lived in constant Déjà vu.

My dreams had been peaceful the last few nights and I was glad. I dreamed of an escape; a savior that would come save me from this dreadful hospital. The man in my dreams was a middle aged gentleman with glasses who I only knew as The Professor. He seemed to be a kind and intelligent man that understood me more than anyone. He reminded me of my father; my real father, and that made me smile into my pillow when I dreamed of him.

It was a Tuesday when my life changed in a very unusual way. I was drawing in one of the activity rooms at a table by myself when one of the nurses approached me.

"Abigail, you have a visitor." She told me softly as she stood over me glancing at my drawing of my most recent nightmare. It was a large demon looking creature with large horns on its forehead and red skin.

"I don't get visitors." I told her plainly, never looking up or pausing from my picture. It was a statement that was sadly true. In the year that I had been here my mother had not visited me, not once. She didn't even answer my letters. I may have just been ten and a half but I was far from stupid. I understood when I wasn't wanted.

"Well, you do today." She told me as she lightly touched my shoulder. She was the only nurse that wasn't afraid to touch me. "Come on, let's not keep him waiting."

I sighed before standing and picking up my drawing book and closing it. The nurse, whose name was Carol, lead me through the halls of the hospital before stopping at my usual therapy room. My head tilted slightly to the left in confusion.

"Is this visitor another doctor?" I asked with slight fear. I was tired of doctors, especially new ones.

"Doctor Harbor said he was some kind of professor." Carol told me. Doctor Harbor was my usual doctor and therapist. I wasn't fond of him but I wasn't really fond of anyone in this place. They all thought I was crazy and was at any minute going to go off the deep end. I think it mostly had to do with my silence. I didn't talk unless I was spoken too.

She opened the door and lightly pushed me inside before I could ask anything more. I heard the door close behind me as I kept my gaze on the tiled floor.

"You must be Abigail Vincent." A friendly voice spoke from somewhere in front of me. I shrugged my shoulders but didn't speak a word. I refused to be seen as a science project to poke and prod at. "I've heard a lot about you. You're a very extraordinary girl." He continued.

"I think the word you're looking for is disturbed." I mumbled. I heard him laugh lightly and my gaze snapped up to him. I stood rigid and my breath got stuck somewhere in my chest. I felt like I was going to either puke or faint maybe even both. The man that was setting in one of the two leather chairs was the exact man I had dreamed about.

"You're not real." I told him as I shook my head to try to make the dream go away. I backed up to get as far away for him as possible until my back hit the door. It had to be another dream. There was no way he was actually here. It wasn't impossible. I was in the middle of pinching my already bruised arm when he spoke again.

"And why would you say that?" He questioned softly.

"Because you're just a dream, you were my hero that got me out of this place." I told him as my emerald eyes stared at him with tears building up ready to fall down my cheeks.

"I'm not a dream Abigail and I am here to help you." He told me as he stood up and walked towards me. He put a gentle hand on my shoulder and the tears poured down my face as a sob broke through my lips. I could feel the warmth radiating through the palm of his hand... he was real.

"How are you real? How did you find me?" I questioned him confused and frightened.

"I believe you have an extraordinary gift Abigail. I've seen your drawings." He began telling me as he gestured for us to both set down. I followed him in wonder. "My name is Professor Trevor Broom. I work for a branch of the government that deals with... unusual things." He explained.

"Unusual?" I questioned. "What's so unusual about me?"

"I believe you have the gift of sight." He told me. I gave him a look of complete confusion. "I have a friend who knew someone that has worked on your case and he asked me to take a look into you when he heard about your interesting drawings. He said it was like nothing he had ever seen from someone so young, drawings of so much darkness with so much detail. I took a look and was surprised at some of the things you have dreamed about. Things that only people with experience with the paranormal should know about."

"What are you talking about?" I asked him. To answer my question he pulled out one of my pictures that I had drawn about four months ago of a mechanical looking man in a long coat with a face that looked slightly like a gas mask. From his coat sleeves two dangerous looking blades came out behind his hands.

"This man's name was Karl Ruprecht Kroenen and he was high in ranks of the Nazi Party during World War Two." He explained.

"In my... dream," I began hesitantly. "He was a killing machine. But it didn't look anything like during a war. It was a museum or something. A woman was with him."

"I wouldn't worry. He's long since dead. His body was found in a unmarked grave decades ago." The Professor assured me.

"I would like to take you with me. I don't think you belong here." He told me. "I spoke to your mother and father-"

I let out a small huff. "That man is my step-father. My real father would never leave me in this place."

"My apologies, they didn't seem to have any complaints about where you go sadly. So the decision is yours. I won't make you do anything." He explained to me. My mother's attitude towards my well-being didn't surprise me anymore.

"Where will you be taking me and what will happen to me once I'm there?" I questioned wearily. This man seemed to think I had a gift; a gift that was unusual. I was tired of being studied.

"I work for a part of the government that's called The Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense. I live at the base as well which is located in Trenton, New Jersey. It's just a few hours from here actually." He told her.

"What happens to me once I'm there?" I asked him. The Professor smiled at me kindly.

"I would like to study you but not in the way you are thinking. Like I said I believe you possess an incredible gift and I would like to keep an eye on you. Keep a track of these dreams of yours to prove my theory." He explained to me.

"So you just want me to tell you about my... nightmares?" I asked cautiously.

"That's right. That's all I ask of you. Just to be truthful about them. No hiding any of them a way in that sketch book of yours." He gave me a knowing look before glancing down at the sketch book I held in my tight grasp. "You'll be tutored and have books beyond even your imagination. I was told you were quite fond of reading."

"I'll go with you." I told him quietly after several minutes of thinking it over in my head. Anything was better than staying where I wasn't wanted.

"Wonderful, I'll get a nurse to take you to your room so you can get your stuff and I'll feel out the paper work required to get you out of here. It won't take long I assure you." He promised with a kind smile. I gazed at him in amazement. It was just like my dream. I was beyond confused at this point.

It didn't take long for The Professor to get me released from the hospital and before I knew it I was setting in the back seat of a large black SUV with an FBI looking agent driving with The Professor setting in the passenger's seat. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew my shoulder was being shook by Professor Broom and him telling me we had arrived.

The first thing I noticed was how large the place was. It wasn't like anything I had ever seen. When we walked in we stood in a large open room with a large desk at the far end were a man stood stiff. He only nodded at us before pressing a button. Professor Broom tugged me slightly closer to him when the ground moved and started lowering into the ground like an elevator.

I followed The Professor until we reached two large golden doors. He pushed them opened and I was greeted by thousands of books. I looked around the shelves in utter amazement. I turned to see Professor Broom smiling at me.

"I hope you don't mind but I have a few people that I need to go see to tell them that you have joined us. I thought you might like it here in my office so you can stay here while I'm gone. I shouldn't be too long." He explained to me.

"I'll be fine. I'm sure I can find something to read in here to pass the time." I assured him with a tiny smile of my own.

"Wonderful, I'll try not to be too long. Also just for your safety I would like if you didn't leave this room while I'm gone. I don't want you getting lost in this place. Can you promise me that?" He asked. I nodded before going off to look at the shelves of books lining the walls. I heard him leave as I looked at the titles of the books in my line of vision. I didn't dare try to get anything from the upper shelves. Some of the books looked like antiques and I didn't want to get in trouble.

I grabbed a book that looked be about famous people in the 1800's off the shelf and looked around the room to find a comfortable place to sit. That was when I first took notice of the large glass tank in the room. Curious, I walked closer to it with the book clutched to my chest. I stopped only when my nose was pressed to the glass as I gazed inside the large tank. I was disappointed when I saw it was empty. I thought it would be full of beautiful fish but I could see nothing swimming around inside. Sighing in disappointment I turned away only to run into a stand placed in front of the tank. Looking down at it I saw the stand held a large antique looking book that was opened to about half way through. Puzzled I looked around me to see three more identical stands with books on them as well.

"Why would you need books in front of a fish tank? An empty fish tank." I mumbled confused as I looked over the stand that I had run into. I touched the pages of the worn book gently and before I could look through it a soft voice stopped me.

"Please don't close the book. I'm not quite done with it yet." It was a male voice but it wasn't the Professor's. I let out a small squeak of surprise. I hadn't heard the doors open and from what I could tell I was the only one in the room.

"If you don't mind could you turn the page please?" The same voice requested. I froze. I had to be hearing things. I was in a room alone. There was no one to talk to me here. "Miss?" The voice hesitantly questioned.

"Where are you?" I questioned my voice full of panic.

"Behind you." He answered. I twirled around to face the empty tank once again but it wasn't empty anymore. I let out a small scream before stepping back only to hit the book stand and tumble to the floor. My eyes widened as they took in the sight before me. Inside the once empty tank was a man... or sort of a man. He appeared to have light blue skin and dark blue markings over his chest and head. His eyes were large and oval shaped and he had gills on the side of his neck. He was only wearing black swimming trunks and his feet and hands were webbed. He seemed just as shocked about me as I was about him.

"You're just a little girl." He said softly. I couldn't even force myself to speak. I just continued to stare at him from my place on the floor. "I'm terribly sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you. I won't hurt you." He continued. I found his voice oddly soothing to my frightened brain.

"A-are you a mermaid?" I asked him the first thing that my brain could think of. My voice shook in shock and fright.

"I think I would be more of a merman." He corrected me politely. I continued to stare as he swam closer to the front of the tank. "But actually my species is called Icthyo Sapien or so we believe." He explained to me.

"Fascinating." I mumbled as I looked at him in wonder. Shaking off my fear of him I forced myself to stand. Taking a few hesitant steps towards the tank, I put my right hand on the cold glass. The merman seemed to be just as puzzled about me as I was about him.

"Where were you when I came in?" I questioned. "I looked in the tank and it was empty."

"I was upstairs. Up there is the entrance to the tank. I heard the doors open and I thought I heard The Professor's voice. Once again I didn't mean to startle you. We don't usually get children here." He explained.

"The Professor brought me. He told me to wait on him in here. He didn't warn me that you be in here though." I huffed a little. The fish man didn't seem too scary now that I had talked to him and I was sure he didn't mean me any harm. I trusted Professor Broom and I don't think he would put me in a room with someone that would hurt me. "Do you have a name?" I asked.

"Oh yes, my name is Abraham Sapien." He told me as he lifted one of his webbed hands to touch the glass in the same spot mine was spread out on the opposite side.

"Fascinating," I told him with a tiny smile. "My name's Abigail-" but surprisingly I didn't get to finish before he interrupted me.

"Abigail Vincent, you're currently ten years old and incredibly intelligent. You were brought here from a mental hospital due to your unusual nightmares. You have bruises on your arms due to pinching them to make sure you're awake throughout the day and you want nothing more than to be seen as normal." He told me before his hand slid off the glass and back to hanging at his side. I stared at him in shock.

"How- how did you know all of that?" I asked as I ran my fingers lightly over the bruises on my right arm. How did he possibly know how I got them and why I did it? I never told anyone.

"I have a unique frontal lobe that allows me to receive information through the brain." He explained to me.

"So you read my mind?" I asked surprised.

"Basically." He told me.

"Fascinating," I breathed out in amazement. "A little scary but fascinating all the same."

"That's the fourth time you've said that word. Do you like it that much? The word fascinating I mean." He pointed out to me.

"Oh, well my father... My real father when he was alive he taught me to pick a new word every day, learn the meaning, and say it as many times that day as I could. He told me it was to help evolve my vocabulary. It's one thing that I've never stopped doing even after he died." I explained to him.

"Your father seemed like he was a very smart man." Abraham commented.

"He was. He passed away when I was seven." I told him, my gaze sliding to the floor. I turned away from him then and studied the books on the stands once again. "Do you read all of these?" I questioned pointing to the four books in front of his tank.

"Oh yes! Four books every day as long as someone turns the pages." He answered. I heard the water from the tank swish around as he moved. With a tiny smile I turned the page on the first stand and proceeded to do the same on the other three. When I was done I heard him thank me.

It was silent after that and about an hour later the large gold doors opened once again and Professor Broom stepped back inside. He smiled at Abraham before turning to me as I sat on the sofa with the book I had gotten opened up in my lap.

"I see you have been acquainted with Abe." He said as he sat down beside me.

"He read my mind." I told him. He stared at me a moment before he smiled reassuringly.

"Yes, that is one of the unique gifts that Abe has. I hope he didn't scare you." Professor Broom told me.

"He did at first but he seems nice." I told him. I yawned as I closed the large book on my lap. I lay back deeper into the soft leather sofa as I pulled my knees up to my chest. My head titled slightly towards the left as I felt the events of the day finally take a toll on me. My heavy eyes followed Abraham as he swam around in his tank.

"Abigail, I don't have a room prepared for you yet. I hadn't exactly been planning on bringing you back today. I thought your parents wouldn't let you go or at least would need more persuasion. Will you be comfortable here for tonight?" He spoke softly. I mumbled my consent and I felt him move off the sofa. Before I knew it he had me lying down on the sofa with a pillow under my head and he said goodnight to me before tucking a blanket over me.

I woke with a start; my heart throbbing in my chest painfully. My breathing was quick as I stared into the darkness around me. My eyes finally focused on the large tank and sighed in relief when I realized where I was. I was safe here. Nothing was going to harm me here. Shaking the disturbing visions of my nightmare out of my head I pulled the blanket around my shoulders before quietly stepping towards the tank. I sat myself cross legged in front of it. The tank was dark but I could make out Abraham's form floating lazily towards the top of the tank. I guessed that he was asleep.

I sighed as I pressed my forehead on the cool glass. My heart was still racing but the cold glass was helping the throbbing in my head. I hated my nightmares. They were always so much death and destruction in them. I never could make much sense of them. It wasn't like a story but more like flashes and bits and pieces of conversations. I let out a tiny sob as I recalled the red demon that haunted my dreams lately. It terrified more than anything I had ever dreamed about.

Before I could talk myself out of it I lifted one of my hands to the glass and lightly tapped my knuckles on it. "Mr. Sapien... would you happen to be awake?" I whispered into the dark room. I wasn't sure if he could even hear me from inside the tank. I glanced up to his floating form after I spoke and saw him jerk before spinning around in the water. He swam until he was in front of me just like earlier today.

"Well, I'm awake now." He told me softly. He didn't seem mad but I never knew about adults.

"I-I didn't mean to wake you," I began. "I just, I wanted... I don't know what I wanted. I'm sorry I woke you." I stammered out shakily. I tried to hold back the tears as I sniffled. "I'll just go back to the couch. You can go back to sleeping. I won't bother you again Mr. Sapien."

His voice stopped me before I could stand back up. "Please, don't go." He said to me as I was in a half setting, half standing position. He gestured for me to set down once again. I followed his suggestion and set myself back down on the floor with my knees pulled up to my chest with my arms wrapped around my knees.

"You're frightened." He said as he studied me. His hand lifted to the glass but after a moment his head tilted to the side with a look I could only assume was confusion. I wasn't sure though since his face muscles didn't really seem to move with expressions.

"What?" I asked confused as he continued to stare at me in silence for longer than I was able to tolerate.

"Your mind won't let me in. You've blocked me from seeing." His voice showed his confusion and shock.

"I'm not doing it on purpose." I assured him. "Be glad you can't see them... they're terrifying." I said as I shivered at the memory of the burning building and the screams of people inside. The red demon showed up in my dream tonight as well. He was always in them recently. He terrified me more than anything.

"Do you wish to talk about it?" Abraham offered with a hand gesture that made the water splash around him.

"No, I've talked about them enough for the past year. I just want them to go away." I mumbled my voice breaking near the end as the tears finally fell from my green eyes. I heard movement from the tank and looked to see that Abraham was no longer there. A sob left my mouth before I could stop it. I had only known him for a day and he had already tired of me.

I didn't hear the footsteps behind me but when I felt a wet textured hand touch my shoulder I had to hold my scream. Abraham was standing over me in what I could only describe as a very awkward stance as he looked down at me as I was huddled together in front of his tank. My tears stopped as I stared at him in amazement. He was outside of his tank!

"No, no, no-" I mumbled as I untangled myself and stood up to face him. I would have fallen right back down if it wasn't for Abraham helping me stay up right "You're a merman... you need to get back in your tank or you'll die!" I said as I put my hands on his slightly wet and cold, blue skinned chest as I gave him a push in the direction of stairs that was near the tank. I think I was only actually able to move him a few inches before I stopped when I heard him chuckle.

"Abigail, I'll be fine. I can be without water for a while." He assured me. I felt my face heat up in embarrassment as I quickly removed my hands off his chest. I wrapped them around my stomach as I stared up at him shyly.

"Sorry, I just didn't want you to die on my account." I told him shyly.

Now that he was out of the water I noticed he was quite tall even by adult standards and I was quite short for even by child standards; it made my neck hurt looking up at him. We both stood in awkward silence for a few minutes before he waved one of his webbed hands towards the sofa that I had been sleeping on prior to my nightmare.

I followed him as he sat down on one side and me on the other. I watched him as he sat with his hands resting on his knees. My parents always told me it was rude to stare but I couldn't help it. Abraham fascinated me. Not many people could say that they had met a real merman and spoke to them.

"You don't have to do this." I told him as I stared at his chest where the dark blue lines marked his body like tiger stripes. "I'll be fine... really! I don't want to keep you away from your sleep."

"You're not keeping me away from anything. You're scared... is there anything that would help? I can get The Professor if you like." He suggested.

"I think I just want to try to go back to sleep." I mumbled before I let out a long yawn showing my exhaustion. Nights of waking up terrified were a normal occurrence for me. I heard Abraham move off the sofa and I stretched my short legs out on the sofa and closed my eyes tightly and prayed for a dreamless sleep. I jumped slightly when I felt a blanket being laid over me. I opened my eyes to see Abraham walking to the stairs to go back inside his tank. I smiled and burrowed myself into the blanket that was slightly damp in the places his hands touched before following victim to sleep once again.

So there you go.. chapter one! I really hope you enjoyed it and PLEASE REVIEW. Reviews make my type faster haha. Also for all registered readers who review this chapter you will receive a sneak peak of chapter two... so do it. Review I say! Also don't forget to check out my other fanfic it's call Stitched Together and it's a Joker/Oc that is highly interesting if I do say so myself! So until next time. If you have any questions or whatever I am always happy to talk so PM me!