Just a little preveiw for this story. Since I'm working on another fanfic right now (almost done), I won't have the next chapter up for about a month, but I hope this gets you excited for that. Oh, and the first line is from a song called Happy to Give, by Journey, which will appear a few times throughout the story.

I do not own 9. I don't own Happy to Give ether.

Prolouge: Awake

"I was born a believer, played the fool."

A voice resounded out of the emptiness, and a female one at that.

"Who...who is it?" His voice rasped, staining to hear the mysterious voice again. Darkness incased him, but he could tell he was laying on a wooden floor.

Wait a minute...he could speak, he could feel, he was...alive!

"H-how?" His pen nibbed hand went to his neck instantly, grasping the cold metal of the key that hung from his ink stained body. He sat up, trying to grasp a sense on where he was.

He remembered, the last living memory he had was one so cold and painful. A bridge, the Machine catching him in it's grip, bringing him down with it. The turned to face it, and then there was a green flash, then...falling...and then nothing.

Somehow, he didn't know whether he was still in his world or in the next, but he was alive.

A nervous smile crossed his face, overjoyed that he was alive once more. If he was alive, then, the others, he figured, they must be around too. The voice he had heard earlier, well, he'd have to figure that out later, but he just was so happy. He was...

Then it came, his hands started twitching, and his eyes grew wide with fear.

"N-no...no! Not this soon!" His eyes darted around, looking for paper, but it was too dark to see. Drawing was the only way to relieve part of that pain, if he couldn't find any paper...then it would be a lot worse.

There was no paper in this dark room though.

He tried to scream, but it was trapped in his throat as he fell back down to the floor. Painful spasms ran through his body, and he struggled to breathe against the overwhelming might of the vision that was taking hold of him, images exploding into his head.

. . .

(~Vision~)

Water; there was water.

It was soaking him, blasting his internal workings with the cold liquid. It invaded his artificial lungs, filling them as he helplessly was tossed and thrown about in the storm. He tried to cough the water back up, but it kept coming. Everything was misfiring, he could feel his body being thrown against metal walls.

How much more could he take before he was tossed unconscious...or worse...?

Then, it stopped.

Something covered his eyes, and there was the sound of something opening. His body ached as he lay there, his breathing rasped due to the water.

Suddenly, there was light. It was small, but it grew. It grew more and more bright, then it blinded him.

He felt like someone was lifting him from that darkness. Something else held him, something soft. His sight was blurred, but there was a face looking down at him.

And what stared back at him were hazel eyes that were the equivalent of gold.

(~End vision~)

That's it for now, but I'll try and get the next chapters up as soon as possible. Until then, feel free to leave reveiw.