-1"He may not have that much longer to live. Someone get that heart in here, fast and still beating preferably."

"Doctor, he's starting to go…" Loud erratic beeping. "He's flat lining! We can't lose him just yet…I promised that little girl out there she could say goodbye to her brother."

The doctor turns his head, his face blinded out by the florescent bulbs beaming down on the operation table. He stands over a now newly lifeless form with wires flowing out of it like mutant streams of stabilization. The streams seem to have failed to supply water, life, to their ocean. The hum of the heart monitor continued and rang over the silence as the nurses and surgeons gathered around to harvest the heart before it was too late.

"It was a brave thing he did, giving up his organs to save the guy who killed him." The nurse murmured to her colleague as she handed the ice filled chest to the head surgeon.

The other woman nodded, a wry smile on her face as she was handed the cooler. Quickly she rushed away to get the heart to its new home.

xx

Murdoc blearily opened his eyes and managed a raspy groan. He had no idea where he was, let alone what he was doing there. He blinked away the sleep and mucus that had accumulated to stick his eyelids shut. Murdoc rubbed at his eyes with a calloused and paled green hand with wires and tubes shooting out of it. The IV's that were connected and pierced through him rattled as he shifted. He attempted to sit up but was met with a ripping and tearing pain in the middle of his chest. He clutched a hand to it and hissed in pain, panting and working his way into a sitting position.

He was in a hospital room. Well that was pretty inconvenient. He wondered just what he had done to get here, fight some bloke at the bar again? Murdoc made a mental note jokingly to himself to lay off his drinking. He laughed out loud to himself, knowing he would never do such a thing.

"I see we've still got a sense of humor." he looked up through his jet black bangs and heavily lidded eyes to see Noodle standing at the foot of his bed. She rolled up the sleeves of her sweatshirt and plopped down delicately on the edge, kicking her feet absentmindedly underneath.

Murdoc watched Noodle with interest until finding words to speak. "Wha' 'appenit to me Noodle luv?" he asked casually. He wasn't exactly aware that the news that Noodle had to bare to him wasn't exactly the most comforting.

She inhaled with what seemed to be a bit of a struggle. Was she going to cry or something? Murdoc cringed at the very idea. He hated being around people when they cried, it just radiated awkwardness and meant they needed comfort. Murdoc wasn't a supplier of comfort in the slightest. However, Noodle kept herself together and managed to find her light, gentle, and slightly accented voice.

"Last night when we were all at Kong Studios there was a knock at the door. It was some man who allowed himself in when 2D-san answered the door." Of course Dullard would answer the door for a stranger, Murdoc thought to himself. He nodded to show Noodle he was still listening and she continued in that same shaky and nerve grinding voice that drove Murdoc to the edge of comfort. "The man withdrew a pistol and claimed he was a pirate…after you." her eyes widened underneath her purple hair and she jabbed Murdoc in the arm with a pointy and slim finger. Murdoc blinked, Noodle had never acted like this before.

"Did some fink 'appen to Dullard?" It wasn't that he cared for 2D's well-being. It was far from that. He just didn't want to have to go out and waste some of his time finding a new singer and keyboardist. That time could have been spent making more albums and money. That was what Murdoc was in it for, money, fame, and some women on the side. He wasn't in this race of the music industry just to hear 2D's pretty voice cascading over his bass riffs. Although, it was pretty good.

Noodle blinked away a tear that had accumulated in the corner of her eye and turned her head away from Murdoc. His heart sank, was his front man dead? Murdoc immediately started preparing a mental list of numbers to start calling to find himself a new singer. That is, until Noodle's now quavering and sputtering voice pierced his selfish musings.

"The pirate man he…turned his gun on you as you walked out into the hallway. You saw him and pulled out your own. Shots were fired and they went into your chest and stomach. One of the bullets pierced 2D…in the head." she looked at Murdoc in the places where the bullets had hit him, her eyes especially fixated on his chest. "The man was killed when Russel strangled him and pulled his own gun on him. A-and…..now…" Murdoc held up a hand to silence her. He rubbed the sides of his head and fought to recall this memory that Noodle had told him. Pirates? Well yeah he knew where they had come from and why they wanted him. How did they know about Kong Studios though? He hadn't said anything about that in Mexico. At least, he didn't think so. Why had he been carrying a gun around with him? Although, that was pretty classy. It was so Clint Eastwood to carry around a gun with oneself and shoot any sod who was asshole enough to try and shoot back.

"Dullard's dead isn' 'e?" Murdoc asked, deciding he wanted to get Noodle's little story session over with and get to the point.

Noodle nodded, "Hai. His heart…beats within you now Murdoc-sama." She curled her knees up and rested her chin on them, reaching out to touch his chest to feel her "brother's" heart twittering underneath Murdoc's ribs.

Murdoc, on the other hand, felt like he was going to be sick. He coughed and fought down the bile that was making a fast race for his mouth. This was unbelievable. Sure, he could get over 2D being dead in a month or so. That wouldn't rip him apart too much. But living the rest of his life with the idiot's heart beating blood through his body kind of revolted him. In fact, he kind of wished he was dead and with Satan in place of 2D and all of his "righteous" heavenly escorts.

He remembered Noodle, who was sitting and watching him expectantly. He was just about to ask her where Lards was when he suddenly appeared. It was strange because of his size, it was hard for Russel to just materialize without being noticed first. Murdoc gave him a raised eyebrow when he noticed that Russel's white eyes glowed with rage and murderous contempt. The green man shivered and contemplated crawling underneath the scratchy white hospital sheets in an attempt to hide from the impending doom he sensed hovering around the large percussions expert like a black storm cloud.

"Muds!" It was all he had to say for Murdoc to realize all that was running through Russel's thick bald head. He wasn't exactly a hard person to read and evaluate. "Don't just sit there smiling like a fucking idiot. Do you at least feel bad for 2D? He died all because of you." he huffed and panted. His fists were clenched tight so that his knuckles grew white and a temple pulsed dangerously on his forehead.

"I see how you feel about this Tubs. It's not exactly all my fault you-" Murdoc tried to reason with the angry giant, hoping that his heart transplant wouldn't have been all for naught and that he would live just a few days more. Russel caught him off by stepping dangerously close to him, so close that when he spoke spittle found its way into Murdoc's eye.

"It's all your fault Muds. You could never take the blame for anything. Well you know what? You can take the blame for the end of your precious band because I'm out and so is Noodle. Come on baby-girl." He regarded the Japanese girl curled into a ball on the foot of Murdoc's bed. Tears were streaming out of her eyes and a pang of guilt hit Murdoc for the first time in his life. His little puppet was crying, and it was all his fault.

The feelings of guilt retracted as she rose to leave with Russel. He could feel rage boiling through his veins like cyanide and he moved (with great pain and hissing) to his feet. Monitors started blipping to warn the nurses that Murdoc was doing something that was dangerous to his condition; he ignored them. Instead, he tried to chase after his band. They couldn't just leave him now, after all the fame and fortune he'd given them.

"Lards! Noodle-luv! Ya can' leave me, eh? Aftah all I done for ya. I' was my band an' you can' leave my band unless I tell ya so!" he shook his fist and couldn't walk anymore. The pain searing from the stitches in the middle of his chest kept him rooted to the spot. Murdoc bit his lip and watched in desperation as Russel and Noodle's backs retreated into the crowd. Nurses rushed over to him, shushing him and pleading with him to go head back to his room and rest. He couldn't do anything else so he decided to listen to them, batting away their hands and muttering, "Stick I' up yo' nose old bag, yeah?"

-Chapter 1 Fin-

Author's Note: Ah, I hope I didn't lose any readers who are 2D fans. I was pretty sad when I started toying with this idea but I decided that it may become something pretty great. Anyway, I hope everyone was in character. Especially Murdoc, considering he shall be the main character. My accents were probably horribly written, my apologies. As an off topic side note this story was inspired by the Clint Eastwood movie Blood Work. I recommend it. Feedback, good or bad, is welcomed. Thanks (: