A/N: Hi everyone! So as promised, here is the sequel to 'The Substitute' I really enjoyed writing that story and thanks to all the reviews, I really appreciate it.

My word, this story is a lot harder to write though…It's taken me over a week just to get it started.

This is going to be a 2DxNoodle story 'cause I just love em so very much. However this first chapter is basically setting everything up so it's very heavy on the Russel because I see him as the most unbiased viewpoint, and hey! The big guy needs more love!

Hope this first chapter doesn't bore you too much; there will be more action in later chapters I promise and much more 2DxNoodle *insert fangirisms here*.

Btw, I changed some specifics regarding the whole el manana vid to fit my story a bit better; this is fan fiction after all.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, the Gorillaz belong to the very brilliant Damon and Jamie.

mmmmm…I could eat a Damon sandwich right about now…

On with the story XD

Rebuilding Stuart Pot

"Real friendships are bound by the truth"

1. The Truth

"Russell, it's 'bout 2D… I need yeh help, we 'ave to get Noodle back"

Russel shuddered at the shrill urgency which laced Murdoc's words. He knew that this day would come. The day in which he would be forced to reveal the truth. He just didn't expect today to be that the one.

This morning had started the same way as every other of the drummer's new life had, mundane. He would wake up to his mundane girlfriend, in his mundane house, travel to his mundane job at a mundane office. 4 years ago, he had made an agreement with himself to live a normal life; he just didn't expect it to be so…unsatisfying.

When he first left the band, Russel's ego was dangerously over inflated. He convinced himself that he didn't need the others; he could make it on his own. The Gorillaz name gathered quiet an audience at the time and Russel figured that it would set him up perfectly for a solo career. However, without them, it fell apart. He was nothing without them; albeit a world class drummer, a drummer is nothing without a band, neither is a guitarist or a bassist or even a singer.

So Russel convinced himself that he could continue with a normal life; after all he was planning to take some time out, refresh his outlook on the world. Soon all of the pieces slotted into place and Russel Hobbs: Superstar had faded out of existence to make way for Russel Hobbs: accountant. A miserable man trapped by a navy suit and tie.

When Murdoc's phone call finally came on that dull Monday morning, the large drummer was relieved above all things. He never really felt like himself in his new life. In fact, he felt like he was just living in this mundane existence to pass time until the band got back together. This life was merely procrastination, a distraction from his main purpose. Russel could feel himself slipping back into his old mindset as the days passed by. He would often be surprised to find himself nonchalantly tapping a beat on his desk, or humming one of the bands old songs in the copy room.

However another emotion took control when Murdoc's voice was heard on the other end of the line, anger. That green skinned bastard had failed to mention to the drummer that he had made a new album, without him. He didn't so much as get a word from Murdoc and was horrified when he saw an ad on TV promoting something called "Plastic Beach". Russel had put his heart and soul into this band, they were his family, well at least he still thought of 2D and Noodle that way.

Noodle…he hadn't thought about her in a while.

"You gotta lot of nerve callin' me Muds! I'm replaceable am I? Well I aint got anythin' to say to your green ass!" Russel fumed down the phone line; he was finding it hard to control himself and suddenly became aware of the attention drawn to his office cubical.

"Oi lards! Tha' fat cloggin up yer ears is it? I said this aint about me; it's about old Two Dents, e' needs 'elp!"

"Right" Russel had managed to calm himself down a bit since his outburst. "What's up with 'D?"

"I dun't kno 'ow ta explain, e's lost tha plot, e's about half an hour away from burstin' through ma door wiv an axe!" Murdoc scratched his head as he tried to think of a way to explain the cyborg to Russ. Whatever way he put it, Russel was going to be furious.

"Why, what happened? What did you do?" Russel began to get worked up again; he knew that sooner or later 2D's already fragile state was almost certainly going to crack under the constant abuse from Murdoc. He felt a large wave of guilt wash over him as he knew he could have prevented it more than he did. 2D was such a kind person; he didn't deserve the treatment he got from his band mates. On occasion, Noodle would stand up for him and on an even rarer occasion Russel would too, like the Paula incident. But too many times they let it slide and would turn the other way. Russel was a bad friend.

"Erm , well, e sorta didn't want ta be on tha new album. But I really needed a singer, so I erm…sorta had 'im shipped over, ya kno' against 'is will." Murdoc chuckled slightly as a way to relieve the tension building up between himself and Russel.

"WHAT!" Heads turned towards the large white eyed drummer sat in a small office chair grinding his teeth as he slammed his fists onto an undeserving wooden desk. Russel mouthed a quick apology to his co workers then returned his focus to the phone in his hand. "Muds, that's just cold man! That's low, even for you! Ya ass don't even deserve 'D as a friend."

"That's not even the worst part" Murdoc sniggered once again in an attempt to soften Russel's anger. He took a large gulp from a bottle of rum resting on his study desk and went to speak again. "I knew tha''e wos gonna try an' leave, so yeh kno 'ow faceache hate's whales?"

Russel rolled his eyes, his grip on the phone got tighter. "Oh man, ya didn't."

"Yeh, I did. I bribed a whale to watch 'im, tha' way, 'e wouldn't want ta leave."

"Yo sick Muds."

"That's not everything. I couldn't make an album wiv just me and the dullard could I? I needed a guitarist…" Russel's eyes widened, intrigued. He had wondered how Murdoc had made a new album with the absence of Noodle as well as himself. Murdoc may have been the brains behind the band, but no amount of brains would give him the ability to create an album with only vocals and a bass.

"What did you do?" Russel became impatient with Murdoc's constant stalling. Murdoc rarely showed any form of uncertainty or…was that guilt that Russel detected in the bassists voice? The drummer took another moment to calm himself again. "Listen, Muds, no matter how bad this is, just tell me. You want me to help 'D right? Ya gotta tell me what's goin on. I need to know the truth, and I mean everything, if we got any chance of helpin' him out."

"I…erm…well it's sorta funny really…I made a guitarist." Murdoc paused as he attempted to figure out how to word it. "Yer know how ya always said that our Noodle-girl wos irreplaceable? Well I couldn't find 'er so I did tha next best thing. I made a copy of 'er. I-I made a cyborg outta Noodle's DNA so that it look's like 'er and play's like 'er. As you can imagine, that was the final nail in the coffin fer facache, next thing I knew, 'e was already gone, 'e's completely lost it. I dun't know what ta do. I'm… I'm sorry Russel." Murdoc took a deep breathe, preparing for Russel's verbal assault that would certainly come his way. He knew Russel tended to be much more sensitive when the subject shifted to Noodle; she was his pride and joy after all. "Russ, say somethin' yer killin me here!" Murdoc noticed that no reply came from his former drummer, only silence.

"Okay." Russel let his eyes shift to the floor. No matter how angry he was at Murdoc's sadistic ways Russel stayed cool. He knew that getting angry again would just further strain whatever little relationship he had left with the bassist. It was finally time. Finally time for Murdoc to hear the truth.

"Okay! Is tha all yer got lards? Why aint ya threatenin' ta kill me, why aint ya tearin yer office apart? Yer understand wot I did right? I made a copy of Noodle. A fuckin' robot fer Satan's sake! And I treat 'er badly lards. Where tha 'ell is that fire gone Russ. Wot's 'appened to ya?" Mudoc frantically pranced around his study with the phone still pressed to his ear. Four years ago, Russel would have been right over there in a second wrapping the phone cable round the bassist's neck as a make-shift noose. Russel had seemed to have lost his spark, this was enough to almost frighten Murdoc. He couldn't be responsible for bringing both Russel and 2D back from the edge. He was a man of little compassion; he severely lacked the emotional availability.

"Muds, I guess I can forgive you for that… if you can forgive me."

"Wot the bloody 'ell are yer talkin' about?"

"I lied Muds. I lied about Noodle."

#####Flashback#####

The morning was laced with a fresh mist surrounding Kong, it was still very early. A 15 year old Noodle strolled into the kitchen to find Russel already preparing breakfast for his band mates, despite the fact that it would be a matter of hours before the two remaining members would be conscious.

Noodle cleared her throat to alert the large man of her presence. Russel turned to face her sending her a beaming grin in the process, but that expression soon dimmed when he noticed a grim look make its way across the young Japanese girls' features.

"What's up baby-girl, thought you'd be excited for today." Russel motioned for her to take a seat at the kitchen table and did so himself.

"Have you ever felt…conflicted Russel-sama?" Noodle fidgeted in her seat and avoided eye contact with the drummer.

"How do you mean?" Russel moved to place a hand on her shoulder, clearly something was bothering her.

"Like, hypothetically speaking, if you had to do something that would hurt those dearest to you for the greater good, would you do it?" She blinked back a few tears and lifted her head up to face Russel. He could barely see her eyes due to the thick purple hair concealing them.

"Noodle, you're scaring me, what's going on?"

She didn't answer. Instead she faced the floor and took a deep breath appearing to shake off her uncertainty. When she lifted her head up to meet his concerned glare once again, she had changed. Instead she just smiled at him.

"It is nothing to worry about Russel-sama. Breakfast smells wonderful, what are we having?" She motioned her hand over to the stove reminding Russel that he had left it unsupervised. He suddenly jumped out of his chair and sped over to the almost burned food. He stirred the mixture with a sigh of relief at the fact that it had not been spoiled. He opened his mouth to speak to Noodle again. Half way between forming words, he turned to realise that she had very swiftly departed from the kitchen, more than likely taking refuge in her room. Whatever it was that was bothering Noodle could wait. Today was an eventful day for the residence of Kong.

Today was the El Manana video shoot.

Russel Hobbs feared few things.

That day had been the most scared he had ever been in his life. Moments ago he had witnessed his Noodle-girl's floating island plummet and become engulfed in flames before his very eyes. He had stood hopelessly on the ground watching the carnage from a safe distance along with his remaining band mates. The reactions of his friends were still fresh in his mind. 2D was the first to respond, he began freaking out frantically screeching orders to the nearby crew "'elp 'er! For god's sake do sumfink! 'elp 'er!" Before falling to his knees and bursting into tears. Murdoc stood and stared with his mouth wide open, the lit cigarette which had previously occupied it fell to the floor. His uneven eyes began to glaze over. Russel had never seen Murdoc speechless before. And Russel, he just let out an agonizing cry as if his heart had just been ripped from his chest.

Russel frantically fumbled with his keys whilst trying to unlock the front door to Kong. He burst through and immediately began stampeding the corridors looking for any sign of life. Maybe Noodle had survived her ordeal and come home. Maybe she wasn't really on the island at all. He barged his way into Noodle's room and stopped dead in his tracks.

There she stood. Alive and well.

She had a large suitcase in her grip, trailing it behind her. Her clothes were slightly torn and small smudges of dirt and rubble had attached themselves to her once clean black and white stripes. He noticed two minor bleeding grazes on her knees, the blood trickling down over her black boots. He moved his eyes up to see her face. She looked like a dear caught in the headlights, shocked and horrified.

"Baby-girl, yo scared me half ta death! Don't chu ever pull a stunt like that again!"

"Russel-sama. I am so sorry!" She couldn't hold back the tears that were making tracks down her flustered cheeks. He made a move to comfort her in a hug but she denied him by holding her hand up to signal for him to keep his distance.

"Noodle what are y-"

"I'm leaving Russel-sama" She stated blankly. "I've thought about it for some time. It is the right thing to do."

"No yo aint! Yo fifteen!" Russel glared her down in a farther figure like way. In his eyes, she was a minor, this meant that he was the one in charge of her; he was the one to look after her.

"You do not understand, I need this"

"No baby-girl, ya been through a lot today, hell it's a miracle you're still alive! What yo need is you're family" Russel put on his 'I know best' voice and made a move towards Noodle once again, he had to make the girl see sense. Her response was unexpected; she violently pushed him away, which wasn't easy to do. Her face suddenly changed from her usual gentle expression, to one of rage.

"You don't know anything! Do you understand how hard this is for me to grow up here! Take a look around, I'm the only girl in a testosterone flooded home Russel-sama! I just need to take a break, I need to find myself." Her face was flushed red from her outburst. She took a moment to compose herself. "Today…today was a set up for me leaving" Russel jerked his head back in her direction; he was horrified that she had decided to keep such a plan from him. She used to tell him everything, all of her secrets, all of her feelings. In fact, he was the only other person in the world who knew of her secret adolescent crush on their lead singer.

"I don't want to do this, but I have to Russel-sama." Noodle moved towards Russel after she had seen the hurt and betrayal in his twisted expression. She never wanted to hurt anyone.

"Why the secrets and lies baby-girl. If yo weren't happy, ya coulda' told me, I only want what's best fo you." He wrapped his arms around the young guitarist.

"I-I didn't want to lie. But you'd want to protect me from the world; you would never let me go away unsupervised. And Murdoc, he would never let me leave, not when there are still gigs to be played, awards to be won, money to be made. And 2D…."

"And 2D what?"

"And if Stuart asked me not to leave...I don't think I would be able to turn him down. He's my best friend." She stopped as tears overflowed her eyes, but managed to choke out "I love him so much."

Russel sighed. "Noodle-girl, you're too young to know what love is."

"Then let me find out." She pulled back away from him wiping her tears away from her eyes. A determined look crossed her face. She reached for her suitcase again, clutching the handle in her firm grip.

"I am leaving Russel-sama, and you cannot stop me." She forcefully dragged her belongings behind her as she went to leave the room. She was caught off guard by Russel grabbing one of her slender arms.

"If I do let you go baby-girl. What am I supposed to tell them?" He pleaded with her, His face twisted in an expression of desperation. He had to admit to himself that this was in fact the right thing to do. Noodle swallowed hard and offered Russel a false smile. She went on to simply state.

"Tell them that I am gone." He offered a small smile back at her as he let go of her arm and watched his Noodle-girl slowly fade away from him. She stopped in the doorway and turned to him once again.

"Thank you so much Russel-sama, I'll be in touch. Love you." She winked before leaving the room for the final time.

Not much time seemed to pass between Noodle's departure and the return of Murdoc and 2D. Russel was still stood where Noodle had left him, in her empty room staring blankly at the empty space where her wall used to be. His white eyes overflowing with tears as he slowly began to come to terms with what he had done and what he had to do. He had let his little Noodle-girl go off into the world, uncertain of when or even if he was ever going to see her again and he had to lie about her whereabouts to his friends.

Murdoc stormed into the deserted bedroom, almost running into the back of Russel in the process. 2D followed slowly behind. He looked a mess, the bruises under his black eyes had darkened drastically, his skin had turned an even paler state and his legs looked like they would give way at any given moment. 2D turned to look at Russel.

"Sh-she's gone aint she Russ?" He stuttered, afraid of the reply.

"um…yeah 'D, she's…gone." Russel's words were distorted from the choked sobs and the grief about to overtake him.

"No, no, please no!…R-Russ please, she can't 'ave gone…no R-Russ p-please not 'er! Not Noodle!" 2D collapsed on the floor next to the drummer's feet. Tear's stained his face and caused his body to shake involuntarily as he gripped his blue hair. Loosing control, he started shouting random obscenities which were only partly understandable due to his current state of shock and aguish.

Mudoc, who had been virtually unresponsive until this point, pulled out his packet of cigarettes from his pocket. He calmly took out one of the white sticks, placed it firmly in his mouth and began rummaging through his pockets looking for a lighter. When the small device was finally found, he held it up to the tip of the cigarette and clicked it down to ignite the flame. Only sparks appeared from the lighter. He pressed down on it again, same result. Murdoc attempted a third and final time before he stopped and took a deep breath. Out of nowhere he slammed the lighter against the wall causing it to shatter in his palm.

"FUCK!" Murdoc yelled out causing Russel to flinch. Murdoc then forcefully yanked the cigarette from his mouth and threw it as hard as he could across the room. His bloody hand from the lighter shards came into view but instead of going to clean the wound; he lunged for the collapsed form of 2D on the floor.

"NO!" Russel quickly intervened, blocking the older man in mid attack. When the time came, Russel could restrain almost anyone. "I know you're hurtin' Muds." Russel spoke calmly in an attempt to cool the furious Murdoc. "But look at him." Russel tilted his head to 2D, who was attempting to compose himself on the floor and had managed to adopt a sitting position. "He's hurtin' at lot more than you man." Murdoc shot him a 'And what the hell is that supposed to mean?' look before finally dropping his head in defeat.

"Guess your right lards" Mudoc kept his eye contact with the floorboards and mumbled a barely audible apology to 2D.

Russel let his grip on Murdoc go when he was satisfied that the bassist's violent streak had ended. He then noticed Murdoc's bleeding hand and gestured for him to go and clean up in the kitchen. He reluctantly agreed. Russel went to follow him but froze in the doorway when he noticed that their singer had not yet moved from his sitting position on the floor.

"'D, ya comin?" Russel almost pleaded with his friend, he didn't want to risk leaving 2D alone, fearing he might do something stupid.

2D slowly turned towards the drummer using his sleeve to wipe up the wetness on his face. He sniffled and chocked back another sob before finally speaking. "Nah Russ. I'm-I'm gonna stay 'ere for a bit…f-for when she comes back. I-I Don't want 'er comin' back to an empty room."

"'D, she aint comin' ba-"

"-I don't want 'er to be on 'er own when she comes back." The singer stated.

"'D, I-"

"-Cuz she wos lonely weren't she Russel? On 'er island. She wos alone. She musta bin so scared Russ. Where were we? We shuda' bin there-I shuda bin there. I shuda told 'er that everyfink wos alright. I shuda stopped it Russ! I shuda saved 'er!" 2D broke down once again into a fit sobs, letting out small inconsistent yelps of heartache and anguish.

On that day, it had been made clear to Russel that something had been permanently broken inside Stuart Pot.

The days seemed to go by so much slower after Noodle's departure. Continuing with the band seemed pointless without her there; after all, she was their heart.

Each of them dealt with their grief in different ways. Murdoc's days consisted of getting drunk beyond recognition and coming up with the most absurd conclusions as to were their little love had disappeared to. Since there wasn't a body recovered at the El Manana crash sight, Noodle's fate had been debatable. Murdoc's craziest conclusion to date had been that she was trapped in hell and that the three of them would have to go and rescue her.

2D spent a whole two weeks in Noodle's abandoned bedroom after her disappearance. He only moved from his spot when he absolutely had to. Russel would bring him food and attempt to converse with him. But his attempts to get through were useless.

As time passed, they all seemed to heal. Not completely though. The scars were still present; none of them were the same.

2D was the first to leave Kong. Despite still fearing for the blue haired singer's mental state, Russel let him go, it was for the best. 2D had become a shell of the person that he used to be and staying in Kong wasn't good for him. The place sheltered so many memories of their guitarist and it became apparent that none of them could properly get over her whilst still residing there.

Russel was the next to go. His departure was sudden and unannounced. Russel left the very same day that a hand written letter addressed to him had arrived at Kong. Its contents consisted of a small sheet of paper containing a phone number. It was simply sighed with an 'N'.

This left Murdoc to drink away his earnings and come up with some of his most outrageous schemes to date, the first of which involved some local kids and a box of matches.

#######End Flashback#######

"Yer better be yankin' ma chain lards!"

"I'm sorry man. I had to think of my baby-girl. I don't expect someone like you to understand my motive. Ya ass never did anythin' to benefit someone else." Russel felt guilt creep up inside him once again.

"I thought it wos me who messed up the dullard. But it wos you. You did this to 'im Russ, not me!" Murdoc fumed around his study. It was his turn to be angry now, his turn to give someone a talking down. Oh, how he loved to be right.

"No Muds! We're both to blame. I'll admit it, I coulda done more, I coulda helped him. But you, there was no need for what yo did to him. We caused this Muds. That means that we'll fix this, together."

"Oi! I'm not gonna be tha' one ta blame!…wait! That mean you're comin' here? You're gonna' come ta plastic beach?"

"I guess so." Russel sighed and raised his hand to his head and rubbed his temples. He didn't expect this much drama to piss all over his day, it was only 10am, not even lunch yet.

"Oh mate, yer gonna love it 'ere, I got booze ta last us to eternity." Murdoc went on, he liked to idea of having Russel back, though of course he would never admit it.

"This aint about drinkin' Muds. This is about clearing up after ourselves, fixing our mistakes."

"I know- I know." Murdoc signed, he hated having to think of other's before himself. He had been forced to learn from a young age that looking out for number one should always be his main prerogative. Showing compassion for others almost made him physically sick. "But Russ, like I said before. We aint gonna 'elp Dents if it's just me and you. We need 'er Russ. We need Noodle."

"…I don't know Muds. I don't know if I want to bring my Noodle-girl into this." Russel shook his head and let out another sigh. No matter how he though about it, he still saw Noodle as a teenager. Even though he was fully aware that she was now 19…a woman, it was still quiet a hard concept to grasp. Maybe he was wrong, maybe she could handle this, and maybe Murdoc was right. He shuddered at the thought of Murdoc being the logical one, how the hell did that happen? Russel soon came to the conclusion that 2D did indeed need all of them. "Okay Muds, We'll get Noodle."

"Great…wots 'er number then?"

"You must be crazy if ya think I'm letting you be da one to break this to her." Noodle may not be Russel's little girl anymore, but Mudoc was still Murdoc after all.

"Fine"

"Good"

"Great"

"Alright Muds, cut it o-"

"-Wonderf-"

"Man, I swear if you keep this up, ima make it impossible fo you ta talk again. Clear?"

"Crystal…I'll see yer then Russ…Erm…thank you." Murdoc quickly hung up the phone after mumbling his gratitude. He hated being humble, in fact he felt quiet queasy at the thought. Darting his eye's around his study he needed something to be cruel to. He could always go and give the dullard a good beating. Oh right…he couldn't do that anymore. Lost in the thought of what he would no longer be allowed to do, Murdoc didn't quiet hear the increasingly delusional 2D having another 'conversation' with the cyborg on the floor below sea level. Things were getting worse.

Monday mornings were always slow. A young woman began tapping her fingers on the hard glass counter. She placed her elbow on top of the surface and rested her head on her non-occupied hand. She suddenly jolted out of her daze when a streak of bright blue passed the window. Her emerald eyes held hope in them until reality caught up with her. She realised it was probably just a hat or an umbrella or something and not the head of hair which she had hoped for.

She peered down into the clear glass and caught a glimpse of her reflection. Her purple hair was brushed back into a messy ponytail and the loose choppy sections which usually occupied her eyesight were pinned back. She smiled slightly as the thought of how much she had changed crossed her mind. If only they could see me now.

She straightened up and moved from her position behind the counter. She began to stroll around the shop. Her shop. She had made a living by opening up a musical instrument store in London. The occupation just seemed ideal for her; after all she had an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of music. She moved her hand across the strings of one of the guitars mounted on the wall and grinned at the quiet noise coming from the instrument.

A sudden buzzing coming from her pocket soon shook her from her thoughts. She reached in and took the phone out. Without even glancing at the caller, she flipped it open and pressed it to her ear. "Hello?"

She was caught off guard when a smooth, deep, American accent flowed through the speaker and reached her ear.

"Baby-girl?..."