"You guys have to tell him; I can't do it..." 2D nervously whispered to Russel and Noodle as he stood in front of them. Russel and Noodle were both resting comfortably on the couch of their new apartment.
"Tell me what?" Murdoc demanded as he sat at the kitchen table, smoking a cigarette. He was still underdressed, being too hungover to even so much as put a shirt on.
"Nah, man..." Russel nervously refused.
"I just recovered from all these injuries; I don't need to be reinjured..." Noodle added.
"IF YOU LOT GOT SOMETHIN' TO TELL ME, TELL ME!" Murdoc suddenly shouted, causing all three of his bandmates to flinch.
"Will you relax?! There's somebody walkin' down the street..." Russel scolded as he glanced out of their apartment's window.
"There's always someone walkin' on the street around here..." Murdoc retorted as he took another huff of his cigarette.
"T-This was on our door this mornin'..." 2D stuttered, reluctantly deciding to be the brave one as he handed the small, white slip of paper over to his band-leader. Murdoc of course snatched it away from him and hastily began to read it.
"Noooo...Hell no!" Murdoc gasped with his mouth agape after reading the large, bold, red letters that read, 'eviction notice'.
"Didn't ya pay our rent, face-ache?!" Murdoc immediately shouted at 2D.
"W-W-Well, I don't have the password to our bank account a-a-and..." 2D began to stutter but Murdoc quickly turned his attention away from him.
"Didn't ya pay our rent?!" He then shouted at Russel who he knew for certain had their bank account's password.
"No but they called the other day..." Russel nonchalantly replied.
"They called?! They called and ya didn't tell me?! That's not important enough?!" Murdoc yelled as he tossed one of the kitchen chairs in Russel's general direction.
"CALM DOOOWWWWWN!" 2D cried as Russel and Noodle leapt out of the way of the flying-chair, just barely managing to dodge it.
"Don't you EVER tell me to calm down! Ya can't even pay our rent!" Murdoc screamed in 2D's face, causing him to flinch as he showered him with specs of his saliva.
"And you can't answer the bloody phone and take a message!" Murdoc then turned to once again shout at Russel.
"He answered the phone..." Noodle timidly defended.
"Ah, shut up, ya dullard!" Murdoc spat.
"Hey! You don't speak to her like that!" 2D stood up for Noodle with a sudden spark of bravery.
"I'll talk to her however I want to! This is my band!" Murdoc growled.
"Actually, we've been meanin' to talk to ya about that..." Russel spoke up.
"Talk to me about what?!" Murdoc demanded.
"W-We think it's best if we all split up and go our separate ways..." 2D explained, causing Murdoc's heart to drop into his stomach. The green-skinned man felt as if he had been stabbed in the diaphragm.
"W-What?! You guys can't be serious! After everything we've been through together?!" Murdoc snapped, his emotional-pain now fueling his rage.
"Oh, you mean the years of physical and emotional abuse?! I think I've been through enough of that, thank you!" 2D snapped as all of the horrible things Murdoc had done to him over the years had finally pushed him over the edge.
"Us too..." Russel added before leading 2D and Noodle out of the apartment.
"No! Guys, wait! I'll treat you all better! 2D, please!" Murdoc frantically begged as he followed his bandmates outside.
2D hesitated briefly, seeming to have some regrets about leaving Murdoc but ultimately decided to continue on his way without even so much as glancing back at his former band-leader. Murdoc felt weak as he watched his band and the closest thing he had to a family leave him, possibly for good. A small sob escaped his lips as he dropped to his knees, tears cascading down his face as he did so. Once his former-band was out of sight, Murdoc began to breathe heavily as the thought of losing his home, his fame and all of his friends had sent him into the throws of a massive panic-attack. Murdoc wailed toward the sky from the agony of his grief before breaking down into a fit of hysterical sobs as he collapsed onto his side.
Murdoc cried over all of his great losses for what felt like an eternity to him before he looked up to see a, ink-black hooded-figure, standing in front of him with its back turned to him.
"P-Please...Please bring them back...I don't even care about the fame anymore, I'll do anything, just bring my friends back...Please..." Murdoc tearfully begged as he scrambled over to the figure.
Hot tears flowed freely down the green-skinned man's cheeks as he desperately stared up at who he once believed to be his protector. Thunder roared lightly along the grey, cloud-filled skies as the figure slowly turned to face Murdoc. Murdoc gasped in horror once the figure had pulled the gas-mask from it's skeletal face, revealing its sinister, sharp-toothed grin. Murdoc's blood ran cold as he realized at this, very moment just what he had been making deals with as well as what he was now face-to-face with. Murdoc Niccals was now facing with death, itself. Murdoc quickly scrambled back up to his feet and fled back into his apartment. Much to his horror, he realized that he had forgotten to shut and lock the door behind him as he glanced behind him to see his biggest nightmare chasing after him with outstretched, clawed arms.
Murdoc quickly bounded up the stairs to his apartment and rushed into his darkened bedroom. Hyperventilating with tears still pouring from his eyes, the green-skinned man scanned the Satanic decor of his bedroom. He soon realized that he was far from safety in this room as black smog began to flood into his bedroom from beneath the door. From an act of pure desperation to save his life, Murdoc leapt from his bedroom window, not even bothering to open it as he dived through the glass, shattering it upon impact. Murdoc suffered from several cuts but thankfully avoided any serious injuries when he had landed into the open-dumpster that rested beneath his bedroom window. Murdoc fearfully glanced back up toward his bedroom-window to see the black smog pouring out into the stormy sky above him as he hopped out of the dumpster and quickly hopped the fence, onto the street.
Rain began to pour down onto the half-dressed, green-skinned Brit as he fled along the filthy streets of London. As the lightning flashed, briefly illuminating the sky, Murdoc haulted in his tracks to gently take ahold of his inverted cross. Hatred began to fill him, causing his hand to tremble as he roughly snatched the evil piece of jewelry from his thin neck.
"This...was your doing...this was all your doing...YOU LIAR!" Murdoc snapped as he angrily tossed the broken symbol of his former-faith into the thick cloud of smog that had been following him.
"Ya can't have my soul! Ya hear me?! I won't allow it! The Deal's off!" Murdoc bravely shouted toward the smog that was closing in toward him, gaining the attention of the pastor of a nearby church. Upon seeing that his bold shoutings did not deter the smog from pursuing him, Murdoc screamed in terror as the smog began to surround him.
"Quick! Take my hand!" The elderly pastor shouted as he rushed into the smog. Murdoc watched in awe as the black smog pulled away from the pastor upon touching him as if it had been hurt. Murdoc quickly grabbed ahold of the elderly man's wrinkled, cool yet comforting hand as the pastor quickly pulled Murdoc into the deep-red compounds of his humble, little church.
Once Murdoc was safe inside, the pastor stepped back outside as the black smog began to surround the church.
"Listen here, you foul beast! This young man's soul does not belong to you! His soul belongs to The Lord, Father of Heaven and you have no authority to snatch it from His hand! Now in Jesus' precious name, I bind you up and I cast you into the abyss!" The pastor commanded as the smog let out a terrifying screech before imploding into nothing.
"Are you okay, young man?" The pastor gently questioned as he approached Murdoc who was once again sobbing on his knees.
"N-No...I made a terrible mistake...I-I sold my soul to The Devil for fame...T-The Lord will never want me now..." Murdoc sniffled as he brokenly stared up at the pastor with his mismatched-eyes.
"Dear boy, Satan is the father of lies...You can't sell your souls because it will always belong to God and no one can snatch you out of His hand, no matter what deal you make...Come with me..." The elderly man instructed as he led the confused-Murdoc to the storage room of his church.
"So what would make you think that you would need to sell your soul?" The pastor questioned as Murdoc slipped into the dark-blue and black, striped sweater that the pastor had gifted to him.
"I dunno, I guess... I was never really good enough for my dad and my brother and my mother was never around...Dad always told me it was my fault she left...I guess I was just always desperate to prove somethin' to my family..." Murdoc admitted solemnly with a sigh.
"You know? Some people think that The Lord is critical, that He's just waiting for you to do something wrong so He can zap you but He's not...He's quite the opposite of that...He is a Father to all, especially the fatherless and He's nothing like your flesh-father; He's a caring, loving Father and He loves you..." The pastor explained with a gentle tone.
"How could He love me after the sin I committed?" Murdoc shamefully questioned as he could no longer bring himself to look the pastor in the eyes.
"None of us are perfect; we all sin but that's why God sacrificed His only, begotten son, to save us all from the sin of this World." The pastor reassured, provoking a smile of content from Murdoc as the green-skinned man was finally able to make eye-contact with the pastor.
"I want to give you something..." The pastor said as he turned to pull something out of a nearby, storage ben.
"Other than this sweet sweater?" Murdoc half-joked with a tiny smirk.
"Better than a sweater..." The pastor added as he pulled a solid-gold, upright cross from the ben. Murdoc gasped in awe at the sight of the cross. It was similar to his old cross but upright.
"Wear this as a reminder of who your soul truly belongs to...Your Father..." The pastor grinned as he gently hooked the cross around Murdoc's neck. Murdoc took a few moments to stare at the cross in his reflection of an old mirror that was also down in the basement before smiling at himself in content as he lightly touched his new cross. When Murdoc returned to his apartment that night to see if there were any belongings he wanted to keep, he was surprised to find his old bandmates waiting for him in the living-room.
"What are you guys doing here?" Murdoc questioned in surprise as he slipped his cross into his new sweater. He wanted to wait for the right time to tell everyone about his newfound salvation.
"I don't know why we're doing this...We shouldn't be doing this but...we're going to give you another chance..." 2D announced. Tears of joy filled Murdoc's eyes as he rushed to pull 2D into a tight hug. Everyone was surprised by this but 2D of course returned the hug that he longed for that morning as Murdoc mentally thanked The Lord for his blessing.