A/N I wrote this way back when the 'El Manana' video came out, but I never finished the second chapter so it never got posted. I'm working on it now. Anyway, this probably won't go over two chapters, we'll have to wait and see.

Hope you all enjoy it!

x x x

She had been gone for a week. Normally they wouldn't have worried, she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, but never had she gone so long without sending word. Now, scanning the sky as they circled town in the buggy, all three of them were getting worried. They had already been out for over an hour before Russel spotted a thin spiral of smoke. It was quickly fading, but they managed to locate its source before it disappeared completely.

Scrambling out (and falling once in his haste) 2-D made his way to the edge and hesitantly peered downward.

For a moment he froze. One terrible moment, gazing down into the wreckage and seeing the one thing he had hoped to never see.

Amid the burnt and crumbling remains of a once beautiful windmill, the form of a girl could just be seen. She lay, battered and broken, in the frame of a doorway, her arms thrown wide as if she had tried to catch herself on it.

He couldn't do anything. She was so far out of his reach that he could only stand there, numbly staring down onto what was left of his friend. It was horrible, that he suddenly felt so helpless, so empty, with nothing inside of him but a cry and a wild hope that she had not gone, she was only injured. Unable to move, but not gone.

Please, God, not gone...

No one could have survived this. He thought, looking down at her. She had been there for who knew how long, her beloved island burning away all around her. He tried, but couldn't fool himself. He couldn't make himself believe that he was looking at anything but an empty shell, bereft of what had made it so beautiful. She was gone.

Tears flooded his vision as he fell painfully to his knees, unable to support himself any longer. Paying no mind to his approaching bandmates, he crawled to the edge of the cliff, looking sadly downward. Shaking, he clutched at his hair, his thin fingers tangling themselves into the cerulean strands as he sobbed openly. Far below, her violet hair splayed in a halo about her head, Noodle lay silent and still, her face turned mournfully to the sky.

x x x

Things were horribly quiet in Kong. Russel was in the kitchen eating, as he had been since it happened. He had begun to actually buy groceries every morning, rather than living on take out. Of course, he bought them every morning because he usually finished them off by evening. It wasn't that the food was comforting for him, but he was trying to keep himself occupied, to keep his face and hands busy while his mind wandered. That was something he couldn't prevent, he knew, so he instead tried to turn it to the little problems at hand: the weight he knew he must be gaining, what to do with Shaun, getting 2-D to eat again...

Said singer sat across the table from him, exactly where he had been for several days now. His arms were folded upon the table and his head bowed low over them, unmoving save when Russel would insistently push a morsel of food toward him. Even then he would merely shrink away from him, silently declining. It was hard for Russel, who had always felt somewhat responsible for his younger bandmates, to see him doing this to himself. Try as he might, though, 2-D would only sit there. Every so often his expression would twist painfully before settling back into a blank stare.

Neither of them took any notice of the time that passed. Russel merely continued to eat and 2-D continued to waste away.

Murdoc, in his own way of grieving, had shut himself away from the others completely, seeking solace in his drinking. He sat for hours, mumbling to himself and only moving when it was seriously necessary, and too drunk to take notice of anything other than what was left in his bottle. Somehow, after a few days of this, he was seized with a rare moment of sobriety. Finding that he was nearly out of beer, he finally decided to make the trek inside. After a bit of scrambling around for a pair of pants, he picked his way through the empty bottles and kicked the door open.

x x x

She couldn't see anything. Her vision had blurred to near blindness after she had collapsed against the support column. In her exhaustion she didn't particularly care, all that mattered now was that she had made it.

It had been difficult getting there. Not finding her way, she would always be able to get home, but just making her body move had been challenging. She didn't understand why her bandmates had left her in the gorge. They thought she hadn't made it, she knew, but she had expected them to find a way to get to her...

She groaned again, sliding farther down the pillar. It was getting dark, things would be stirring soon and she knew she couldn't fight them off in such bad condition. Murdoc would be nearby, seeing as he spent most of his time in the Winne so she sat and waiting, hoping to be found. In her weakened state she had lost all sense of time, so whether she waited a few minutes or a few hours she didn't know. She could just feel herself slipping into a doze when a curse cut the air and something seized her.