Okay, so this is microscopically short. I want this to be a fanfic ten times more worthy of reading than "Keeping a Fish", which was the most stereotypical, fangirl-OC story of all time, so I'm taking the focus off my OC for a moment and checking in on Russel and Noodle, who didn't appear my other story at all. Which is too bad, because they're great characters. I guess they just didn't fit in with the story. But this time, I'm putting right all I got wrong in the other one! So enjoy, to the Noodle fans and the sparse Russel fans (I know you're out there somewhere...*crickets*)! I can't tell you how many more chapters they'll be in but I promise you, this isn't their last.
From the brown dome, she scanned the dark, moonlit horizon and found ocean in all directions. It had been an undeterminable amount of time. It would seem Plastic Beach did not exist. But it had to-she'd heard a transmission from Murdoc, talking about a new album, the island, and a mysterious woman named Aquamarine...
She sat down in frustration. They'd been searching possibly for months, and had seen nothing. It would seem they had gone in some sort of enormous aquatic circle. Russel had been incredibly trusting, leaving her in charge of navigation, but Noodle could not help but feel she had failed them both. They were no closer to finding the others together than they were apart.
Russel sensed her frustration and picked her off his head and placed her in the palm of his hand. Noodle went willingly. "I know it seems like we're never gonna get there, but trust me, I just know we're closer than when we started. Remember those coordinance Murdoc gave out in the transmission?"
"But what if they were wrong? Maybe he was mistaken?"
"I don't think so. Mudz is smarter than that. He knows where he is. We'll find him."
"Oh, and 2D-san as well."
"Yeah, him too." Russel's blank, white eyes stared off toward the horizon. Noodle noticed the expression of concentration. He was on to something...
"Something's coming," he muttered.
Noodle lifted the mask off her face to better see what Russel meant and turned around. Just then, a helicopter appeared in the sky, hurtling at its top speed toward them...
It was then the bullets were spat at then. Russel closed his hand around Noodle's comparatively microscopic body and plunged into the freezing sea. Noodle held her breath as Russel's hand filled with water. She could hear the bullets break the surface of the ocean. She hoped that Russel wasn't hit, or at least not hard. But Russel didn't flinch, meaning he was safe and in one piece. As an extra precausion, Noodle replaced her mask, so that maybe if she was spotted somehow they wouldn't recongize her. What were they after that she had? What had she done that had made them want so badly to kill her?
The only thing keeping Noodle from hypothermia was the warmth of Russel's gigantic hand surrounding her. She could still hear the chopper above the surface, circling them, shooting at what it could see. These people didn't give up. Even after five years...
Russel was moving. The hand around her flexed as she was shaken violently. There was a spine-chilling crunch, the kerplunk of heavy metal objects hitting the water, and splash of Russel penetrating the surface. The hand opened and Noodle gasped for breath. She looked into Russel's dark face. "Got it." He smiled in his macho way, with a hint of pride and almost-arrogance.
But Noodle could still hear helicopters in the distance. She pointed to the faraway lights streaking across the sky. "There another one...over there."
Russel looked. "Why do I get the impression Murdoc's responsible for all this?"
"They seem to be heading in opposite direction," Noodle observed.
"You know what, I think you're right. I think they're after Mudz. What do you wanna bet?"
Noodle had an idea. "If we follow helicoptors, we find Plastic Beach."
Russel's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Good idea. I didn't think of that." He raised her back on his head and began to wade in the direction their attackers were.
Noodle smiled to herself. In a strange way, her pursuers had brought good fortune.
"Hey, uh, Noodle? What do we do when we can't see the helicopter anymore?" Russel's head vibrated slightly from his voice.
"We keep going. If you are right that helicopters after Murdoc-san, we find them. We find them soon."
"That's what I thought. I just wanna check with you, Miss Navigator." He chuckled, but carefully as to not throw Noodle into the icy water below.
Noodle laughed too. It had been the first time in too long.
