You don't want to hurt me,
but see how deep the bullet lies.
Unaware that I'm tearing you asunder.
There is thunder in our hearts, baby.
So much hate for the ones we love?
Tell me, we both matter, don't we?
You, be running up that hill
You and me, be running up that hill
You and me won't be unhappy.
And if I only could,
Make a deal with God,
And get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
Be running up that building,
If I only could...

~ Running Up That Hill - Placebo

2D woke up in a daze.
His eyes fluttering open with a dull pain everywhere.
His head was throbbing.
In all honesty, everything was throbbing.
Covering him in pain.
He needed his pills before this newly formed migraine fully kicked in.
He groaned as he pulled himself off the floor to find dried blood everywhere.
He knew it was his own.
He wasn't too worried about the fact Murdoc could've killed him.
He wasn't even worried that he couldn't fully remember what happened.
His only concern was finding all of the bruises and cuts.
He grabbed at his pill bottle and poured a few into his hand.
As he swallowed them dry he limped over to a mirror.
He could see bruising everywhere visible.
He even had large dark marks covering his cheeks.
His eyes were bruised too.
He carefully lifted his shirt and winced at the pain.
There he stood observing every cut.
His ribs were aching, but none seemed to be broken.
He was surprised nothing was broken this time.
Usually something snapped.
There was no doubt though that these bruises were bad.
Every movement came with a sharp pain.
Soon 2D's pills would kick in.
He grabbed at his hair noticing dried blood in it.
Blood was everywhere really.
He couldn't locate where it was all coming from though.
He decided a shower would be a good place to find out.

Murdoc looked at his reflection.
A monster.
2D called him a monster.
Nothing new to the satanist.
He'd been called plenty of things before,
but this seemed to get to him.
Sometimes he honestly couldn't recognize himself.
He seemed to be losing all sense of reality.
2D was right.
People were dead and it was all his fault.
All because of deals he'd made and promises he never kept.
All because he was too stupid to realize this was all a mess.
Murdoc was a prisoner.
A prisoner on his own island.
He didn't want to talk about it though.
He'd never been one to really talk.
Violence was his way of talking.
Sometimes he even hated to hear 2D's voice.
He was living proof of how badly he could fuck someone else up.
That's why Murdoc meant it when he said he could kill him.
He could kill the remaining evidence of his wrong doing...
but there were too many witnesses.
Too many people who'd seen it.
Besides, he could never bring himself to that point.
He could never actually kill the younger man.

It seemed so cliché to say this,
but 2D was the only one who kept him from being completely soul-less.
2D was the last piece of himself that wasn't dead.
He didn't know exactly when the younger man had become a part of him, but he did.
Just like Noodle was a part of him.
Just like Gorillaz itself was a part of him.
When the heart of the band died, they all died in a sense.
Without Noodle there wasn't a point.
Russel had lost the last part of his sanity.
2D had lost a piece of his own heart and soul.
He'd lost everything really.
When Russel left Kong, he didn't care.
The drummer needed to leave for his sanity's sake.
When 2D left, that's when it all came crashing down.
That's when Murdoc really became demented.
Nobody was there to stop him.
Tell him he was wrong.
Just him and the demons.
He built the Cyborg and burned Kong.
He hoped burning down that building would burn it away.
All the emotions, confused feelings.

It did for a while...
but once he started writing music again after finding Plastic Beach he remembered.
He thought of 2D...he needed his voice.
The blue haired man who kept him stable for so long needed to sing for the album.
Fuck his sanity or stability, he needed his lead singer for money.
Maybe his inner self needed the bluenette for closure or even to bring him back from feeling so numb...
but Murdoc mainly needed him for another album.
Once he found the younger man, he just hired someone to kidnap him.
Bring him to sing.
2D hadn't completely lost it like Murdoc had, but he was still lost.
Sometimes Murdoc envied 2D for that.
How could such horrible things come to you, and you still carry on?
2D was so much stronger than Murdoc, and didn't even know it.
Murdoc couldn't even understand how 2D could worry about him.
He should want the satanist dead.
Sometimes Murdoc wished he was dead, or wished him and the singer could switch places.
Have the blue haired man beating him instead.
Out of all the deals he'd made, he wished he'd make a deal to switch places with 2D.
Maybe so he could be a little stronger than he was.
The bassist realized 2D was what really kept him from being a full demon.
Being one of those monsters you hear in stories and films.
Maybe he wanted to be a full demon.
Maybe he wanted his soul.
He didn't know what he wanted.
All he knew was he didn't want to go to jail.
He didn't want those murders to be brought up again.
The satanist was tired of thinking so hard.

"Cyborg!"

Quickly the robotic clone made her way to him.

"Yes, ?"

"Rum. I need rum!"

She quickly ran and came back with a glass full of the liquid.
She carefully held the bottle ready for him to call for refills.
Murdoc would do what he did every night, drink himself half to death.

After a long shower 2D had discovered the origin of all the blood.
There was a large gash on his lower back.
There was also a large cut on his shoulder.
He laid back carefully onto his bed.
The pain pills had kicked in long ago, leaving him feeling slightly dull and numb.
He slowly looked out of the window and sighed with relief.
There was no whale in sight.
He closed his curtains then tried to relax.
Suddenly he started to hear a soft crying noise.
He knew it was coming from Murdoc.
He hated that everyone assumed Murdoc couldn't cry.
He hated to hear the older man cry.
Murdoc always put up a good act.
Everyone bought the big tough guy thing, but not 2D.
He knew that the bassist was nothing but a was still the little boy who was abused by his father.
Maybe that's why he always refused to fight back.
Despite the ammount of pain Murdoc put him in, he would never want to make Murdoc feel that.
He's already had his fair share of pain.
2D closed his eyes and slowly started humming, trying to cover the sounds of Murdoc sobs.
His humming broke out into crying of his own.