Chapter 8

Sorry for the delay. Fanfiction was being a pest and so was Elizabethan art and culture projects.

Lucky, I'm a procrastinator though eh?

NOT

Meep meep Be bop be bop bleh. Compute compute. I'm a sonic GENERATOR, this is far as I CAN TAKE IT, if you WANT IT, I GOT IT, OH OH, ON AND ON IT…

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Flashback (didaladoo, didaladoo…)

"IT'S THE ATTACK OF THE ONE-EYED FREAK!" Minako roared and waved the CD-rom cover of 'Bowling for Screams' in front of the camera. Noodle held her now aching stomach as she laughed manically on the corner of the bed. She drew back and held the speaker to her mouth and looked directly into the lens. "No! No! What've you done with my baby!" She stuffed the speaker onto the picture of Mike again.

"You can't have your baby! Give me back my baby! NO!" She let out high pitched squealing noises and battered the CD cover to the floor with great effort. She puffed and turned back grinning. "Ok now, we need to take a short pause and get a cleaning crew up here and we will be right back! Don't go anywhere! And remember it's A.Q! A.Q! Err I mean A.O. I'm not dumb." She backed away from the camera suspiciously. "Really, I'm not dumb! I'm not dumb, really! Yeah really, really… Bibi!" She clicked the stop button on the computer and finished up the grand total of… 15 minutes. A new record.

Still giggling vigorously, Noodle came up behind her friend. "That was really funny, Minako! I can still feel the heat of my cheeks!" Minako fished on the desk and hold up a red pen.

"You're this colour!" she exclaimed and sent Noodle into laughter once again. Minako sat on the chair and took off the flax hat with the red bow and flowers while browsing the videos they had made. "We talk too much about… X, don't we?"

"Well, I say not enough!"

"Oh! I've got a story to tell!" Minako fixed the camera to face down on her sitting on the chair and Noodle sat down on the bed again, intrigued by her friend's humorous tales. "But it's only fair to warn you… I have no idea what I'm doing." Noodle rolled her eyes and Minako cleared her throat and clicked play.

"Hello, boys and girls! And how are you today?" she asked with an English grandma accent this time.

"GOOD!" Noodle screamed then fell silent disgusted with that answer.

"That's good; I'm dying however but anyway. I've got a wonderful story for you about a girl named… Amelia and a boy named… Bob. Once upon there were Amelia and Bob who were deeply in love. Then one day after work at the post office…" Minako motioned to start the acting. "Hello, darling!" she welcomed Noodle when she came on screen and it was again spontaneous for both of them.

"Hello, my little cupcake!" Noodle bent forward and gave Minako a kiss on the lips and she giggled. "How was your day?"

"The usual yarn spinning. How was yours?"

"The 'We Mail Letters' business has never been better!"

"Well, what shall we do now?" Minako whispered something to her and Noodle gave her a sly grin.

"Do it?"

"Oh but I can't do it until I'm married."

"Then I must marry you!"

"I can not marry until I am 25."

"How old are you now?"

"24, my birthday is next week."

"Then let's marry next week?"

"Of course, honey bug!"

"Then it settled then. I'll buy you a ring next Monday." Minako grinned ear to ear forgetting her script and saving 10 minutes of talk on the Queen.

"I actually lie! I'm 64 and I hate golden rules so let's hit the springs!" Minako pushed Noodle onto the bed beside them which led of the camera but they didn't bother turning it off. They gazed into each other's eyes in silence then Noodle cut it off.

"Are you serious?" Minako grinned knowing she wanted to as well. She pushed her thin fragile-looking body onto Noodle's making her feel funny and pinned her. "The camera is still on, y'know..." Minako ignored her and bent down to her chest and moved the hem of her shirt to see her shoulder and she licked Noodle's neck. She froze as her body tingled all over when she did and Minako was worried she went too far.

"… Do that again," she whispered and Minako licked her neck and sucked it. Noodle moaned gently and closed her eyes while massaging her smooth back underneath her shirt. Within minutes, the door was suddenly locked, the insane laughing had stopped and both the girls were soon naked and running a hot steaming bath...

Again, yeah another true story… Me and my friends were only 10, we had a camera, we were bored and it was a new thing for us. No harm done, right? Just a little adventurous…

Hehe, I got locked inside the bathroom just now… that was funny. Hope no one missed me too much.

"O green world, don't desert me now. Made of you and you of me but where are we? Oh no…" The band played sullenly inside the studio. Russel keeping a smooth beat and a focused daze, Noodle strumming her rough chords, nodding her head in time with the music, Murdoc plucking his hungry bass with his lips curled around a cigarette and 2D with eyes shut, lyrics vibrating and foot tapping.

Rachel watched silently through the glass gently swinging on the chair. It wasn't exactly Blur but it was something new and entertaining. Blueboy lyrics finally faded out and he began the meditation chant over and over, holding the microphone onto his chin. The other players made more aggressive moments and built to a climax. 2D opened his eyes and stared straight at Rachel with a gerbil grin, enjoying it like she was stoned and seeing the music in colours and swirls. She was so cute. A smile spread across his face and Rachel did the same in return. He blushed and missed his 'oha oha's from the distraction. Murdoc groaned and left his bass hanging from his neck and the rest of the rhythm collapsed.

Blueboy looked down foolishly. "Sorry, Muds…" He shook his head vacantly and his gaze passed his niece. "Stay focused, shitface. From the top." Noodle threw her arms down in protest. "No, Murdoc, we've been practising all morning! Enough is enough."

"She's right, man. It's almost lunchtime." Murdoc turned to Bigfoot spitefully. "It's always lunchtime isn't it, Lards?"

"Can we just not do this song again, please," Blueboy's booming voice begged and leaned against the mic. The room went quiet with like a sense of failure and Rachel couldn't get it. They should have been so proud to write that. She pressed the button and spoke to them. "Hey, guys, that was awesome," she started clapping. "Great work!" They turned to her looking very down in the dumps. Rachel shut up and sat down again. "Um… do 'Light My Fire'!" Murdoc gave her an utterly disgusted glare. "You what?"

Blueboy shrugged. "But there's no organ." Rachel gave him a look that said 'shame on you' but Noodle immediately started strumming the chords, Am, F#. Murdoc shot her the same glare which brought her to a hasty stop. Murdoc grabbed the mic from Blueboy. "Hey, luv… You like The Doors?" She nodded. "I'm a big fan, yeah." Murdoc held that repulsed face which indicated that he didn't agree with her taste. "You like Morrison?"

"Oh, yeah, he's hot!" Murdoc chuckled grimly. "You do realise the band was a little early for your time, right?"

"So? Have you never loved any bands that were anything but in the modern charts?"

"Actually, I did, he was called George Formby." Rachel cocked an eyebrow suspiciously and he rolled his eyes. "What else do you like, luv?" Rachel caressed her chin and thought. "Hmm… Well, I love Pink Floyd, The red hot chili peppers, Elastica-"

"Elastica?" His eyes widened in shock. "Uh huh. Apparently the albums were said to be 'what heroin sounds like'." A sly grin came over Murdoc's greasy face and he rubbed his neck. "I've met Justine, y'know. What a sexy bird."

"I know…" she let slip. The whole band turned to her in shock. "What? She's a babe! I'd turn gay for her, I really would… Is this thing still on?"

"What else?" he sighed.

"Erm… Soungarden, Blur, Metallica, Nirvana, uh…" Murdoc grew impatient and made a painful beam. "And?" he asked with a cheesy tone and Rachel panicked. "Um… Gorillaz?" Murdoc nodded. "Good answer."

"Well what do you like? Sex Pistols, the Clash?" Murdoc grew sour and suddenly the blows he was given as a younger brother became real for him again. "That's your brother talking. I liked Black Sabbath." Rachel nodded in appreciation of that. "And it shows, man. Why don't you get new hairstyle, it's getting nearly as old as you are." The band members giggled at her power over him and he turned around and slapped Blueboy's arm in an instant making him squeal and jump over to Noodle. "Murdoc!" Rachel yelled. "Show some respect to your band mates."

"Why don't you show a little respect for me, eh?" he yelled back. He took off his bass and dropped it onto the floor with a clash and left the room languidly, pissed and doped up. Rachel frowned. "What's wrong with him?" Blueboy rubbed his arm which was now turning bright red and smiled at her. "Don't you know it's never a good idea to irritate your uncle?"

"I guess I just… forgot." She sighed depressingly and left the studio. "Poor girl. No wonder she ran away," Russel commented. 2D nodded his head and turned off the mic. "Yeah. Look's like Murdoc treats his family no different from his friends. He really is a heartless bastard." Noodle whined and put down her guitar, running after her friend. She finally found her in the carpark where she was about to make a huge mistake by trying to talk to him. Noodle caught her before she reached the Winnebago and took her back. "Just let him be, he needs to cool down. You know you're uncle isn't very popular here."

"He's not popular but he's infamous. He can be pretty deep when he wants to." Noodle sighed and then jerked when Rachel stopped dead in her tracks. Her gaze was fixed upon the hole in the wall where the blue light flashed. "What's in there?" she whispered. Noodle shook her head and tried to redirect her. "There's nothing to see down there."

"Down there? What is down there?" she asked with interest and started walking towards it. Noodle grizzled and followed after her as she stepped onto the platform. Rachel stared down into the dark tunnel where red lights led the way so far she couldn't see. Noodle tried to take her arm. "All that's there is the basement of Kong and believe me when I say it's not pretty, trust me…" Suddenly the platform jerked and the girls screamed as a neat tune erupted. Rachel caught Noodle and grasped the rail as they were led down, down, down into dark depths. A light was finally seen and the stage came to a standstill. Rachel hopped off with a mixed emotion of fear and amazement, carefully avoiding the trash that littered the area. She looked into the first room and above it was a real hog's head that flies conquered the smell. Eyes blinked blood red… Noodle joined her.

"Rachel, I really don't think you'll appreciate what's down here. Turn back now why you still can," she begged but Rachel refused. She peered inside the brain room and felt for a switch on the inside wall but instead wiped her hand against a sticky gooey surface. She walked inside the room and almost tripped on some sort of solid bricks till a string hit her face. Something shifted in the darkness and let out a choked dusty breath of air, she could see it and her arms went hollow, her legs barely stable. She grabbed it and tugged and a light switched on. A skeleton lay over a control panel in a Nazi's uniform, the radio echoing static of a distress call. Liquid nitrogen crawled through her. The chair swivelled and the Nazi skeleton toppled at her feet. She scampered out of the room panting heavily and searched for Noodle.

She was already walking down to the other end of the corridor. Rachel followed obediently. Noodle paused impassively and reached for a little wheel above a shinning gold stature. She twisted and twisted it all the way around and then left like she was sleepwalking. Rachel walked forward but then stopped as the drain before her gushed a pool of blood around her Black Leather Beauties. The vents above her poured blood down the walls to met the ground as well and she jumped forward, her face twitching in horror.

She looked up and Noodle was staring like she was detached from reality. Rachel shook her head, walking forward to the last door as sounds and creaks and patters reverberated. Tears welled in her eyes, she'd never felt like this in her life. She was so afraid… "Since you're so persistent," Noodle almost sneered. She pushed open the door which let out a nice hiss of steam into her face. She walked in nurturing her hand and the door swung back into place tightly closed. Rachel took a deep breath and decided whatever happens to her, Noodle will be there for the same shock treatment. She pushed it lightly with her left hand and screamed at the top of her lungs, her fingertips burning white-hot. She brought them away, tears flooding her now cringing face in pain and she kicked the door open with malice. She scuttled through and the heat hit her like a bus. She was in a boiler room with rattling pipes and congestion machines.

Noodle walked down another lift of stairs that indicated 'level 0' where there was a bright red glow, colour of danger. She stepped over a disembodied arm that she was positive just twitched for her. She'd never felt more scared in her life, it was building up to a climax here. The closet was a good horror movie. Something like a grudge where you know these people are trapped like mice and will definitely get slaughtered just the same. But it was so different and real when you were in their shoes. She wasn't really looking forward to the ending too.

A giant fiery hole laid dead centre in the ground, the metal crusting and melting around it. Rachel shuddered as she stood in front of it next to Noodle who seemed just as memorized and she read the writing above it aloud. "Fire coming out of the monkey's head… Noodle?" she questioned and turned to her. She glanced at her from the corner of her eye and looked down at the junk and soot they now stood upon. "Don't get too close…" she whispered caught in a flashback. She looked her friend in the eye with a gentle smile. "You might fall in." Rachel frowned upon her friend's new weird behaviour and they both looked back. Rachel cowered as the pit let out an untamed lick of the flame. "What is this?"

"This is the gateway to hell." Rachel turned to her amusingly. "Seriously, what is it?" Noodle showed no signs of laughter or letting down. "I am serious. We found it a few years ago after Murdoc wittingly crashed into the wall. It's become sort of like some freak tourist attraction now." Rachel was too astonished for words; she merely just stood there dimly as her vision tinted dark pink. "Where does that door go?" she pointed upon the corner back wall. Noodle shrugged.

"No one's ever been brave enough to walk around the hell hole to find out. No one knows. Except Murdoc." They both exchanged glances and Rachel felt something disturbing stir in her gut feeling about the notion. "Do I want to know why?"

"I don't know. Do you?" Rachel sighed and kicked the junk around her boots as a distraction. Noodle walked forward and stepped along the outside's of the hell hole. Panic arose in Rachel and she grabbed her dear friend's arm. "Noodle! Come back here!" Noodle ignored her but stumbled back a little. "Do you even know when you're uncle's birthday is?" Rachel gave up on Noodle but watched her carefully. "I have no idea, what does that have to do with anything?"

"He was born on the 6th of the 6th, 1966!" she proclaimed, changing into her psychotic side again. "666 number of the beast, number of…" she grinned and pointed down into the hole a hand held for a whisper. "His number." Rachel crossed her arms listening intensely to this tale but also rolling her eyes as she went along. Nothing seemed to make sense at this point. "Murdoc rises from the hell hole reborn every birthday in white pants chanting 'I want your souls'. He declared that he's Satan's spourn."

"C'mon, Noodle, he's just drunk! He doesn't know what he's doing," she defended but Noodle shook her aggravated head and waved a hand at her. "No, no, he was actually floating above here. The band saw him as soon as it hit midnight. I'm not lying! I've seen him with my own eyes!" Rachel cowered from her and stepped back trying not to believe any of it. Her uncle couldn't possibly strike a deal with the devil… could he? She was not related to a Satanist! She didn't even believe in this stuff! She was an atheist till the day Buddhism made sense. This couldn't be happening… and suddenly she felt like she could cry again and she was breaking inside. This was some serious shit that she did really care for but just too much in an inappropriate way. She didn't want to discuss it; she just wanted to hurt Murdoc so bad that her fists were clenched.

"Noodle, you better come down from there or I'll get you myself," she said dark and shaky. Noodle was struck with confusion and walked the other way again. "You don't care?"

"Noodle, I said come down." Noodle turned around again like a pendulum making her tick even more. She put her head back and laughed manically. "You don't do you? You honestly don't!" She laughed and then slipped. "NOODLE!" Rachel screamed and dashed forward to grab her ankles, Noodle fell back like a frozen plank smack on top of her, bumping her head on a piece of car bonnet. Rachel groaned in agony and warily crawled out from underneath her frame. She bent to her and shook her wildly with a sour expression. "What the fuck is wrong with you! I told you to get down and now look what happened, you almost fell in!" She sighed and hugged her while carefully rocking. "I could've lost you, I'm not gonna lose you, Noodle, I fucking won't. I can't lose anyone else… not again. Never again…" she faded and started crying again.

She choked on her tears and tried to speak but then noticed Noodle hadn't spoken back. She turned her dazzling face to hers and removed her hair to see a line of blood. Rachel gasped and took hold her head in urgency. "Oh my god! Noodle! Say something!" she yelled in her ear and tried to get her to move. She opened her eyes but they rolled back and her jaw fell loosely. Rachel started crying so hard that she was in no position to help her. Tears fell onto Noodle and she held her close. "Someone help me… someone help me," she croaked but no one heard. She licked the blood off her forehead and sucked her cut lightly. It tasted still like copper but just an indescribable different brand.

She brought her lips to hers and licked them delicately and all around her face and neck to wake her but nothing. She was still alive but just knocked out. She couldn't have concussion, Rachel couldn't lose her. As angry with her as she was, she would rather lavish her with bruises of love. And Rachel still couldn't figure out why she loved her so much. She was mental. But every little weird thing about her made Rachel just want her more than ever. She slid her tongue into her mouth and French-kissed her passionately, tears still leaking down her face. Nothing worked. She was gone, she wasn't waking, she was lost…

Finally Noodle's tongue slithered against hers and Rachel withdrew with joy. She moaned and her eyes opened dizzily. "Please say something, Noods, anything…"

"Rach…?" Rachel yelled in excitement and kissed her and hugged her again, Noodle not knowing what the hell is going on. She was released and immediately held the burning cut on her forehead. "What happened?" she asked weakly. Rachel wiped away her tears and swallowed hers and Noodle's Sylvia. "You fell and you passed out… but you're ok now… you're okay." Noodle sat up and Rachel held her in her arms more sweetly this time and she breathed in the herbal scent of her hair. She never wanted to leave her. Noodle couldn't remember what just happened… she couldn't even properly remember the face of the girl who was now holding her but she had something to say that just felt right. "Rachel… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Noodle just shoosed her and her anger faded away. All she wanted to do was hold her, she'd never let go.

Wow… That chapter started off really boring but then my own inspiration rung me. Funny that… Anyway we talked for like an hour (which is a new record) and it was the best conversation I've had in 2 weeks, well since she last rung me. I told her 'I love her too' and she hung up. I lay back on my bed with a sigh and a whimper, life would be like purgatory without her and I've missed her so much these past holidays. Then I sat up, smiled and then started writing. Being spontaneous, Natasha would have done that very same thing and I with her. I love her so fucking much, it does hurt. And yeah, I probably would pash a corpse…... really depends actually. If it was green probably not.