"I can't see a fing in 'ere."

I breathed a sigh of relief. It was only 2D.

"Hey 2D!" I desperately called, holding onto the faint hope that he could hold the lift and get us out.

"Wha—you're 'ere too? What for? Noo'le's wiff me!"

Oh. Great. So the young lovers are together.

"What?" I called into the darkness. Who was that voice?

"Wot d'you mean, 'what'?" replied the cockney accent a few feet from me. My eyes had adjusted as much as possible, but yet I could still only see the outlines of figures.

"I… never mind. How did you and her get down here? And… why?"

"Murdoc-san forced us here. There… must be an emergency…" Noodle spoke up. Her voice was intriguing. When she mentioned the 'emergency', it wavered slightly.

She knows something.

"What?" I called again. Where was that voice coming from?

"Murdoc-san forced…" Noodle began to repeat. "Ah, who are you talking to? Are you okay?"

"Y-yes…" Something's in my head.

"Ah, I don't believe we ever had a formal greeting. I'm Noodle."

"Oh, yes I'm a huge fan!" You USED to be. "My name's Maffy." That isn't your real name.

After every sentence, that cold, unfeeling voice had something to say. It was a familiar sound, but I couldn't quite put my finger on whose it was.

I began walking across the square room to the two outlines of bodies, so we could stay together. Halfway through, though, I tripped on something protruding from the ground.

"What is that…?" I coughed, wondering what'd caused me to fall so hard when I couldn't even see it.

"You okay, love?" A hand reached down to help me up. Once on my own two feet, the shorter figure—Noodle, I assumed—bent over and touched the object. Lights immediately flickered on throughout the room. The object I'd tripped over was a light switch… placed on the floor.

Suddenly, the wind was knocked out of my chest, as the three of us began falling. I landed hard on my back, the metallic taste of blood flooding into my mouth. 2D and Noodle fell to my left.

"Wot the 'ell?" gasped the man, sitting up and rubbing his head. He must've built up a tolerance to a certain degree of pain, after years of living with the abusive bassist. I, though, had not, and remained still on my back, staring at the ceiling.

Noodle casually stood up and brushed off the injury. "Someone is messing with us."

She loomed over me, observing my arm, which was covered in dried blood by then. The glass shards were still stuck in my skin. In a surge of energy, I sat up, violently coughing up the blood that'd accumulated from the fall. Noodle watched closely, like a doctor observing a patient.

"I believe I know what is going on."

.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

THE UNRAVELING