Allow me to formally address the childish banter I used to write? Holy crap, I'm nineteen- almost twenty- now and I'm looking back like "What the heck kind of child was I?" I promise that's going to probably stop now.

I'm continuing this. Is it weird to say that a little Destiny in my head has always been present and egging me to continue writing? I never did want to stop. I just lost time as a college kid. Well it's summer now, so I hope no one isn't too mad at me.

RECAP: Destiny convinced the band that she really did have something to do with their childhoods except for 2D who stays blissfully unaware. They released the album in the UK and it took off, at the price of Murdoc losing his beloved Winnebago as it somehow got stolen in all the hype. And in the midst of all that, Destiny still has a cute little crush on 2D (now Stuart since she's gotten to know the real 2D instead of the pop star she sees now) despite the fact that they're eleven years apart.

Onward!

Murdoc's Winnebago getting stolen was only the beginning of a long rampage of catastrophic photo opportunities. Soon every picture posted to the Gorillaz website was of Murdoc's beloved mobile in wacky places such as Easter Island, atop the Empire State Building, and the moon. This was hilarious not only because of the way fans got to mess with Murdoc's stuff, but also because it was a reassuring sign that his stuff was safe.

Until Murdoc left for his trip across the country, he slept in his Vauxhall Astra in the car park. One morning I went to ask him about a press conference concerning the album release and he was gone. So for a week the Gorillaz band stayed in Kong, leaving only to shop for groceries and go to an arcade, and waited for any news concerning how the first album was doing.

Then we found, the album was doing really well.

April 1st 2001: Gorillaz album enters the UK charts

"Hey, Russel!" I said on that Sunday morning when I walked in the kitchen. "Take a look at this! We've debuted in the album charts at number 3!"

He was flipping pancakes for he and Noodle before glancing at my screen and widening his eyes, handing me a plate. "Wow, that's great! Maybe Muds knew what he was doing after all."

"Probably not," I shrugged sitting by Noodle. When she saw the screen, she high-fived me and went on devouring pancakes. "It's probably more that we're a good band than his marketing 'strategy.' Anyway, it doesn't matter how it happened. Just that people like our music!"

"Which reminds me," Russel started as he turned off the stove and sat down with us. The severity in his tone made Noodle and I stop eating. "I wanted to talk about something pretty important. Now that the album has hit off, our name is really going to be out there. The phones have been ringing already to do interviews, but without Murdoc we've been on stand-by…by the way, have you heard anything from him since he's been gone?"

I shook my head. "Not at all. I have no idea what he's doing." And that was true. It worried me the first few days to not have any contact with him- Murdoc wasn't even picking up his phone- but my nerves settled after justifying that he's a grown-up and can take care of himself.

Russel sighed and rubbed his bald head. "Well when he gets back, we're probably going to be spending a lot of time with the press. People are going to be checking into the website a lot, too, so with all this in mind we need to start being aware of what we say and do; especially because you two are Murdoc's and my responsibilities."

"I thought Noodle wasn't technically your adopted daughter because she showed up in a FedEx box," I said smartly with a raised eyebrow.

"That doesn't mean it's going to be okay to take any risks, Destiny," Russel frowned. "Look, the point is that we're going to be under a microscope now and we've already been scrutinized under a year ago when we were in Jamaica for being questionable guardians. So, stay close to me and Murdoc (when he gets here) and no acting up. I'm going to start looking into getting 2D and Damon or Jamie in on this adoption business as godfathers or something to make this easier for us, but don't do anything risky."

I was excited to hear about 2D getting a responsibility role and agreed to Russel's terms. He lectured us more about the severity of being good parent-figures for the two of us and more drawl like that that I didn't listen to, but as soon as he was done, I inhaled my pancakes and said, "I'm going to go tell 2D the good news!"

Russel called after me, "Alright, but be back up here by three to go pick up newspapers! If the album charted today, then we're going to go over some reviews!"

"Got it!" I called as I ran away. I almost punched the button on the wall and rode down to the next floor, excitement practically bursting from my fingertips. When I got to the car park door, I through it open…

Only to be met with a wall of white plastic!

I was able to blink and inhale before the wall broke and avalanched over me as I screamed. I covered my head to prevent any sharp corners from scratching me as the white spilled out, knocking me over and filling up the hallway. When it settled, I sat up and picked up one of the plastic cases. It was a Gorillaz CD.

I began shuffling my way through the plastic as though it was thick snow. "2D!" I called into the garage. There was no response from his room; instead a steady beat coming from one of the parked cars across the flood of what was the car park. "Is that you, 2D? Or…Murdoc?" I asked and waddled through the thousands of CD cases. When I reached the car where the music was coming from, it was Murdoc's car and he was in the front seat. 'Murdoc's back!?'

I tapped the glass. He looked out and his eyebrows rose as he rolled down the window. "Well 'ello, darlin'."

"What is all of this?!" I asked, gesturing to the rest of the room.

He didn't flinch. "CDs. A lot of them."

"No kidding! Why are they here?"

"I bought 'em all."

"How many?"

"17, 500 copies."

"Seventeen- wait, is this why you went across the country?!" I demanded. "To buy up all our CDs?!"

"Hey, I didn't just buy the CDs!" Murdoc corrected me. "I used some IOUs too, y'know!"

I pinched the bridge between my eyes and growled. "Whatever, look, I was looking for 2D to tell him some important stuff that Russel just told us. You may want to go talk to him and actually tell us next time you're back from a road trip like this? We could start scheduling interviews as soon as you arrived, you know."

"Nope. I'd rather not, thank you." Murdoc crossed his legs over the steering wheel and folded his hands behind his head. He was smoking a cigarette and blew out a huge cloud of smoke in my direction. I stumbled back over some CDs.

"You're impossible," I started to trudge away from him. "Come upstairs at three! We're going to start reading reviews!"

"Maybe!" Murdoc called back. I rolled my eyes and headed to 2D's door. On the way, grabbing a CD out of the pile, looking over the cover, and putting it under my hat.

When we all gathered in the lobby with newspapers like The Times, The Sunday Telegraph, and The Guardian, we were blown away by praise (that's a first). We read things like "four out of five stars," "splendid," "irresistible…"

"I saw one which went 'alarmingly addictive.' Heh!" 2D gawked as he handed off a paper to the pile of "read material." He was folded on the floor and smiled up at me on the couch. I blushed and looked back to my laptop where I read news online.

"Really? I used words like 'genius', 'gob smacking', and 'supreme overload of all I survey.'

"Yeah, but we're still getting a lot of words like 'concept' too," I reminded as I typed something off to Damon. "The album's gotten great praise, but it's not enough to balance out our image and our music videos. Ow!" Again Murdoc smacked the back of my head as to get me to be quiet. "You need to stop that, y'know! Russel said so!"

"Yeah, Muds…" Russel said in a dark voice. Despite it, the geezer waved us off.

"Relax, it's nothin' to get hung up over. If the brat doesn't shut up, she gets put in her place- it's called parenting, righ'?" Murdoc flicked on the television and a program instantly came up with Damon and Jamie being interviewed as collaborators for Gorillaz. There were title bars under them with the words "Associate Producer" and "Video Director" in them respectively.

"Oh yeah, I forgot that's what the two were up to today," I murmured to myself. Just as quick, Murdoc turned off the screen. "What're you-?" He walked to the box, picked it up, and threw it out a nearby window. Noodle screamed as the glass crashed and 2D covered his head. "Are you mad?!"

"No! I'm sick of seein' those two goal-hangers take credit for my band!" Murdoc roared and started to storm to the car park. "We should start plannin' on cuttin' them off from the band or something! I'm sick of seeing their faces."

"But Murdoc, they're great help and-"

"Ah, ah, ah!" Murdoc waved his hand at me to stop talking and disappeared into the hallway. The four of us were left behind to clean up the newspapers and repair the broken window. I think Murdoc was being unnecessarily angry at the two. It was really a huge portion of their work that got us all those good reviews so they should get some credit too. Besides, it wasn't like we were going to able to go on TV to do shows like they could, so it's good to have a wide net of publicity covered. The more word of mouth the better, right?

I was wrong.

For the next two months all we ever did were interviews. It upset me because I'd been using music as a way to vent the forbidden emotions I felt for 2D/Stuart from the Demon Days trials, but we rarely had time to be in the booth. It was upsetting that we traded in the limelight for the heart for our band's sake, but it seemed like after the album entered the charts, we were in constant motion and didn't take any more breaks.

Soon we even found ourselves playing live shows again which wasn't too bad, because I was looking forward to ripping out on the guitar again. We were heading to Paris and Ireland so travelling, once again, was on the agenda and Murdoc was still ever terrified of planes.

"Just think of it as separation from the world of idiots that you don't like below. Flying is a good thing. Not a reason to kill my hand again," I tried saying through clenched teeth. I wonder if Murdoc's death grip has gotten worse from our last flight or if I'm just losing too much blood flow to that part of my body. Murdoc shook like a leaf under my hand and the whole business section of the plane could probably hear him shiver. There was a clattering sound as the seat jumbled and it eventually started tearing bolts that secured the seat to the plane. "Oh, come on Murdoc! This is embarrassing me!"

"Here try this," Russel said from the row behind us. He popped two pills out of a container, smacked them in Murdoc's terrified face forcing him to swallow them, and within seconds Murdoc's body went limp. A soft snore lulled out and I jerked away my arm so the blood would return to it.

"Thanks…what was that?"

"Sedatives," Russel responded as he opened a SkyMall magazine. "They're powerful enough to take down a rhino. He'll wake up by the time we get there…or maybe Dublin."

I swallowed and glanced at him again before leaving Murdoc's side to sit next to Noodle and 2D. The two were across from us and there was a spare seat in the aisle. "What's down?"

"What's up, you mean."

I frowned at Russel who didn't glance away from his magazine, but Noodle spoke instead. "Ignore. Papa hungry." She handed me a Gameboy and we started battling against each other via a Gamelink cable. 2D was staring out the window blankly and eventually he started to sigh loudly.

"What's wrong, 2-Dents?" I asked pretty soon.

"Oh, nuffin…well, it's just me mum wanted to see me perform at our next show. But she can' go down to Paris to watch us." He hunched over and rested his head on his hands. "I don' know wot to tell 'er is all. It's too late."

I felt for 2D; in truth I feel grateful to his mom for letting me always stay over and always treating me kindly when I was with Stuart as a child. I pondered over what could have been done, since it was very late to fly her down.

Then an idea hit me. "Hey, 2D…! Why don't we just stream her the video live?" 2D cocked his head to one side. "You know; like over the internet! And we can do that for every band we're performing with tonight! We'll make a virtual concert and then everyone can watch the Gorillaz perform! It'll be really cool!"

2D's head lifted up and a smile spread widely across his face. "Tat would be awesome! How are we gonna pull it off?"

I opened my laptop and started punching away e-mails to the concert director, Jamie and Damon, camera crews, internet providers, and people of that sort. I looked up the shape of the room and how we could set up cameras in different areas. By the time we landed (it was only a two hour flight), I felt really behind on if we could pull this off, but the event manager was too into the idea to give up. When we arrived at La Cigale in Paris's red light distract Pigalle, the man started laying out a blue print and telling crewmen where we could set up cameras and drag wires and I started to help hook up a feed so that when Gorillaz opened for the night, it would all be ready to enter the homes of millions; including 2D's mother's home.

During the hectic set up, Noodle pulled me aside with a smirk. "The only reason you did all of this was to make 2D happy."

I blushed. Internally I was thankful Noodle said it in Japanese and no one was around to see her wiggle her eyebrows at me. I shifted the boxes in my arms and cleared my throat. "Yeah, so?"

"No reason. Just saying," Noodle said smartly and started to walk ahead of me to set up the stage. A large white curtain dropped to separate the audience and the band like the show we had in London. "I just find it funny that you still like 2D."

My face set into a smug feature. "Yeah, yeah, I'm getting over it, okay? Hand me that wrench," I grumbled and started to fix cameras to cover every square inch of the theater.

June 22nd 2001: La Cigale, Paris, France

"Wow, look at tis view! Deaftiny, tis is wicked cool!"

2D and I were setting up the last of the cameras on top of lighting scaffolding that hung over the audience. I screwed in the base of the pivot and turned it on; it swiveled around and took in all of the setting below.

I sat up so that I could straddle the metal piping under me and pressed a button on the side of my head. "I just set up the last one. It's located on the scaffolding of the stage lights. Label it 'Center: 8'."

The man on the other side responded, *Got it. Good job Ms. Hobbs. I recommend coming down; the show's about to start.*

"Okay, climbing down now. Thank you," I responded and moved my hand from the headset. I looked down at the stage and the white screen had a giant 'Gorillaz' logo scrawled across it. The audience were getting fired up and sitting in their seats. Flashes from their cameras dazzled the mobs as I turned to 2D and smiled. "We have to start climbing down now. Thanks for helping me, 2D!"

He smiled back. "You're welcome, Love. I'm glad I could hel-" Before he finished the lights turned off and a speaker started to instruct the audience on where exits were, to enjoy the show, etc. It not only alerted 2D and I of how little time we had until the show started,

But our eyes weren't adjusted at all to our path getting back down.

2D's voice was directed at me, so he still knew where I was. But I couldn't see anything past my own hand. "Deaftiny…wot're we gonna do?"

"I don't know yet, 2D…let me think…!" I thought about talking into the headset to see if anyone would come get us, but no one picked up on the other line. Just moving my hand away from the beam made me realize how thin it was; we were sitting on weaved metal poles that were maybe a foot wide and impossibly long. The nearest way to get down would be to go backwards from where I was about ten or fifteen feet to a catwalk, but even turning around blindly would prove to be a challenge. This was a lot easier when I could see where we were going. I wish I hadn't rejected safety lines for the sake of getting these cameras up in time.

In any other circumstance I would have 2D and I lay down on the scaffolding since it was holding our weight fine and we'd stay there safely until someone came to get us, but there was no time to wait it out. We had to be on stage as soon as the opening act was over and that was very limited time. If I recall correctly, they were only going to play three to five songs and get off as to buy us time to set up the live feed. Trying to move blindly would be really risky and the fall could lead to getting severely injured. I imagined Wile E. Coyote as he fell from atop a cliff and at the bottom would be a tiny cloud of dust. Russel said that we would be fine within "an episode's worth" of time, but that would mean the show would have to be cancelled. So risking moving wasn't really an option either.

"What to do? What to do? C'mon, you're smarter than this, Destiny!" I muttered to myself.

*Not really, if you got yourself in this mess!* A slimy voice replied in the ear bud. *Even more so for druggin' me on the plane! Did you really think I would wake up fine with bein' knocked out cold?!*

"Murdoc!" I responded over the headset. "Where are you? 2D and I are stuck on the scaffolding in the audience! Send help!"

*I know where you are! I can see you right now!* Murdoc responded. I looked around and saw two greenish orbs glowing behind me on the catwalk. Night-vision goggles? *You two morons weren't backstage and no one knew where you were, so I went lookin' myself! For Christ's sake, we have a show to perform!*

"Murdoc, we were setting up cameras to make the show's broadcast better. I can explain later, but right now we need help to get down," I told him over the radio.

*Why should I-*

"-Because we have a show to perform in less than fifteen minutes!"

*Fine. What do you need,* he complained more than asked.

"I need you to look over the scaffolding and guide us back to the catwalk. I'm facing the stage right now, but 2D's behind me. I need to turn around first so he can follow me off. What should I do?"

After a short pause Murdoc started speaking, *Awright- Twist to the right and steady your upper body so you can swing your legs around. There's a horizontal pole a half a foot from your rump, so you can grab that.*

I told 2D to stay still and started to turn around, but I didn't feel anything under my hand when I swung my leg. "Like this?"

*No! My right!*

I felt my hand fall and my upper body with it. It was like I just leaned forward off the strip and now I was falling. I suppressed a scream, reached up, and thankfully 2D grabbed my other hand. He was the only thing holding me above a three-story fall.

"Are you okay, love?!" 2D asked.

"Just pull me up!" I pleaded and started to rise towards the scaffolding again. I gripped the thing and straddled it securely before speaking in the microphone again. "Murdoc! What was that?!"

*I told you what to do! Don't yell at me! I said my right!*

"We were facing the same way!" I yelled back, but sighed. "Whatever, can we just hurry up please? And this time I'll hold up what hand I'm placing before I go. Okay?"

That's how we started to maneuver our way back to the catwalk. Slowly Murdoc would instruct me to lift a hand, move it forward until I felt a certain bar and use it to pull the rest of my body forward until there was enough room behind me for 2D to follow. Luckily there weren't any repeats of almost falling, but we did come to disagreements over whose left was whose and eventually I just learned to do the opposite direction of what Murdoc told me. Soon enough the two of us were at the catwalk and swung ourselves over the railing to safety. Murdoc lifted the goggles on his head so we could see his glare better. I ignored him.

"We don't have time for lectures or junk now! We have to go perform!" I started running down the catwalk to a ladder and eventually the winding halls and stairs led us backstage. I quickly grabbed my keytar and checked if the cameras were working and it seemed like everything was in place. We ran onstage and the crowd started roaring as we opened up with 'M1-A1.'

"It's funny how differently we're taken in different countries," Russel started to reflect the next day on a plane to Dublin. Once again, Murdoc was drugged and passed out next to Noodle, who curled up in a ball on his lap. They were huddled together and looked pretty cute. "In England, they love the record, but unsure about the live show. In France, they love the live show even though the album hasn't even been released yet."

I turned in my chair with the Dr. Pepper I just ordered. "Yeah, I don't think we've even touched on France unless Damon did something or other. We don't exactly have a publicist." I popped the tab and finished the can in a long chug. "But, it looks like our stream of the show on the internet was headlining the Glastonbury Festival. I remember we were supposed to attend, but it was cancelled this year, but I guess our performance contributed to the virtual one instead. I'm getting the stats from the show right now and apparently hundreds of thousands watched our performance last night!"

Russel and 2D started to flip out and high five each other. It was really surprising; the audience attendance was only 1,500 from last night, but the Internet multiplied that number tenfold.

"And it wouldn't have 'appened if not for Deaftiny!" 2D said, squeezing my shoulder. My eyes shot up to his and I saw Stuart's round, un-dented ones staring back. I shivered and tried to catch my breath, zipping up the front of my black and white hoodie more.

Then, my phone went off and I saw it was from Damon. "Hello?"

*Hey Destiny,* He replied and a long 'Helloooooo' in the background guaranteed me that Jamie was there as well. *Jamie says hi. Did you see the ratings from the Festival?*

"Yeah, that's pretty intense. And we're on our way to Dublin too. Who knows what kind of reception we're going to get there."

*Yeah, I know what you mean. Like, have you seen the reception in America?* Damon asked.

My brow knit together as I started to open my laptop while talking. "America? The album wasn't supposed to release there for another month though. What's going on in America?"

*She doesn't even know?!* I heard Jamie's voice from the other end before he started to laugh hysterically. Damon had to audibly hit him a few times before he got back on the other line. *Sorry about that. Destiny, I suggest you look up some news in the States. It's all pretty wild over there.*

"Okay. I'll look into it," I answered and started looking up my news sources in America. "Anything else going on?"

*Well, I wanted to say congratulations for the success from last night and that we're going to have another video shoot as soon as you're done in Ireland.*

"What?!" I almost screamed over the phone. "So soon? Right when we get back?!"

*Yeah. We need to release another single A-sap, kiddo.* Jamie started filling me in on some details about where to go and when once we got back from the airport. It seemed as though we would go straight from there to the shoot. *You got all that? Or should I send you an e-mail?*

"No, send me an e-mail too. I'm going to call you back when we land." I hung up the phone. All over my webpages there was news about riots going on in the US. The only way to describe the reception was that everyone exploded. Families camping outside of record shops. Anti-riot police were called to Wal-Marts to prevent fights. Kids being treated from heat exhaustion and bursting into flames from even seeing the cover of the thing. Truly we were received well in the US.

"Russel!" I called to him and showed him all the reaction. Even he was left speechless. "This is good…right?"

"I don' know why it wouldn' be," 2D said happily. "Seems like t'ey really get it over t'ere. Most bands create an image to make t'emselves look like somefink cool. Gorillaz is somefink cool t'at's made to look like an image. T'ey get why we work. It's a really good fing."

"I guess so," I muttered and started to look over magazine reviews like the Rolling Stones, Spin, and The Blank Page. Everyone came back positive and we hadn't even done a single show over there. I checked my e-mail next and it was jammed full of requests for interviews, collaborations, merchandise, radio spots, telecasts, and remix requests. There was even a huge chunk concerning the music video that we were going to film when we get back that I had somehow looked past. The single was pre-decided to be '19-2000'; that was exciting for me at least. I liked that song and it would mean singing in the video.

I looked to Murdoc and Noodle and Russel. The two were still out cold, but Russel was shaking his head and exhaled a deep breath. "Looks like our agenda's going to be pretty packed."

"Yeah," I said, torn between happiness and feeling locked in place. "Looks like it a lot."

June 19th 2001: Gorillaz' released in the US

Okay there's a lovely chunk for y'all. I'm going to go write more- as I have a lot planned and a music video- and I'd appreciate it if you'd message me or leave a review. Even if it's just 'Hey, great story' that helps my motivation a lot.

Also, go check out some great artwork I've got coming out on my Deviant Art account with the same name. A lot of Destiny artwork is coming soon!

Thanks and until next time.