Finding Life In Death

Hello there… This story I guess is about… life… how it isn't fair and why things happen and that how do we know anything about it at all. It makes no sense and we just let it slip right past us. What happens after we die? Do we go to heaven? Do we get reborn again? Do we go nowhere? How do we know? When we die don't we all expect someone to show up and be ready to answer our questions? Well in this fiction… that guy doesn't show up.

2-D's eyes weakly started to flick open. He focused with his foggy sight to see where he was. He was still in his car. 2-D gently lifted his head from the steering wheel and glanced around. His seat belt had come off and the windshield was shattered. 2-D had one of the worst splitting headaches and stole a glance of himself in the mirror. The left side of his forehead was cut and bleeding and dry blood was tracing down to his eye. Is mouth tasted of blood and his nose felt like it was on the bridge of bleeding as well. Various cuts and possible bruises scattered across his face and neck. It stung painfully. It was him who smashed his head into the windshield.

2-D gaped at his car and the other one he hit. The entire front of both cars had merged together tightly. The metal crunched like paper. 2-D ached all over and felt like he couldn't move. He slowly lifted his arm to open the car door and tried to get out. He rotated but his legs made a very poor attempt to stand, He flopped down onto the cold hard concrete road. 2-D moaned in agony and weakly crawled and pulled himself up to his full height using his car for balance.

He stared out at the wreck. It was his entire fault. If he hadn't been talking to himself then this never would have happened. The singer, next possible nick name, 3-D, steadily limped to the driver's side of the other car he hit. It was silver, 2-D could make out that much but the fog had grown quite heavy for him to make out in detail features.

2-D opened the door and peered inside wanting to know if the guy was ok. He hoped like hell that he hadn't killed him. But nothing. No one inside. The car was deserted. 2-D frowned in confusion. Was there even a driver? Had the guy gone to get help or left? The singer pulled back his head and stroked his hair gently. He closed the door and walked backwards. He still had a mission. He had no idea how long he had been knocked out but it didn't matter, he was still going to find Noodle. Thank God he was still alive to do so.

2-D ignored his munted car, that thing wasn't going to help him much now if it couldn't work. He started walking on the side of the road slowly but surely. His body pained to move but that wasn't going to stop him from finding Noodle. He had to find her soon.

…That was stupid

"Go away! You're the reason that happened in the first place!"

You're? What do you mean you're? In case you haven't figured it out yet, I am you genius!

"Get out of my mind" summary

You're going insane 'D

"Get out"

You're losing it. Everyone knows that an early sign of insanity is talking to yourself

"I'm fine, I'm not insane"

Please, you've been hanging by a thread ever since Noodle left

"If I'm insane then you're Clint Eastwood… no wait…"

Don't hurt yourself dullard

"Everythin' you say isn't true, it's the opposite to what I really think plus yer sound like Muds"

Great job, well done! No really! Brilliant! Isn't that a new record for you? I thought you'd never figure out something as so incredibly simple as that!

"…Not insane"

You're crazy!

"Not insane"

You're talking to yourself repeatedly

"So? What's wrong with tha'? C'mon! let's have a civilized conversation!"

I'm you yer dork!

"If only I had my painkillers then maybe that'll shut you up…"

Don't you ever stop to think that your bloody pills started all this madness?

"I don't believe they did"

Well whatever you think, you know that they did

"No I don't"

Yes you do know

"Nah. You must have the wrong guy"

Oh god you're pathetic…

"That makes you pathetic too! You're me remember?"

Didn't see that coming…

2-D laughed loudly. He thought himself funny. It was in his opinion. Then he stopped dead in his tracks shocked.

"Oh god I am going crazy…"

2-D paused. He was glad that his mind didn't reply to him that time. He needed to control it. Just because he was on his own, it didn't mean he had to let his insanity loose. He needed to stay focused and he needed to find Noodle. He wondered where she was. Where would she be now? Would she be making her way back home now? Would she be waiting nearby for him? Or would she have not moved from the last time the windmill had fallen… not even breathed… 2-D shook the idea from his head. But if he was going to see Noodle, then he needed to prepare himself for her image. Dead or alive. He needed to be ready.

-------

2-D didn't know how long he had been walking for. It must have been defiantly over 10 minutes but under 30. 2-D was walking mindlessly through the mist, following wherever the road takes him. He ever so desperately needed a fag or at least a drink. He was tried and the pain hadn't helped him either. He was about seconds away from cracking. He couldn't go on. Maybe the first sign for him to turn back was the car crash. But 2-D kept telling himself that he was too thick to even pick up something as simple as that. Noodle might even be dead. He would have come all this way for nothing and only to see his little love a lifeless limb. He couldn't handle that.

More tears yet again fell onto his face. He hadn't seen a single car since the crash. He was going insane. Plus he could be fired from the band or even EMI records for punching Damon Albarn. Maybe they were right. Maybe there was nothing Damon and Jamie could do. He never did stop to hear their side of the story. 2-D only now regrets what he did. He never should have looked for Noodle.

"Love… I don't know where yer are… I've been walking for ages, been in a car crash and I feel like death. I don't even know if yer are alive or not. If yer dead then… then… well I don't know really… I expect yer can hear me or see me or somethin' but… I just want yer to know that… that… I-I want yer to know that…"

The road ended and throughout the fog, 2-D saw the end of the cliff. A trench. 2-D carefully walked over to the edge. He looked down. There. There were the broken and burnt parts of the windmill. That was where it crashed. With Noodle inside.

2-D fell to his knees and cringed in his pain and overwhelming depression. He cried hysterically at realising it was true. It was all true. Noodle was gone. Forever. Never to be seen again. Down there. Under the pile of scraps. Lay his Axe Princess. Dead. She was nowhere around him. 2-D lifted his hands to his face but they froze in mid air and he shook. He couldn't believe it. She was gone. He just couldn't believe it. He screamed and groaned and cried more in agony. Words couldn't express what he felt. A continuous waterfall fled down his face and onto the cold ground in front of him.

"Noodle!"

He screamed down into the trench. His voice echoed throughout the hollow stone walls. No answer. Nothing. No sign of any life form whatsoever. 2-D clenched his eyes shut and shook his head repeatedly. His face looking like a 5 year olds when he just jammed his finger in the door. But on 2-D it was the utmost pain anyone could imagine. He loved her. He never got a chance to tell her that. And now he never would. Ever again.

"Noodle! No… you… you can't be gone… you can't! But you are! …no…"

2-D yelled his cries again, he couldn't calm down enough to say what he needed to say. He needed to say the truth. Even if it was too late.

"…I-I… I need ter… say this… to yer, and I n-need ya to… hear it… for me"

2-D sat on his feet and leaned over and lay his head just over the side of the trench, his face gazing down into the pit of darkness. So cold and alone.

"I know I never said this… I don't know why… I guess I just didn't know how to say it right…"

2-D's voice had calmed down but his bottom lip trembled slightly. Tears continued to fall from his eyes. He closed them not wanted to see his little sister's graveyard. It was painful enough.

"But… I want yer to know that… I love ya… I always loved ya… ever since that day yer came to us in a… F-FedEx crate… You were my little love. Yer always were. …I don't know what I'm gonna do without yer… we always used ter have fun together… Yer always made me feel… well… like a brother I guess… I can't explain it… I'm gonna miss ya little love"

He sat up and opened his pained eyes. It was raining. He didn't notice the thick wet drops on his body soak through his clothes. He only felt Noodle's pain. He couldn't feel anything else. He felt numb. Unbearable even. He didn't think he could go on without Noodle at all. The rain fell more and more and the sky darkened with it. 2-D couldn't move. It would take ages to get back to Kong. Let alone by foot. He may as well just jump in there and be free with Noodle forever. He shivered and his teeth chattered together. It was freezing. 2-D couldn't survive in the life-threatening weather. He'd be dead before he even got back to his car. He hadn't a phone with him. No food. No clean water. Not even a clear mind. He had nothing. Least of all Noodle.

"I'm sorry love… but I tried"

2-D wiped the tears and rain from his face and got to his feet. He needed to get to Kong. He couldn't stay here. Too much memories of El Manana and Noodle's tragic death. The singer wondered if the video would actually be put on TV. 2-D hoped not. It was hard enough on one person, he couldn't imagine the impact on the world. Noodle was so beautiful. Now he only had pictures and tapes to remind him. The rest were forgotten dreams.

2-D sobbed quietly and gazed back down into the trench. He couldn't take his eyes away. He couldn't leave yet. He had to sing one last song. One more song. Just one more for Noodle before he left her forever.

"I-I want ter sing a song for yer love… just one… yer always said my voice was like an angel's… it's for you… and believe it or not, I…I guess I wrote it for you… It's what I felt… it's… well, I think you'll recognize the tune"

2-D cleared his throat but his eyes didn't move off of Noodle's resting place. 2-D started the bass thumping in his mind, the guitar vibrating, the drums banging and the keyboard right in front of his hands ready to play. It was one of his favourites of Demon Days: Every Planet We Reach Is Dead.

I lost my leg

Like I lost my way

So no loose ends

Nothing will see me down

How are we going to work this out?

Dreams are bad

A head turned mad

I love the girl

But god only knows it's

Getting harder

To see the sun coming through

I love you

What are we going to do?

Picture I'm a dreamer

I'll take ya deeper

Down to the sleepy glow

Time is a low

Don't ya know

What are we going to do?

When ya go back

All those second selfish days

You're in love with him

I wanna see you again

I love you

But what are we going to do?

2-D finished his song. He loved that song. Especially the piano solo. Beautiful. 2-D dropped his eyes to his feet watching his chucks soak up the water falling from the sky and forming small puddles on the ground. It was going to be a long trip home. The Gorillaz Vocalist sighed heavily after saying his last goodbye.

"Goodbye Noodle… Rest in Peace"

2-D bit his quivering lip and turned around. He opened his eyes for the real world and began to start his long walk home. Except… there was someone in the way. Shivering from bitter cold and soaked right through her torn and burnt clothing. Her hair dripping rain from the bangs that lay in front of her eyes. Her emerald eyes. The pale Asian face with the cute innocent smile 2-D fell in love with. It was Noodle.

2-D stared mindlessly at her while she smiled warmingly back. After a moment's silence, 2-D sighed sadly and continued to walk forward looking at her. Behind her. Through her. She wasn't there. Noodle was dead. That couldn't be her. He was dreaming. It was the cold, it got to him. He was seeing things. He mumbled to himself as Noodle listened confusingly.

"Stupid cold… making me hallucinate Noodle… That isn't her… it isn't… another sign of insanity I guess is seeing things that aren't there… I am going crazy"

2-D walked right up to Noodle. He wasn't looking at her. She was real though. She survived. Noodle had survived. But it was too impossible for 2-D to believe it. He was too hurt. Noodle's smile faded to a look of concern. She stood exactly where she was and stared at him behind her bangs dripping wet.

"2D-san"

"…I didn't know you could hallucinate sound"

"2D-san. It is me. Noodle. I am real"

2-D stopped and stared down at her. It was Noodle in every exact detail. Her violet hair glistened in rain and her split ends dripped with water. Her skin was as pale as ever from the freezing weather. She was very skinny and her ribs were visible. Her hands looked red raw and sore from climbing up from the trench. Her blue and white striped top was ripped off from the sleeves but still managed to cover her stomach. Her brown shorts were stained with dirt and blood and her boots were scratched all over. Scraps and terrible cuts littered her body but were clean of blood from the rain. Noodle was in a horrible state and dying out in the middle of nowhere for 5 days and all she could do was smile up at her older brother. It really was Noodle.

"…Noodle?"

"Hai 2D-san. I am alive"

"NOODLE!"

2-D screamed with a mixture of pain and happiness and he ran to Noodle and embraced her in a tight hug. Noodle, being so light, 2-D easily picked her up off the ground and swung her around a little making her grip around his neck and back tighter. 2-D cried yet again. She wasn't dead. Noodle survived. He knew it. He knew she would survive! He knew she could do it! She was ok! She was alright! She was alive! He sobbed hysterically while stroking her hair soothingly. Noodle letting silent tears slide down her face from comfort. She felt loved again. Like she was no longer alone. 2-D came for her. He came just for Noodle. Even though the odds of her surviving were small, she made it and he made it into her ice white arms.

"Oh my little love! I've missed you so much! I thought you were gone!"

"I thought I was too… but then… you came…"

2-D released her and bent down to her height smiling comfortingly.

"Of course I came love, I would never leave ya on your own"

Noodle blushed cutely and hugged 2-D yet again with a look of deep depression and more tears.

"2-D… the windmill… 2 helicopters, they come and start firing-"

"It's ok love, I know. I saw the video"

"Video?"

"The music video of El Manana that Damon and Jamie taped, I saw everything… I'm just glad yer ok"

"When did you see it?"

"This morning love… I took off after yer as soon as it finished"

"Thank you 2D-san"

"No need to love"

Noodle let go and looked up at him before looking over the trench to the fallen windmill. She sighed sadly. 2-D walked over and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Who were in the helicopters?"

"I don't know love but they were at Feel Good Inc. too"

Noodle nodded not taking away her stare at the trench. Noodle felt so cold. She was freezing. She needed some warm clothes, heat and food right now. She was on her own for 5 days. It was a miracle that she was still alive in those harsh conditions! Noodle looked up at him with her questionable look.

"2D-san, we go home now?"

"Yeah love… we'll go home now"

Noodle smiled at 2-D who took her red hand in his. They turned around and started slowly walking back. The weather didn't get any better and it looked like it wasn't going to anytime soon. The fog had sort of cleared up a bit though but with the rain it didn't help. The sky was dark and grey and it looked like any worse and you could call it a storm and thunder and lightning would pay a visit. Noodle was scared of storms but with 2-D at her side, she had nothing to worry about. Noodle shivered and with her free hand, rubbed her other for warmth.

"Yer must be freezin' love, here take my jacket"

Noodle and 2-D parted their hands and the stick thin singer took off his jacket and placed it on Noodle's head for her to put on. Then it was 2-D's turn to shiver when the cold air hit him. Rain he could withstand but wind? Way off the limit. Noodle placed it over her body. It was way too large for Noodle but it was good because it covered most of her legs as well. The sleeves were a bit long though. 2-D laughed at her and took her hand again.

"Thank you 2D-san, you are very kind"

"Yer need it more than I do love"

Noodle smiled again and continued her long walk back to the car. Maybe 2-D could get it started and drive it away. Or maybe that guy came back and took his car away and he could offer a ride or something to them. Or maybe he'll show up all pissed off wanting an apology and money. But Noodle and 2-D didn't care. They were just happy to finally be together. Brother and Sister: reunited again.

-------

The rain finally had stopped officially and the clouds parted to let the sunlight shine upon 2-D and Noodle. 2-D squinted from the bright light and held up a hand to shield his face as he was walking straight into it. Noodle smiled as she finally got some warmth for once.

"The sun's comin' out… it missed yer too love"

Noodle laughed but rolled her eyes under her hair. 2-D just smiled back. They had been walking for ages, longer than the time that 2-D had to walk to the trench but they found no car crash, not even a single car! 2-D was beginning to wonder where they went. He stopped and turned around again for the millionth time. The guitarist jerked forward but their hands joined together, pulled her back. She sighed annoyingly.

"2-D, if your car was not there the first time then it would not be there the next!"

"Oh… ok. Sorry little love"

"Are you sure the car crash here?"

"I think so… it's around about here anyway"

"I do not see any car"

"Me neither love"

Noodle looked around curiously, 2-D lazily stared at the ground.

"Maybe people take it away?"

"Maybe… I don't know… I don't think it's here anyway. We'll just walk love"

"2D-san?"

"Yeah love?"

"Hungry"

"Oh… um I'm sorry love but I don't have any food with me now… when was the last time yer ate?"

"3 days… maybe 4"

"When'd yer drink?"

"Last time it rain"

Noodle grinned at 2-D and stuck out her tongue cheekily. 2-D chuckled softly and faced forward focusing on the road and thinking. She needed food right now. She must have been starving and she had less meat on her than a chicken nugget! But they still had ages to walk…

"Noods, as soon as we get home we'll order 8 boxes of pizza how's that?"

"I do not think we need that much 2-D!"

"Can't be too sure love"

Noodle laughed cutely. She actually did feel really hungry and felt like she could eat half of those 10 boxes. Suddenly Noodle felt really tired. She opened her mouth wide and yawned loudly. He knees felt weak and she bended down. Her feet collapsed under her and she feel on her knees, grazing them slightly. She put her shaking hands on the ground, struggling to keep herself up. Noodle moaned in defeat. She had been on her own for 5 days and had to climb up from a trench and wondering all through the long lonely days ever since. She hadn't had any food and she just couldn't go on. 2-D gasped and ran to her side and held her.

"Noodle love, what's wrong?"

"Tired…"

2-D stood up and helped her to her feet still holding her sides to keep her balanced. The vocalist staring worryingly at her, watching every move she made. He found her miraculously and he wasn't going to let her die on him. She was coming home alive.

"Do yer want me ter carry yer?"

"I too heavy!"

"Yer couldn't gain weight if yer even tried love"

Noodle whined slightly. 2-D laughed and ran in front of her and bent down to her height, his back to her.

"Hop on love"

Noodle jumped on his back and wrapped her arms around his neck lightly. 2-D's arms wrapped around her legs and he held her balanced. He straightened up and continued walking again. Noodle relaxed and rested her head on his left shoulder. 2-D jumped up and down a bit, Noodle jumping on his back from a loose grip.

"God, your light Noods! You have the weight of a 5 year old! Think we might need 50 pizzas! I mean I can jump and run and maybe even bike with yer on me! Yer like a large backpack"

Noodle started to get queasy with 2-D running around in circles and jumping with her on his back. Noodle tightened her grip around 2-D's neck and shoulders, nearly strangling him not wanting to fall off. Noodle let out a tiring whine.

"2D-san walk normal"

The singer's fun stopped and his pace slowed and jerks came to an end.

"Sorry little love"

Noodle smiled gratefully and her eyes slowly closed. She was so tired. She hadn't had any descent sleep after the windmill. It just felt like dreamless, motionless gaps in the dark cold night. She hadn't had any real sleep. She slowly fell asleep on his back but 2-D didn't mind carrying her all the way to Kong if she was that tired. He would do anything for his little sister. Anything. He was always at her side.

-------